Songfacts®:

• If Dolly Parton's "Jolene" were reimagined for the TikTok generation, given a Latin-R&B makeover, and handed over to a six-member girl group raised on Instagram drama and high-stakes eyeliner, you'd get something very close to "Gabriela." It's a slinky, sultry track in which Katseye plead for a woman named Gabriela to please stop flirting with their man. Or at least pick another one. There are plenty to go around.
• Musically, "Gabriela" leans into a Latin-tinged R&B-pop groove. Two-thirds of the way through, the track shifts into Spanish, a bridge sung in falsetto by group member Daniela, a first-generation Latina American, marking Katseye's first-ever Spanish-language verse. Translated, it reads:
  
  He came with me and he's leaving with me
  His eyes are mine, that won't change
  He loves me and the others don't matter
  No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
  
  In other words: Gabriela, don't get it twisted.
• Katseye leader Sophia's take on the song is it's not really about a love rival at all. She sees it as a satirical jab at the constant rumors that Katseye's members secretly hate each other - a favorite pastime of solo stans and forum gossipers everywhere.
  
  "We're playing into the whole thing where we're competing with each other," she told Teen Vogue. "It's kind of us poking fun at that... We can't do our thing without the other person. It's six or nothing."
  
  So, the song works on two levels: a tale of love rivalry and a tongue-in-cheek parody of girl group mythology.
• Andrew Watt, John Ryan, Ali Tamposi, Charli XCX, and Sara Schell wrote the lyrics, with Watt and Ryan also producing the song. The track was originally written in 2019 for a potential collaboration between Rita Ora and Anitta, but they passed on it. The demo subsequently made the rounds at multiple labels before HYBE and Geffen Records scooped it up and retooled it for Katseye.
• The music video, directed by Andrew Thomas Huang (Björk, FKA Twigs, Kelela) was filmed in a telenovela-inspired setting. It opens with Jessica Alba - playing the CEO of the fictional Gabriela Enterprises - declaring that she's retiring and she will select one of the Katseye members to replace her.
  
  What follows is an over-the-top boardroom brawl where stilettos are sharpened like swords. It's Succession meets Ugly Betty by way of a high-gloss K-pop fever dream.
• Katseye performed the song live for the first time during their Lollapalooza set on August 3, 2025. Their rendition of "Gabriela" included an extended Latin dance-inspired break.