KATSEYE’s Paris Show Had Fans Rattling the Floor: Here’s How One Got to Dance With the Group Backstage

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Walking backstage through Paris’ Accor Arena ahead of KATSEYE’s Sept. 9 stop on The Wildworld Tour, the energy was already building. The arena was still relatively quiet, but behind the scenes, Daniela, Lara, Yoonchae and Megan were preparing for a night that would eventually have thousands of fans singing, dancing and, quite literally, shaking the floor.

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But before the group took the stage, it had one more performance to teach.

The four KATSEYE members welcomed a Verizon Shine sweepstakes winner and his three guests backstage for a dance lesson to “Animal,” the group’s latest hit from its WILD EP. The song debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the Billboard Global 200, marking KATSEYE’s first top 10 on the latter chart.

Daniela took the lead, walking the group through the choreography one count at a time.

“As dancers, we do 5, 6, 7, 8,” she explained before breaking down the moves. “Five, six, prep seven, go eight.”

After a couple of tries, the group had the choreography down well enough to perform the section alongside KATSEYE. Daniela led from the front, with Lara following closely behind while Yoonchae and Megan practiced along with the group.

Then came an especially sweet moment. After the dance, Daniela switched into Spanish to show her appreciation for the winner, telling him, “Thank you for coming. It was so lovely meeting you.”

For Jose Quiroz, the Verizon customer who won the experience, the entire thing was still sinking in.

When he first saw the KATSEYE sweepstakes, he said he entered without expecting anything to happen. Then, while at work, he received a notification that he was a potential winner. His first reaction was disbelief. He even checked into the company to make sure the message was legitimate before telling his wife and daughters.

“My daughters are screaming for the heavens,” Quiroz tells Billboard. “My daughter’s like, ‘Oh my God, why, Dad? Why you?’”

He ultimately brought his wife and a colleague’s KATSEYE-loving daughter along for the experience.

“I can’t really put it in words, so it’s still sinking in,” he says. “I get to tell my kids, ‘Hey, your dad got to do this.’”

The experience was part of Verizon Shine, a loyalty program launched in June that gives Verizon customers access to daily rewards and “Epic Experiences” through the My Verizon app. Weekly Monday sweepstakes can include concert access, VIP flyaways and opportunities to interact with artists. This was just one of the artist experiences available through Verizon Shine, which has also offered fans opportunities to meet artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Young Miko and Sienna Spiro, along with concert access for artists such as Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Hilary Duff.

The KATSEYE experience included roundtrip flights to Paris, hotel accommodations, an Eiffel Tower excursion and the private dance session with the group.

And after seeing the payoff firsthand, it was easy to understand why fans are willing to travel for a concert.

Later that night, the energy inside Accor Arena was impossible to miss. When KATSEYE launched into “Pinky Up,” fans sang along so loudly with their lightsticks in hand, that the floor and seats seemed to rumble beneath them.

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KATSEYE’s The Wildworld Tour continues into North America on Oct. 13 in Miami, with stops across the U.S. and Canada before concluding in Mexico City in November.

For fans willing to book a flight, cross a border or simply go the extra mile for a concert, the Paris experience offered a reminder that sometimes the most memorable part of seeing your favorite artist can happen before the lights even go down.