Manon

The Swiss-born singer who earned a place in KATSEYE through one of K-pop's most publicly documented selection processes, Manon — born Meret Manon Bannerman on June 26, 2002 — became one of the more closely watched members of the group in part because of how rarely her path to a multinational pop act had been taken by someone from Switzerland. That profile grew more complicated in early 2026, when her activities came to an abrupt halt under circumstances that remained officially unresolved.

Debut through KATSEYE

KATSEYE — stylized in Korean as 캣츠아이 — formed through a collaboration between HYBE and Geffen Records, with its members selected via the reality competition series *Dream Academy*. The process was notable for its explicit aim of building a globally oriented girl group, drawing candidates from outside the traditional South Korean trainee pipeline. Manon was among the members who emerged from that process and debuted with the group.

A difficult 2026

In February 2026, an official announcement confirmed that Manon was suspending her activities with KATSEYE. The timing was significant: the group had secured a performance slot at Coachella, one of the most prominent festival bookings a K-pop-adjacent act could receive in the North American market. When KATSEYE took the Coachella stage in April 2026, they did so as a five-member unit, with Manon absent.

The situation drew sustained attention because, alongside the activity suspension, Manon had removed KATSEYE's name from her social media profiles — a move that, in K-pop's heavily scrutinized fan ecosystem, tends to register as a signal of departure. As of the available record, however, neither Manon nor HYBE or Geffen Records had issued a statement clarifying her status within the group, leaving her membership an open question.