Kahi has left Pledis and why I think this is bad.

Hi, long time not checking the forum at all. Thought I kept reading the website whenever I could.

However, I slipped on Son Dambi's departure, I guess I didn't catch the tweet at the time, since is the sns I can use better along with Facebook from my smartphone.

I only wanted to post once, so I chose this threat.

I think Pledis is changing, period.

I cannot say is for the worst. I do regret that there's no Kahi, no Juyeon and now no Dambi, but it's because I relate to the dream I had for Pledis back in 2012 or even in 2010. I still miss HelloVenus in the house, but past is past and there's nothing I can do but sit, watch, and support.

It's bittersweet to see how SEVENTEEN's investment paid off but they still couldn't get any netizen, like it happens with the rest of Pledis' acts. When you see other rookies get that, it feels like Pledis will never get the push their acts need to become constant. But I aim not going to discuss the matter again, we already did that in another threat last year.

I guess we can only sit and wait, After School activities are focused in Japan, but is not like they release like crazy there anymore.

NU'EST keeps dropping singles and I guess they make money, but they aren't among the top K-Pop idol groups in Japan either, so I assume it must be frustrating at some point not to come back in your own country while you need to keep dropping stuff that doesn't match exactly your main concept (The sound and image of Japanese PV's is a little bit different from the one they have in Korea).

Adam will come and say "I told you so", but the thing is I did like AS' Japanese stuff, I cannot even dig a song from NU'EST and is not because I am not into J-Pop precisely.

Busy as I'd been this year with a different project, I appologize if it seems I neglected this fandom. But even when you don't read me, I kept track of every possible release from Pledis, as much as my hectich schedule allowed me to do.

OKDR wrote:Adam will come and say "I told you so"

@OKDR LOL what the....no, I would say, "How's it going. Glad you're back and I miss your posts."

@OKDR Regarding AS' Japanese stuff, I honestly am glad that there are fans that like and support their Japanese stuff but at the same time I've always had the fear that more fans prefer their Japanese stuff over their Korean stuff and in time very little fans will support their Korean stuff and there won't be any more incentive for them to do Korean stuff any more. It's their Korean stuff and Pledis' promotions that define who After School's really are. I don't think Avex understands AS' group dynamic...nor do I think they care. Pledis clearly does...well at least Pledis seems to get what I like...or be able to eventually sucker me into liking something I would normally h8...LOL, First Love is a sad love song and I h8 sad love songs but the song is funny as hell because it sounds like they're singing about Nana being their first love.

Hello! Wow it has been a really long time since I've been active in the forums but I have been keeping up with AS news. I just wanted to say how much I miss our girls! In the light of 2NE1 coming back and other groups making their awaited comebacks I'm just here patiently waiting and crying (jk) for their comeback or at least something to hold us over! Maybe a Christmas or Happy Pledis collaboration really anything at this point! Anyway just wanted to get that off my chest and hope you are all doing well!!
P.S. This is how I feel when other fandoms complain about not getting the 100000th comeback of their bias group that year

Babbitkpop wrote:Maybe a Christmas or Happy Pledis collaboration really anything at this point!

@Babbitkpop, that would be awesome I want one with a Reunion concept where all the past Pledis' artists participate.

Am I the only one that finds it weird that Pledis didn't provide a promotional MV for Raina's current single? Also, isn't she attending any music shows?

I know they are putting a lot of efforts at promoting SEVENTEEN, but I think it's weird. The same way they do random stuff with Han Dong Geun and Jung Ah, but anything seems to have real promotional purposes.

OKDR wrote:Am I the only one that finds it weird that Pledis didn't provide a promotional MV for Raina's current single? Also, isn't she attending any music shows?

@OKDR, I didn't want to say this before because I wanted lots of fans to support Raina with her song but I think I can safely be brutally honest now...I think Pledis didn't put more effort into promoting her song because it wasn't that good and would have been an obvious financial lost. For me at least, there are lots of parts in the song where she alternates her pitch in succession that really irritates me...it has the same effect on me as when I hear police sirens. I think Raina is a great lyricist and I've loved all her previous works but the lyrics for "I don't know", I h8. I'm glad that other fans like her song though and I still bought her song from itunes to support her.

Btw, in case anyone doesn't know yet. Kahi is now a judge on Produce 101 and I saw the streaming for episode 1 last week IT WAS AWESOME!!! I didn't understanding a word of what was going on but just seeing #SleepyHeadGoddess dimples and anticipating for her to nod off and fall asleep was awesome ...oh crap I forget what time the show airs...was it around 11:00 pm KST?

I didn't dislike the song, though. But if it was that bad, I don't get why to release it at all. I mean, you can always go back to the studio and work on it till it's good enough.

I've seen Pledis Girls are at Produce 101. My huge wonder is what they plan to do with them if they don't have a decent vocalist among them. I know they are trainees, but all I saw was dance potential. I didn't even like the rappers' styles.

Also, I wonder what they plan to do now Jung Ah will graduate. It's obvious that if they intent for AS' to come back it needs a whole re-vamp. Be it of image, concept or even members.

OKDR wrote:But if it was that bad, I don't get why to release it at all.

@OKDR, maybe because Raina thought it was good and Pledis wants to help her out. Raina doesn't get very much from being in After School, she doesn't get the respect or the recognition she deserves and I know this fandom well enough to know this fandom will never give it to her(prove me wrong guys)...it's just a matter of time before she accepts that and realises there's nothing in After School  for her and moves on like what Kahi, Jung Ah and Juyeon  has done and when that happens After School is screw...it take a lot of love for her to want to keep being apart of After school...either that or she love AS and fans enough to want to says until she's like 30 like what Nana has said.

OKDR wrote:I mean, you can always go back to the studio and work on it till it's good enough.

Maybe Rhymer and Raina thought the song was good enough...I think otherwise but that's just my opinion.

OKDR wrote:My huge wonder is what they plan to do with them if they don't have a decent vocalist among them.

@OKDR, it's not always about the vocal. Siyeon did a pretty good job rearranging the song and there's lots of elements in that cover to that reminds me of After School beside the fact that is a cover of an After School song. There's the hip hop elements taking us back to After School's debut era, Brave Brothers Brave Sound watermark ubiquitous amongst After School songs...even though(I'm pretty sure) Bang was not produce by Brave Brothers(although I think in the past I've said it was). Also I love that Siyeon added in the original Bang intro... LOL it's absolute gibberish but it's funny gibberish...here's what I hear,

Person 1: Hey, don't you Bob that goes to work?
Person 2: What? Wait a minute honour!
Person 1: It does it like.
....
Person 1: Yeah!

LOL, yeah, that's art and homage to the queens(a.k.a AFTER SCHOOL!)

Have you seen Ep 1 translated yet? The lyrics makes the song sound more like a diss song while the original Bang was a throw down song. The performance and rearrangement of the song was art, you don't need great vocals to produce art and this is well recognise because the Pledis Girls performance actually has the most views out of all the Produce 101 performances on MNET.

Also, with time and practice, their vocals will improve.

OKDR wrote:I didn't even like the rappers' styles.

@OKDR, I think Yebin did a pretty good job with the rap...though it was annoyingly nasal...not more so that San E's raps...yeah, I don't really like that rap style either...missing Bekah now

OKDR wrote:Also, I wonder what they plan to do now Jung Ah will graduate.

@OKDR T__T AFTER SCHOOL REUNION CONCEPT!!! T__T

...I'm going to find out when Produce 101 is going to be on. Seeing Kahi again will cheer me up

As I said, I didn't dislike Raina's song, but if it wasn't perfect, it was the job of the company to let her know the songs' flaws. However, I was just glad she could drop something, then disappointed, because it was just like Han Dong Geun's stuff and his duet with Jung Ah, that had no promotion going on.

I disagree on the Pledis Girls not needing a decent vocalist (I didn't say great, I said decent =good enough for lives and studio recordings). I am not the type whom just like power-house vocalists, sometimes, I don't even like half of them because of their style and technique, I also like softer vocals, I was always a sucker for Son Dambi's soft and weak vocals, but she was on point. These girls lack someone like A Pink lacked a vocalist before debut and that is why they got Eun Ji.

I didn't like the full arrangement, some parts were good enough, other sounded misplaced with the instrumental. More than arrangement, it was like making a complete new song from it, which is remarkable, but still, I think they lack some skills or need to polish those.

Going back to Raina, I was actually expecting more girls saying they are leaving. I am not deluding myself into thinking they still want to carry on after all this time only promoting Japanese stuff and only because their contract obligates them to do so. Dynamics appart, the girls are seeking different goals individualy now, and just trying to go back and face a whole new different world in the K-Pop female idol industry, seems out of place. I start even doubting Kaeun's interested in being a member anymore. It's sad, but I don't really the see the point. The difference with them and NU'EST is that during all this time, the boys kept together all along (mostly because they lack individual duties and sponsorships), they were all together in the dungeon and doing nonsensicall Japanese stuff (already said that I didn't get what they tried to achieve by changing so much their style for that market, what worked for AS, didn't work for them at all).

And even with all that, I still believe a re-vamp is always possible. Haha, I always get to see the side of the business, only that I honestly don't know how Pledis will manage, whether they start building strong teams of staff to carry properly on separating promotions for the different acts (I mean, that actually work at the end, having different acts promote consequently) or they will fail again. I get that idea (before you ask) by the way Kahi twetted during her last promotions under them, but also by the way they gave up on having them promoting like this, never denying whether if it was due to lack of money for those much promotions or what. It came to a point that it looked like everyone was waiting on line for their turn. Now it's NU'EST's, then OC's, then let's try SEVENTEEN... I now I have the timelines messed up in my head, but I think that Dambi and Kahi got to be part of that "waiting in line" thing, even HV, before the joint project was dissmissed.

Seeing Kahi in Produce 101, makes me want to see her launching music again. It's a pity that after all, she's just going to stick to TV appearences like that and stage musical plays U_U

Finished watching Produce 101 Ep 2. now it's about 3:00 pm and need to sleep. Can't wait to see Kahi next week

Good night Aadam XD

OKDR wrote:I didn't like the full arrangement, some parts were good enough, other sounded misplaced with the instrumental.

@OKDR, I think the instrumentals and their placement were exactly the same as the original Bang version.

OKDR wrote:Going back to Raina, I was actually expecting more girls saying they are leaving.

...I was expecting most of them to be staying given the fact that earlier this year they said that they hope they'll get a chance to interact with fans through various activities this year and where ever there are AS fans they'll come and find us and interact with us.

Since there wasn't a come back in the line, I hadn't much hopes for them to want to stay once their contracts expire.

Some parts of the Bang! verses of Pledis' girls were changed from the original.