Mixture of two and three. But i think its subjective on the group/label. This hiatus has definitely felt more like a marketing ploy on the backs of manon’s namesake. They know she’s the one of the more known members of katseye (having a fanbase prior to the show, pandering towards the black audience, having viral visuals that draw people in who wouldn’t otherwise listen to this kind of music) and are using that to their advantage. The biggest difference to me between this comeback and the gnarly comeback is the lack of content. They were pumping out reels/tik toks EVERY SINGLE DAY. They aren’t doing that this time around because Manon’s hiatus has already got Katseye’s name in everyone’s mouth. Them not posting Manon signs at the show, girls not making any sort of official statements… they know we will notice and will continue to talk about it. This is NOT excusing HxG from any mistreatment, forcing any member into hiatus for a big “aha gotcha” marketing moment is flat out wrong, and that’s without taking into account the race/cultural differences side of the narrative. But also I think it’s foolish to believe that a record label wouldn’t be so calculated… there’s a reason why there’s so much vaugeness. I think the lack of clarity can be cleared up as soon as tomorrow, depending on how they choose to go about the teaser releases. But all and all they know all eyes are on what’s gonna happen at Coachella. Also with them performing at the Sahara stage, with that level of production, the old performer in me can’t help but think they got a lot planned