KATSEYE’s Daniela Avanzini had a “full circle moment” while reuniting with Queen Latifah at the 2026 American Music Awards.
Long before the 21-year-old made her debut as a member of the global girl group, Avanzini made numerous appearances as a professional child dancer on TV shows such as America’s Got Talent, Univision's Sabado Gigante, and the short-lived revival of The Queen Latifah Show.
On Monday (May 25), Latifah and Avanzini were able to reunite for a photo backstage at the 2026 American Music Awards where Latifah was on hosting duties.
“Reunited after 12 years from being on her show with the queen herself, Queen Latifah [kiss mark emoji],” Avanzini captioned the photo shared to her Instagram Story. “Full circle moment and still just as surreal. So grateful for this memory :)”
At the AMAs, KATSEYE performed their latest single “Pinky Up” and took home trophies for New Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Pop Artist, and Best Music Video for “Gnarly.”
In a recent interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Avanzini, who is Cuban-Venezuelan American, was asked about joining the K-pop-inspired group despite not knowing much about the music scene beforehand.
“I grew up listening to Latin music and that was my culture, so I wasn't introduced to K-pop, but as soon as I found out about it, I was like, 'Damn, like the music is fire,'” Daniela said. “I think the first group I was introduced to was BLACKPINK. I remember I did a little K-pop-like showcase and I danced to ["Boombayah"].”
She continued, “I've learned so much about that culture and so much music … and I know so much Korean now, and we've gone to Korea so many times. It's something I had no idea existed when I was a child because I was never introduced to that. But I'm so glad I was because it's so amazing.”
After releasing their WILD EP on Aug. 14, the group will head out on their sold-out WILDWORLD Tour to play arenas across Europe and North America this fall.
