After School [The Official Thread]

[Shoujo Q]

It's come to the point that I think one official thread for this group is needed. It and all their subgroups/soloists what have you. This took me all morning to do. (Oh and their be lots of images. You've been warned!)



Information came mostly from wiki and some from allkpop.

[center][/center][center] [/center][center]After School[/center][center]

Group Active : 2008 - Present[/center][center]Official Website : http://www.a-school.co.kr/[/center][center]

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Members:







Park Kahi (Kahi) -Leader







Kim Jung Ah (Jung-A)







Kim Jung Ah (Juyeon)







Kim Yoo Jin (UEE/U-IE) - Joined April 2009







Oh Hye Rin (Raina) - Joined November 2009







Im Jin Ah (Nana) - Joined November 2009







Park Soo Young (Lizzy) - Joined March 2010







Noh Lee Young (E-Young) - Joined December 2010



Former Members :





Yoo So Young (So Young) - Left October 2009







Rebekah Kim (Beka) - Left June 2011





Background of After School:

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After School trained for two years before debuting in December of 2008. But they wouldn't be releasing their first extended single until January of 2009. Modeled after the Pussycat Dolls, their member rotation and subgroups are more similar to that of Morning Musume. The group started with five members, Ga Hee, Jung Ah, Joo Yeon, Bekah, and So Young. They had a rocky debut and their corepgraphy for AH and Play Girlz were deemed too sexy, and Bad Guy never got promoted because of a single word of profanity in the lyrics. Despite the setbacks they were awarded an endorsment deal with Adidas and a reality show on MTV titled Diary of After School.

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[/center][center] [/center][left]In April of 2009 a 6th member joined the group, UEE and with that a drastic image change to appeal more to the masses. DIVA was released as a digital single that same month. Conicidently they performed in the Pussycat Dolls premier concert in Seoul as well as released a remake of Love Machine by Morning Musume titled Dream Girl in May of 2009 for the Hello!Project Korea auditions. [/left][center] [/center]

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In October of 2009, So Young graduated from After School to persue an acting career. In November, two new members, Raina and Nana joined the group and After School would then release their second extended single, Neo Ttaemune. Despite being leaked early on the radio, the single reached #1 on the online charts. They won their first Mutizen award on SBS Inkigayo in December of 2009 and won the Best Style Icon award at the 2009 Korean Lifestyle Awards.

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After an extended break, in March of 2010 After School returned with their 3rd extended single with a new image and a new member, Lizzy, the youngest member of the group. Bang! was originally supposed to appear in the 2nd single but was pushed as the title track of the third. The girls practiced the drums for five months in preperation for this release. Kahi is credited for the singles marching band concept.

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[/center][center] [/center][left]In July 2010, After School's company Pledis Entertainment held a new audition for a 9th member to join the group and in December of 2010, Lee Young made her first public apperance with the group during a performance of Bang! where she had a electric guitar solo. She wouldn't start group activies though till April of 2011 when AFTERSCHOOL minus Bekah would make their Japanese debut in a music video collab with Namie Amuro with, make it happen. Lee Young made her official debut with the group in Korea with their first album, VIRGIN and once again Bekah was not able to promote fully along with the group due to an injury, though she was in the live performances of Shampoo. It was later revealed that Bekah would be leaving the group in June 2011 to return to Hawaii and pursue a career in fashion design. The album, VIRGIN also featured an unknown singer credited as "Pre-School Girl Yun Jo", who is presumably a Pledis Entertainment trainee, but not much else is known about her. Though some speculate she may become a future member of After School.[/left]





Subgroups, Soloists and Happy Pledis Oh My!:



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In May of 2010; Nana, Raina, and Lizzy were chosen to form Orange Caramel, a group similar to those idol groups found in Japan. In December of 2010, After School released their 4th physical single, Hazel Eyes under the group name, Happy Pledis. Hazel Eyes is the first part of a special charity single series released by Pledis Entertainment. Bekah did not take part in the release. Kahi would make her solo debut in Febuary of 2011 with Dorawa Nappeun Neo.





In July of 2011, Pledis revealed that for the summer the group would be broke up into two groups of 4. One sexy group, AS Red and the other a cute group, AS Blue. The members of the group would be voted on by the fans. Stay tuned for more info~



After School Discography



Albums

VIRGIN : 04.27.11

Promoted Songs : SHAMPOO (MV)



Singles

New Schoolgirl: 01.15.09

Promoted Songs : AH (MV), Playgirlz + AH (Live)

Because of You (너 때문에): 11.25.09

Promoted Songs : Neo Ttaemune (MV), DIVA (Live)

Bang!: 03.25.10

Promoted Songs : Let's Do it (MV) , Bang! (MV)

Hazel Eyes : 12.07.10 (As Happy Pledis)

Promoted Songs : Love Love Love (MV) / Love Love Love V.2 (MV)



Digital Singles

DIVA: 04.09.09 MV

Dream Girl: 05.22.09 MV

Because of You [Neo Ttaemune] (Remix): [01.22.10] LIVE



Special Releases

Olympic Duet Song Festival (Spring Chicken Soup (영계백숙) (Jung Joon Ha feat. After School): 07.13.09

AMOLED (Son Dam Bi & After School): 07.23.09 MV

You (Hurt (아프죠)) (Sunny Side feat. After School): 08.06.09 MV

Tempted Again OST (Half (반쪽)) (After School feat. Sunny Side): 08.31.09 Err...MV?

The Shouts Of Reds. United Korea (Repackage) (Dreams Again!): 05.18.10 MV



Japanese Discography

Singles

Bang! 08.07.11



Collaborations

Amuro Namie - Checkmate! (make it happen (Amuro Namie feat. AFTERSCHOOL)): 04.17.11 MV

[center]Subgroups[/center]



Orange Caramel

Members: Nana, Raina, Lizzy

Active : 2010 - Present



Discography

Mini-Albums

The First Mini Album (The Taiwanese version of this album contained a Chinese cover of M2M's "The Day You Went Away."): 06.17.10

Promoted Songs: Mabeop Sonyeo (Magic Girl) (MV)

The Second Mini Album : 11.18.10

Promoted Songs: Aing♡ (MV)



Singles

Bangkok City: 04.20.11 (Digital Single Released on 03.31.11) (MV)





A.S Blue

Members: Jooyeon, Raina, Lizzy, and E-Young

Active: 2011



Discography

TBA



A.S Red

Member: Kahi, Jungah, Nana, and UEE

Active: 2011



Discography

TBA







[center][center]Soloists[/center][/center]

Kahi



Discography



Mini-Albums

Dorawa Nappeun Neo (돌아와 나쁜 너; Come Back, Bad You) : 02.14.11 (MV)



Collaborations

Son Dam Bi - Mini Album Vol.1 (Son Dam Bi) (#2 Bad Boy) : 04.29.08 (MV)

Let's go! : 10.15.10 (Korean MV/ English MV)

[Ap2000]

Let's do it/Bang are two great songs.

I really, really love them.



My flatmate and me, we listened to Bang for about 4h on a 7h car ride. I'm not exaggerating, the "play counter" was 70 something.

It even got my flatmate, who, besides anime, is not interested in Asia at all, into K-Pop.



But imho all their other songs were shit. =/

[Noa]

I really love this group, and have for awhile. Good job <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

The only correction I have is that Bekah did indeed promote with them during Virgin, she just couldn't do the tap dancing in the opening song, but she promoted Shampoo the whole time.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Molly' timestamp='1309887662' post='103045']

I really love this group, and have for awhile. Good job <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

The only correction I have is that Bekah did indeed promote with them during Virgin, she just couldn't do the tap dancing in the opening song, but she promoted Shampoo the whole time.

[/quote]



Thanks Molly, I think at some point I corrected that but the BBS was eating my words while I was editing it together and I put up the old paragraph again instead of the new one.



ALL MORNING I tell you!

[JPope]

I submit their "Bang" performances as exhibit A for those who say that Kpop idols are no more talented than most Jpop idols. Those girls are doing legit drum line drumming. It may not be perfect (we never hear what the girls are playing) but they're definitely hitting the right things at the right times, and they clearly put in long hours of training to pull this off. I'm a drummer, and I'm impressed.



Oh, and this is the group that spawned Orange Caramel, so more WIN.

[Pflaume]

I just wanted to say good job on the OP, Pikyu. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/wub.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' />



Also After School tap dances and drums and that's neat-o, but for some reason all their special performances give me secondhand embarrassment. I honestly can't put my finger on why.

[Anderei]

The only problem with AS learning all these special skills like drumming and tapping is that it takes them FOREVER to make a comeback.





Also, I'm disappointed they're letting fans vote on the subgroups, because I know most are going to go the boring route and vote Old + Uee vs. New.

[Shoujo Q]

Bekah officially graduated from After School. And in doing so left with a digital single called, Take Me to The Place. Which she wrote herself.



And the A.S Red and A.S Blue line-ups have been made.



A.S RED (The Sexy Group) Kahi, Jungah, Nana, and UEE

A.S BLUE (The Cute Group) Jooyeon, Raina, Lizzy, and E-Young



Their respective singles will be out later this month.



Info from allkpop / 2

[Shoujo Q]

Pledis works fast.



A.S Blue's MV for Wonder Boy (Live)



A.S Red's MV for In The Night Sky isn't out yet, but there is a live. -> (Live)

[Ap2000]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1311457038' post='104218']



A.S Blue's MV for Wonder Boy (Live)

[/quote]



That remins me of Austrian Folk-pop...

Oh well, at least the garter-belts are hot !

[surasshu]

Blue and Red are both so bad in every way. How did this happen? It's one thing that they have sucky music (Blue is.. "okay", and Red is an abomination), that happens with AS now and again. But the styling looks horrible, especially the supposed "sexy" group. How did they put one of the hottest girls I've ever seen, Nana, in such a horrible outfit and makeup that she actually looks like a middle-aged woman? HOW?

[showraniy]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1311457038' post='104218']A.S Blue's MV for Wonder Boy (Live)



A.S Red's MV for In The Night Sky isn't out yet, but there is a live. -> (Live)

[/quote]



Oh shit, Uee's decked out in my favorite color; that was meant to be.



But yes, being that Uee's the only one I know in this group and I've been trying to get into them on and off for a while now, this is an interested phase to walk in on for the group. The styling is bad in both lives, I can't stand badly done cutesy acts, so Blue's video was closed halfway through, and Red's song is uninspired and boring. BUUUT~ I do like Night Sky for reasons I can't quite figure out (Uee) and Bang! seems to be a halfway decent song, so I'll continue watching them as a group for now. They don't really jump out to me now, but they might be something to watch in the future.

[Shoujo Q]

It's a special Japanese Debut PV edit of BANG, complete with awesome drum skillz~



Japanese versions of Korean songs never seem to translate well to me, but at least it has awesome drum skillz~ to make up for it.

[sadude]

Awesome. I'm glad they brought that back and integrated Let's Do It into the PV. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /weeeh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':weeeh:' />

They're one of the best-poised groups to do well in Japan, I think. And in terms of the Korean -> Japanese translation, this song doesn't sound as awful as most do. I'd even call it pretty good. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ek3run.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':eekrun:' />

[Ap2000]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1311591257' post='104316']

It's a special Japanese Debut PV edit of BANG, complete with awesome drum skillz~



Japanese versions of Korean songs never seem to translate well to me, but at least it has awesome drum skillz~ to make up for it.

[/quote]



I never thought they could rape that great song... they turned into some generic hiphop-pop crap.

The music is all over the place, it's bad.

[Zaeleus]

A.S. RED's music video for "In the Night Sky" was released today. Nana makes a tribute to Zoolander.

[Sabaku Ika]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1311596300' post='104319']

ght they could rape that great song... they turned into some generic hiphop-pop crap.

The music is all over the place, it's bad.

[/quote]

I'm not sure where you got this.



I wouldn't say it's better than the original, but the differences, language aside, sound pretty minor to me.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Ojinguh' timestamp='1311625911' post='104343']

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1311596300' post='104319']

ght they could rape that great song... they turned into some generic hiphop-pop crap.

The music is all over the place, it's bad.

[/quote]

I'm not sure where you got this.



I wouldn't say it's better than the original, but the differences, language aside, sound pretty minor to me.

[/quote]



Let's do it ! sounds the same, but Bang sounds very different, especially considering this is just a Japanese version of the song.

It sounds like an R'n'B abomination.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1311633491' post='104353']

[quote name='Ojinguh' timestamp='1311625911' post='104343']

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1311596300' post='104319']

ght they could rape that great song... they turned into some generic hiphop-pop crap.

The music is all over the place, it's bad.

[/quote]

I'm not sure where you got this.



I wouldn't say it's better than the original, but the differences, language aside, sound pretty minor to me.

[/quote]



Let's do it ! sounds the same, but Bang sounds very different, especially considering this is just a Japanese version of the song.

It sounds like an R'n'B abomination.

[/quote]



It's because they don't have Bekah doing the rap. Kahi can't do it. IT doesn't sound right. :<



Oh and Nana is a native american headdress is making me laugh at the awkwardness of it. How is that sexy? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... R#>/8o.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='8o' />

[Anderei]

The one upside to a lot of the Japanese remakes is that they usually get better MVs.



Unfortunately, this didn't happen for Diva.



It's only a teaser, but where's the color? The spunk? And they changed the music. They did it for Bang! too but here it's not an improvement. The outfits and new dance are kind of tragic as well. I LOVED Korean Diva, and this is just kind of sad.







And Bekah blogged on her tumblr. She's alluding to her leaving After School and it sounds like she's implying that she was forced to leave:



a little honesty



” Don’t Hold Your Breath ” by Nicole Scherzinger



This song explain simply what I felt and what was going on inside after all this time.



This isn’t about a boyfriend heartbreak, this is about giving everything you had to the someone’s or something’s and facing the consequences of being taken advantage of.



I just felt that you guys needed some honesty.



I’m so thankful for those who truly cared about me and for those who still do.



I just needed to let it out guys. Believe me, I loved performing and still do but there are things that I could never explain…



When they tell you that you’re not enough. That you quite don’t meet their standards yet. Fuck it. You don’t need that kind of negativity.



In the end it’s about being happy with who you are and what truly is important to you. That in the end, whatever they want from you isn’t important.



it’s about you.



peace, love & God Bless



-b



ps: yes. i just swore. haha i’m not perfect.

[rallyleo]

It's really sad to think that Bekah may have been forced out of After School for reasons that she wasn't good enough. She had some of the most to offer from the girls ("Take me to the place", anyone?). It's probably true, considering the song she's referencing. Just take the boyfriend stuff out and put Pledis into the context of the lyrics - it's a flat-out "fuck you" letter to them.



I'm a Kahi fanboy to death, but Bekah is a much better rapper than she is. Hell, I was a little pissed off with "Shampoo" when I saw that Nana and UEE did some rapping. Poor girl's identity within the group was taken from her completely!



After School is a very talented and high-quality group, so I'm sure they'll be fine with or without her. I'm just trying my best to think of it as a Morning Musume-style graduation without the festivites; that it's the natural order of things and the other girls will have to go soon, too. I just hope she's okay.







-----------Moving onto their music!!--------------------



After School is my favorite Korean girl group, but I can't get into their Japanese releases so far. I don't like the "remixed" sound of the instrumentals, or that fact that for some reason their producers don't seem to give a second thought towards the vocal production of each track. "Bang!" was passable, but it fell wayyy off from the Korean version. And that rapping? Lordy. I'm not even speaking from my Bekah bias - but that was bad. I feel like someone else in the group could have done a much better job.

I think I'll just patiently wait for their next Korean release (Hello, 2013!).

[surasshu]

I always disliked Bekah a great deal and DEFINITELY would say she isn't good enough, so for a company to actually basically agree with me, I can't complain. I always thought that's why she was kicked out, I mean when she disappeared for a while (I forgot why that was, injury?), Pledis basically went "ALRIGHT! Let's promote stuff NOW!", so it already felt like they didn't care about her. However, if they replace her parts with other shitty rappers (shittier, arguably, though nobody has a more annoying voice than Bekah) there's no point in firing her.



What is it with Korea and horribly annoying, terrible female rappers that sound like they stepped right out of the early 90s? With the exception of Hyuna who at least doesn't have a squeaky voice, I can't think of a single female rapper in Korean girl groups that doesn't ruin every song she's featured in. Where did this originate?



Back to the topic at hand, Diva was never my favorite by a long shot, but I have to agree that the Japanese version doesn't sound (or look) like an improvement. Making the arrangement more sparse is a good idea (in its original form it's a loud song that falls completely flat in its chorus, since it's so relentlessly shouty), but it just sounds like nobody cared about it in this case. It almost sounds like a demo version.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='///' timestamp='1319368585' post='111051']



What is it with Korea and horribly annoying, terrible female rappers that sound like they stepped right out of the early 90s? With the exception of Hyuna who at least doesn't have a squeaky voice, I can't think of a single female rapper in Korean girl groups that doesn't ruin every song she's featured in. Where did this originate?

[/quote]



I think Rainbow's Woori isn't bad.

Eventhough I absolutely hate rap parts in pop songs.

[Anderei]

[quote name='Rally' timestamp='1319342704' post='111036']

It's really sad to think that Bekah may have been forced out of After School for reasons that she wasn't good enough. She had some of the most to offer from the girls ("Take me to the place", anyone?). It's probably true, considering the song she's referencing. Just take the boyfriend stuff out and put Pledis into the context of the lyrics - it's a flat-out "fuck you" letter to them.



[/quote]



It's no longer implied, Bekah actually tweeted awhile ago that she was kicked out of the group by Pledis. The tweet and her tumblr post are gone now, though.

[Shoujo Q]

So they grouped the new Japanese Diva with the tap dance from Shampoo. Eh? Full PV it out!



And Kahi is NOT a suitable replacement for Bekah!

[sadude]

I don't like these electronic versions of Step It Up and Diva. Kudos for trying to remix them, though, instead of just using the same instrumentals.

[Shoujo Q]

Pledis Entertainment is the Hello!Project of Korea. Sorta like After School are the Morning Musume of Korea. Seems Pledis leans heavily towards the H!P mold. They also call themselves Happy Pledis. How is that NOT just another similarity? I wonder if Japanese fans get the similarities also?



Anyway, I'm posting this here because it's After School related.



Last year Pledis had a special winter single with proceeds going to charity, this year they are doing it again, but this time Son Dambi and yet to debut boy group Pledis Boys and some others (who aren't mentioned in the Yes Asia article but are seen in the MV preview) are shown.



MV Preview (Yes Asia Article)

[Mugi]

After School has come out with their next Japanese single Rambling Girls. I like it but its nothing special. I think they can do better and I miss Bekah.

[rallyleo]

Though I'm a gigantic After School stan, I have to admit that the song is pretty "meh". Has a very strong set of verses, but the chorus I feel was a little bit phoned in. Also, none of these girls can rap! Queen Kahi gets by fairly well, but the gigantic void Pledis left in the group from ousting Bekah is becoming more apparent with each release.



I swear I'm going to kill something if Lizzy (or Nana, or UEE, or E-Young...) replaces her rapping in the Japanese version of "Because of You" <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... dammit.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':dammit:' />

[Zaeleus]

After School is live streaming a Japanese concert on Ustream (AFTERSCHOOL JAPAN FIRST TOUR 2012 PLAYGIRLZ). It started about half an hour ago.



http://www.ustream.tv/channel/afterschool-live



---



Edit (+1.5 hours):



Some notes.



Lots of talk between songs. Orange Caramel (Lizzy?) and Kahi spoke some English, and one After School member definitely threw out a "sexy beam" at one point. I'm not sure if that was a homage to Morning Musume. E-Young's guitar solo was fantastic. The screen in the back seemed to be randomly showing an After School-specific Twitter stream. A few "snsd"'s passed through the filter. A fairly high energy, fun concert overall. Viewer count peaked at ~4500. The setlist consisted mostly of what was on their PLAYGIRLZ album and some Korean songs. Here's what I caught from about half an hour in.



...

When I Fall

...

Aing♡ / Orange Caramel

Magic Girl / Orange Caramel

Shanghai Romance (Japan Ver.) / Orange Caramel

(intermission video)

AH

Miss Futuristic

(E-Young electric guitar solo) [screenshot]

BROKEN HEART

Lady / A.S. BLUE

Gimme Love

Diva (Japan Ver.)

Because of You (Japan Ver.)

Let's Do It!

Bang! (Japan Ver.)

Dilly Dally

Lady Luck

Tell me