Animal

Album: Wild (2026)
Charted: 12 24
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Animal" is Katseye's invitation to let your wild side out. It's a song about being bold and unapologetically uninhibited, even if that's not how you usually act in day-to-day life. Throughout the track, the group sees right through their partner's polished exterior, uncovering a more instinctive, hungry, and energetic self that only emerges behind closed doors. Most of us have that side. Some people just have better publicists.
  • Ed Sheeran co-wrote the song with his frequent songwriting partner Johnny McDaid, along with producers Blake Slatkin and Omer Fedi. Slatkin and Fedi previously worked together on Katseye's 2024 single "Touch."

    Sheeran's presence helped steer "Animal" toward a more grounded, radio-friendly pop construction, rather than the hyperactive, algorithm-conscious approach heard on tracks such as "Gnarly," "Internet Girl" and "Pinky Up." It's pop designed to be catchy rather than to make you wonder whether your phone has developed a software fault.
  • The music video takes the song's public-versus-private theme and turns it into a surreal playground of surveillance rooms, mirrored identities, shifting characters and stylized confrontations. Katseye move through a world where nobody seems entirely sure who is watching whom, which is generally how surveillance works when you add pop stars and mirrors.

    Demi Moore cameos as an authority figure who encourages Katseye to abandon restraint and embrace their more liberated side. Her command, "Alright, let's get wild," serves as the video's turning point, effectively giving the group permission to stop behaving themselves. From there, the carefully controlled personas give way to the full force of the "animal" within.
  • Ed Sheeran became an instant Eyekon after hearing "Gnarly" while traveling in Mexico in 2025. Impressed by what he heard, Sheeran reached out to the group himself, hoping to work together. The connection eventually led to "Animal."
  • Katseye first met Ed Sheeran in France at the NRJ Music Awards, a well-known French pop-culture award show. He told them he had written a song for them, laying the groundwork for "Animal."
  • Katseye performed "Animal" during their debut appearance on Saturday Night Live on September 26, 2026. The group wore black jackets, which they removed midway through to reveal feathered, jeweled outfits, dancing under red lighting to match the song's provocative mood.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Thomas Dolby

Thomas DolbySongwriter Interviews

He wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct a video about a home for deranged scientists.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Todd Rundgren

Todd RundgrenSongwriter Interviews

Todd Rundgren explains why he avoids "Hello It's Me," and what it was like producing Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album.