Attention Playgirlz! You think you already know everything about After School and its members? Well, here's a list of information which might surprise you or make your day. Read on...
1. After School is a South Korean girl group under Pledis Entertaiment (Same label as Son Dam Bi).
2. They initially debuted as a 5-member group with their debut single “AH!” last January 17, 2009. The members are Kahi, Jung Ah, JooYeon, Bekah and SoYoung. They were labeled as the Korean Pussycat Dolls because of their matured and sexy concept.
3. After School was modeled after the Japanese group Morning Musume, following their concept of ‘admission’ and ‘graduation’ of members to and from the group at a certain time.
4. In March of 2009, they acquired a behind-the-scenes reality show on MTV titled “Diary of After School” which had 4 episodes.
5. They had planned to continue their promotions of their first single album “New Schoolgirl” with another single “Bad Girl”. However, the track was deemed unsuitable and was banned to broadcast because of explicit lyrics and gunshot sounds in the song.
6. On April 6, 2009, Pledis Entertainment revealed their sixth member, UEE and sequentially released the MV of their first digital single “DIVA”
7. They were also invited to perform as guest performers for the Pussycat Dolls’ premier concert in Seoul for 6 consecutive nights.
8. After School practiced Pussycat Doll’s “Buttons” for 3-4 months before recording and performing it on different shows.
9. On May 21, 2009, they released their second digital single “Dream Girl”, which was a remake of Morning Musume’s “Love Machine”. The song was used as the theme song for Hello! Project Korea audition shows titled “Great Tokyo Girls”.
10. After School, together with their label-mate, Son Dam Bi, released the song “AMOLED” for Samsung’s Amoled phone model.
11. On October 29, 2009, Pledis announced SoYoung’s withdrawal from the group because of her health problems and studies, bringing After School back to a 5-member group.
12. On November 17, 2009, Pledis revealed the addition of two more members, namely Raina and Nana.
13. On the same month, After School, now a 7-member group, released their second mini-album “Neo Ttaemune/Because of You” which had two songs, “Neo Ttaemune” a song that begins with the sad melody of a piano and violin that folds into an addictive chorus, and “When I Fall”, a slow R&B song that Kahi actually participated in producing.
14. Neo Ttaemune dominated online charts in less than 10 days, and After School won their first ever Mutizen award on SBS Inkigayo on December 20, 2009.
15. After School has also been awarded the title of “Billboard Japan’s ‘Kpop Artist of the Year 2009”, proving their popularity gain in Japan.
16. In February 2010, After School had their first fanmeeting which included many surprises for the fans.
17. The members also baked their own cupcakes for the fans who attended their first fanmeeting.
18. In the said fanmeeting, the three fiercest members, Kahi, Jung Ah and Bekah, performed their banned song, “Bad Guy”.
19. Also, JooYeon, Raina, Nana and Uee performed FIN.K.L’s hit song, ‘To My Boyrfriend”. They performed with another unknown member, whose face was hidden under a mask. The fans speculated that the girl was probably After School’s new member.
20. In March 2010, Pledis revealed a teaser photo for their upcoming comeback. The teaser revealed a group of 8 members, with the unknown member’s face bowed down, spicing the curiosity of the excited fans. No information was yet revealed about her identity.
21. A day later, the identity of the new member was revealed- a 19 year old newcomer named Lizzy.
22. On March 25, 2010, After School, now an 8-member group, released their third single album, Bang!
23. They also revealed an MV for their intro song “Let’s Do It” which showcased their powerful drum line exhibition that they practiced for 5 months.
24. Members Kahi and Jung Ah were directly involved in the drum session recording of Let’s Do It.
25. Uee wasn’t able to join fully in the promotion of their third single due to her schedules for her drama, “Birdie Buddy”
26. On May of the same year, Pledis announced that After School would split into subgroups. Uee will not be participating because of her drama activities.
The said splitting would create 2 groups, and a solo debut for their leader, Kahi.
27. On June 3, 2010, After School released their first book entitled “Play Girlz”. The Korean-language essay book features stories and writings from all eight members who wrote candidly about their emotions and experiences based on 56 keywords like passion, challenge, love, dream, and frustration. Each member wrote about their hopes and hardships, their trainee days, their life after debut and more.
28. On June, Pledis announced their first sub-group named “Orange Caramel”. Orange Caramel consisted of the three youngest, namely Nana, Lizzy and Raina as the subgroup’s leader.
29. Orange Caramel debuted with their first mini-album on June 17, 2010. Their concept is called “Candy Culture” which means cute and bright but innocent and lovely at the same time.
30. Orange Caramel debuted with their title track, “Magic Girl” which had a super bubbly tone. CNBlue’s Minhyuk was also featured in music video.
31. Orange Caramel’s Magic Girl became a big hit, not only to fans, but to their co-artists as well. It was often parodied by other groups such as 2PM, B2ST’s Kikwang, SHINee’s Key and ZE:A’s KwangHee, etc. It surely gained a lot of popularity for the members.
32. Orange Caramel also did a Chinese remake of Norwegian girl duo M2M’s famous song, The Day You Went Away. They performed it on their promotions in Taiwan and other countries.
33. After School got their own variety program called Play Girlz School. It ran for a total of 13 episodes.
34. After several months, Orange Caramel unveiled their second mini-album with their title track, “Aing~ ♡” which grabbed much attention for the fairy tale concepts of “Alice Lizzy”, “Snow White Nana” and “Little Red Riding Hood Raina”.
35. The said released boosted Orange Caramel’s popularity even more, with its addicting choreography, and cute outfits.
36. On December of 2010, Pledis announced that they will release a charity album for the holiday season. All of Pledis’ talents (Son Dam Bi, After School and Orange Caramel) will be releasing their own version of the “Happy Pledis” album. A portion of the profits for the album will be donated to “Save The Children” foundation.
37. After School was the first one to release a charity album entitled “Happy Pledis: The First Mini-Album” which has two songs. Their title track “Love Love Love” is a dance pop song about love that fits perfectly to the cold winter. “Someone Is You”, the other song, is a mid-tempo ballad penned by Kahi, whom wrote about precious and beautiful memories into the song.
38. Bekah was not able to participate in the promotions of the said album because she is on a break and stayed in her home in Hawaii for more than 2 months.
39. On December 31, 2010, After School participated on the annual MBC Gayo Daejun, wherein MBC and Pledis secretly prepared for a special introduction of After School’s newest member. The group performed Bang! and making an interlude, the new member named Noh E Young, was introduced as she showcased her unique talent as she played an electronic guitar solo.
40. On the 14th of February 2011, after so much delay (since it was said that this should have been released on September last year), Kahi finally started her solo activities with her first mini album. The album had four tracks in it, and Kahi composed most of them, including the title track “Dorawa Nappeun Neo/Come Back You Bad Person”, which has a lyrical melody that becomes increasingly strong and dramatic with the addition of electro dance beats.
41. With Kahi’s solo activities, many speculated that this will start Kahi’s graduation from the group. However, Kahi denies it and will still continue as a member of After School.
42. On the same month, After School’s official Japanese website was opened, as the girls collaborated with the famous Namie Amuro in her first collaboration album “Checkmate!”
43. After School participated in Namie Amuro’s album with the song “Make It Happen”. This release was E Young’s first official activity as a member of the group. However, Bekah still wasn’t able to participate in the song.
44. On March 2011, Orange Caramel released their digital single “Bangkok City”, the first of their “One of Asia” project, which had Asian cities as their theme.
45. Orange Caramel’s Bangkok City swept many online music charts with their sexy and funky image and song. Due to its popularity and many requests from the fans, Pledis released 10,000 copies of their limited edition single album.
46. Jung Ah was also featured in Orange Caramel’s Bangkok City MV.
47. After School also performed in Tokyo Girls Collection 2011,a semi-annual fashion event in Japan.
48. In mid-April, after more than a year of inactivity of After School as a group, they released their first full album entitled “Virgin” where they sported their feminine and chic spring looks.
49. Their title track “Shampoo” is arranged by a famous Japanese DJ/producer, Daishi Dance.
50. After School also released an MV for their intro song “Let’s Step Up” bringing yet another fresh and unique concept. The girls showcased their full tap dance routine in this MV.
51. However, in Let’s Step Up MV, only 8 members were present. Bekah explained her absence through an interview saying that she had an ankle injury last year and during their preparations for their tap dance routine, she injured it again. The injury required surgery but she pushed back her surgery date in order to join their Shampoo promotions. She wasn’t able to perform the tap dance routine but she’s still participating in Shampoo’s performances since the choreography is less intense than the tap dance.
52. After School has been practicing tap dance since November last year.
53. The album also features After School’s power vocals Raina and Jung Ah’s solos “Leaning Against Time” and “My Bell”.
54. The album also features 2 ‘Pre School Girls’ in 2 songs, (Pre School Girl Yun Jo in “Dream” and Pre School Girl Kyung Min in Funky Man). Some speculations say that they are believed to be the upcoming members of the group.
55. fter School’s official fan club name is PLAYGIRLZ, which was derived from their song on their first album. Male fans are called Play Boyz.
KAHI:
56. Kahi was a famous backup dancer for artists under SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment (BoA, JinuSean, 1TYM, Lexy, DJ DOC, Chaeyeon, Eun Ji Won, etc.) since 2000-2006 before she was recruited by Pledis.
57. At the age of 20, Kahi ran away from her home due to her passion for dancing. She ran away to Seoul and began part time jobs without any specific plans. With a help of a friend, she started working as a freelance dancer. It took her almost ten years for her to achieve her dream of debuting as an artist.
58. She was previously in a Korean-American girl group, “S.Blush” whose digital single “It’s My Life” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Chart in 2007.
59. Kahi was TVXQ/JYJ Park Yoochun’s ex-girlfriend.
60. Kahi was deemed as After School’s father/appa due to her strong leadership and her over protectiveness for her members. She apparently is a "drill sergeant" and a perfectionist when it comes to practices and most of the members are afraid of her temper.
JUNG AH:
61. Jung Ah used to be a member of “Kiss Five” in 2005 before joining After School.
62. She participated in Son Dam Bi’s “Bad Boy” performances as a backup dancer as part of her training.
63. She sang a track from MBC’s drama “Pasta” titled “You’re Cute”.
64. Jung Ah was not a very good dancer at the start, but her dancing greatly improved after she was personally trained by Kahi.
65. Jung Ah was deemed as the mother/omma of the group because she is sort of the vice leader of the group and she is very caring towards her members
JOOYEON:
66. JooYeon was a famous internet ulzzang(meaning ‘best face’) before debuting as an After School member.
67. She appeared on MBC’s “Introduce Star’s Friend” as Son Dam Bi’s best friend.
68. She was a member of KBS Invincible Youth (G7) Season 2.
69. She has a small role in the movie “My Tutor Friend 2” in 2007 and was already famous as an actress before becoming a part of the group.
70. Currently, she is starring in KBS drama “Smile DongHae” with the role of SaeYoung, a young lady who became pregnant and gave birth to twins. She also received acting advice from co-member UEE, who starred in several dramas already.
BEKAH:
71. Bekah was born and raised in Hawaii.
72. Bekah was the first maknae of the group, before the addition of new members.
73. She was also once a model for a major American female clothing brand, ROXY, wherein she sported her healthy body in a ROXY bikini.
74. She was also featured in Tei’s “Mr. Lonely, Lee Hyori’s “Bring It Back and Seo In Guk’s “At First Sight”.
75. Aside from her famous rapping skills, she also gained more popularity through her artistic abilities. Her drawings and paintings which she posts in her twitter, cyworld and tumblr accounts surprised many fans as well as netizens.
UEE:
76. Uee used to be a trainee in Good Entertainment and was a part of a girl group “Five Girls” together with YooBin of Wonder Girls, former T-Ara member JiWon, Secret’s HyoSung and solo singer G.Na.
77. She appeared on MBC "Introduce Star’s Friend" as Wonder Girls' Yoobin's best friend.
78. Uee starred in several dramas such as in Queen Seon Duk as the young Mishil, and in “You’re Beautiful” as Yoo Hae Yi.
79. She also starred in MBC’s variety show “We Got Married” as Park Jae Jung’s virtual wife.
80. Uee became famous for her healthy “Honey Thighs”.
RAINA:
81. She previously auditioned for Mnet’s SuperstarK. However, she didn’t get that far in the talent competition.
82. Raina wrote the lyrics for Orange Caramel’s “Ajik/Still” and “Igeosseo Seoseo”, their Korean remake of M2M’s “The Day You Went Away” which was included in their second mini-album. She also wrote the lyrics to After School’s Love Love Love.
83. She was rumored to be Jo Kwon’s first love, which was hidden under the name of “Oh Bang Shil” Aside from the same surname, a photo of them together during their high school days sparked the rumor, along her statement on Strong Heart that she had her first love during her high school. However, Raina denies the rumor about her being Oh Bang Shil.
84. Raina used to work as a barista at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
85. Raina is one of the group’s main vocalists, but she is also a good rapper, as seen in her performance of Chris Brown’s Run It.
NANA:
86. She participated in the 2009 Asia Pacific Super Model Contest.
87. She starred in Honey Dew’s”Like A Fool” MV and Eru’s “White Tears” MV.
88. She was chosen in her auditions for her singing ability, and not for dancing.
89. She is really popular due to her doll-like face and figure, and her chic personality
90. Nana once grew 20 cm in a year, thanks to banana milk.
LIZZY:
91. Lizzy was from Busan, and was known to have a cute accent with her image that looks like a puppy.
92. She also starred in Teen Top’s debut track “Clap” MV.
93. Lizzy also became a fixed-host member in SBS “Running Man”.
94. Due to her bubbly personality and cute innocence, she quickly became a confident variety show queen. She had been receiving a lot of requests from different variety shows.
95. She was also praised in her acting skills on MBC Bouquet. Right now, she’s starring in MBC’s sitcom “All My Love” as a young Busan girl named SoonDuk.
E YOUNG:
96. Her first teaser photo aroused netizens who were drawn in by her soft, feminine and innocent appearance.
97. E Young’s electric guitar solo performance on MBC Gayo Daejun captured the public’s attention, as her appearance was in contrast to her fierce guitar skills.
98. From 2002-2008, E Young has been involved in different competitions and had received awards including Nationa Spirits’s Music Contest Piano Gold Prize, Youth Festival Target, Chuncheon Music Skill Contest Composition No. 1 Position, Gangwon Dance Contest Grand Prize, Chuncheon Youth Singing Dance Vocal Sector Prize, Soyang Culture Festival Music Awards, Youngage Music Contest, Youth Blue Festival Prize, GeumSang and Daesang Teen Gayo Award and many more. She had received over thirty awards from different competitions before debuting as a member of After School.
99. She can play several musical instruments such as guitar, piano, electronics, bass, drum, cello, and she is also into composing songs.
100. Korean Playgirlz gave the nickname 20 to E Young because ‘20’ is pronounced like E Young.
Credits: AfterSchoolPhilippines http://www.facebook.com/afterschoolphilippines
Source: Soompi, AfterSchoolDaze, Allkpop, fuckyeahAfterSchool@tumblr
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