KPOP 2nd generation · PLEDIS Entertainment
After School
アフタースクール / 애프터스쿨
After School ran an admission and graduation system borrowed from school life, so the line-up changed by design rather than by accident.
- 2009DebutJan 15, 2009
- 11Members
- 2thGeneration
- Play GirlzFandom
Last updated:
01
In 30 seconds: After School
Bang! uses a marching drum line, Shampoo turns lyrical, and First Love brings pole dancing onto the stage, which is further than most groups ever took the staging.
Start here if stagecraft interests you; very little else from those years was built this theatrically.
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Key facts
- Group name
- After School
- Reading / Hangul
- アフタースクール / 애프터스쿨
- Company
- PLEDIS Entertainment
- Debut date
- January 15, 2009
- Days active
- 6,498 days (17 years, 9 months)
- Debut song
- AH!
- Generation
- 2nd generation
- Fandom name
- Play Girlz(プレイガールズ)
03
Member guide
ジュヨン주연 · JooyeonView in Japanese
ベカ베카 · BekahView in Japanese
レイナ레이나 · RainaView in Japanese
ナナ나나 · NanaView in Japanese
イヨン이영 · E-YoungView in Japanese
Profile comparison
| Members | Birth date | Blood type | MBTI | Nationality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| カヒ | 1980-12-25 | 45 | 168cm | O | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ジョンア | 1983-08-02 | 43 | 167cm | O | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ソヨン | 1986-03-29 | 40 | 165cm | AB | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ジュヨン | 1987-03-19 | 39 | 168cm | AB | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ベカ | 1989-08-11 | 37 | 168cm | AB | Not disclosed | United States |
| ユイ | 1988-04-09 | 38 | 173cm | O | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| レイナ | 1989-05-07 | 37 | 166cm | B | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ナナ | 1991-09-14 | 35 | 171cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| リジ | 1992-07-31 | 34 | 168cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| イヨン | 1992-08-16 | 34 | 167cm | AB | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| カウン | 1994-08-20 | 32 | 168cm | AB | Not disclosed | South Korea |
Ages are as of 2026-10-31.
Selected releases
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Start here
Follow a few songs from the starting point to the group's current sound.
Bang! MVBang! is the signature, and the drum line plus the formations carry the whole thing.
Shampoo MVShampoo is the lyrical counterweight and shows the group away from spectacle.
First Love MVFirst Love is the late single with the pole choreography, and it still looks unusual.05
From debut to now
- 2009Arriving out of PLEDIS Entertainment, they led with a strong image of womanhood and a school-themed system of entering and graduating.
- 2010Bang! brought in marching drums, and the large-scale performance line became the image After School is known by.
- 2011The 1st Album Virgin, which holds Shampoo, plus the Japanese versions of Diva / Bang! widened the routes into both Korea and Japan.
- 2012With Flashback the sound moved to a more polished dance song, and the later line-up came into sharper view.
- 2013First Love took on demanding pole dance work and renewed the group as one built on stage expression.
- 2014Following the Japanese releases Shh, Dress to Kill and Shine reveals an archive apart from the Korean title tracks.
- 2015After that the thread runs less through new group releases than through the solo work and spin-off units of Kahi, Uee, Nana, Raina, Lizzy and Kaeun.
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Achievements
Key milestones
Verified information
Verified English information is not yet available for this section.
10
Official links
Official site
Official social accounts and platforms
Shopping guide
Verified English shopping links are not yet available.
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KPOP DISCOVER's After School note
What holds After School together is a line-up that changes by graduation and admission, paired with performance built to hit hard. The girl group debuted out of PLEDIS Entertainment in 2009 and took on a school-themed system of joining and leaving, working around Kahi with a different set of members in each period.
Bang!, Shampoo and First Love make the way in. Bang! carries the force of the marching drums, Shampoo turns to a lyrical melody, and First Love shows the stagecraft that comes with pole dance, so three sides of the group land one after another.
AH!, Diva, Because of You and Flashback, along with the Japanese releases, lay out how the work spread across Korea and Japan and how wide a performance-led girl group can be. There are comparison routes to Orange Caramel and to later PLEDIS acts as well. Bang!, then Shampoo, then First Love carries the force, the lyricism and the stagecraft in turn.
Editors' take Bang! / Shampoo / First Love — a PLEDIS girl group whose line-up turned over by graduation and admission, with performance strong enough that three songs carry it.
Trivia worth knowing
System
Members graduated and joined over the years, so the faces behind AH!, Bang! and First Love are not the same faces.
Signature expression
Bang! brought a drum line and First Love brought pole dancing, giving each single a stage device that sticks in the memory.
Japanese releases
Beyond the Korean singles, Diva -Japan Ver.-, Bang! -Japan Ver.-, Shh and Dress to Kill form a separate Japanese run to follow.
Offshoot
Orange Caramel, the sub-unit, took a quirky pop lane that sat well apart from the powerhouse performances of the main group.
Member entry point
Kahi led the early years, Uee and Nana are easiest to place through acting and modelling, and Raina and Lizzy through Orange Caramel.
Catching up
Once the videos have set the tone, stage and dance footage from KBS and PLEDIS Entertainment shows how much planning went into each concept.
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Japan activity score
KPOP DISCOVER original metric
No. 46/ 241 groups
No. 46 of 241 groups with recorded activity in Japan (top 19%)
- 6Japanese releases
- 22Japan-related tracks
- 0Members from Japan
- 0Official Japanese accounts
The denominator is the 241 groups, out of 564 covered by KPOP DISCOVER, whose raw score reaches at least one point. The score adds 10 points per Japanese-market release, 3 per Japan-related track, 12 per member from Japan, and 8 per official Japanese account. Japanese-market releases carry the most weight because they are the most direct evidence of activity; related tracks add track-level detail; members from Japan stand for Japanese-language communication and continuity; official accounts stand for a permanent point of contact. The weights are an editorial judgement, not a statistical optimisation, and the ranking tracks release volume in Japan closely. Source: releases, tracks, members, and official links recorded by KPOP DISCOVER (updated 2026-10-24).
How this score is calculated →View in JapaneseFrequently asked questions
What defines After School?
Bang! uses a marching drum line, Shampoo turns lyrical, and First Love brings pole dancing onto the stage, which is further than most groups ever took the staging.
Why should a new listener start with After School?
Start here if stagecraft interests you; very little else from those years was built this theatrically.
Which songs should a new listener try first?
Start with Bang!, Shampoo, First Love, then continue to the official video index.