KahiLeader
박지영- Name
- Park Ji-young
- Born
- 25 December 1980
Played Hyun Ji-soo in the 2012 drama Dream High 2, the year she graduated.
Their story
How it started
Pledis Entertainment launched After School on 15 January 2009 with the single album New Schoolgirl and the song "Ah!". The idea came from the name: the group was run like a school. New members "enrolled", and others "graduated" to go solo, act or study. The line-up began to grow within months. Uee joined in April 2009, just before the digital single "Diva", and Raina and Nana came in for "Because of You" that November.
The breakthrough
"Bang!" in March 2010 made them known to a wider public. It introduced Lizzy as the eighth member and built its stage around a marching band concept. The single peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon chart and became the song most people still connect with the group. The same year Raina, Nana and Lizzy debuted as the sub-unit Orange Caramel, and the eight members got their own reality show, Play Girlz School, on MBC every1.
Their sound and style
After School sold a group image more than a fixed line-up, so each era looked a little different. Their only Korean studio album, Virgin, arrived in April 2011 with "Shampoo" and nine members. Bekah left that year as the first graduate, to study design in Hawaii, and Kahi followed in 2012. "Flashback" (2012) was an electronic comeback meant to bring back the image of their debut. In Japan they released "Bang!" in Japanese and the albums Playgirlz and Dress to Kill, and their first tour there sold out.
Where they are now
The digital single "Week" in February 2014 was their last new release in Korea. Pledis never announced a disbandment, but the members left the agency one by one between 2017 and 2024, with Nana the last to go. In June 2021 Kahi, Jungah, Jooyeon, Bekah and Raina met again on the SBS show MMTG to perform "Bang!" and "Diva". It was their first joint performance in more than six years. Nana went on to act, and played Kim Mo-mi in the 2023 series Mask Girl.