Status of After School

Now that UEE has left, after the original five members, After School's future now looks uncertain.

After School hasn't come back since 2013, and from the news Lizzy's contract with Pledis is close to expiration, which makes Orange Caramel's future uncertain as well.

Do you guys think that After School and Orange Caramel are over? Even if After School does do a comeback, it won't be the same group as it before obviously. Moreso if the remaining five members' contracts are up for renewal soon, and if most, if not all, decide to leave. Which would leave Pledis no choice but to either disband After School and Orange Caramel, or to introduce a completely new lineup overall.

I also have to note that this forum and the parent website are pretty dead at this point too. The website hasn't updated since last year, and the most recent post on this forum, by PlaybozAdam, was made months ago and was the first since last year.

Sorry if I sound negative, but the way I see it, I think I'm being realistic here.

Uee leaving isn’t really a “surprise” since she already said in an interview with Iigan Sports on April 1 2014 "I don't think there's much time left before I graduate from After School. In the past, my ambition to stand on stage rather than to act was strong, but these days, my ambition for acting has grown.  Whenever I think that, I feel that my graduation day is nearing.  I'm not saying I need to graduate right away, but I do feel like I need to pass on my position to my dongsaengs."

For me it’s clear she was going to leave and join an acting agency and I predicted as much over a year ago, the only thing I got wrong is I didn’t know the length of her contract which seems unusual being eight years, the only reason I think she didn’t officially graduate sooner is because Pledis was focusing on her acting career so she didn’t feel the need to do anything about it and just ran out her contract.
As for After school’s future I am not at all hopeful, their last Korean comeback was as you said 2013 which is way too long and any comeback now is like debuting a new group and very difficult and only getting more so the longer they wait but if you want my analysis I think it’s over and done bar the crying.

If I was to make a speculative breakdown and timeline some “evidence” to support this idea I would put it like this; When Jung A graduated Pledis made this statement, "Currently, the company is discussing After School's activities with the other members." That was in January 2016, I’m taking that as a positive statement that Pledis was willing to continue After School in some fashion but in May 2016 Nana removed the tags ‘After School’ and ‘Orange Caramel’ from her instagram account which at the time had 1.3 million followers, while that may mean nothing it’s still a very provocative move by Nana who is more than careful about what she does so I’m taking that as a sign the “talks” about After School didn’t go well and Nana was letting fans know it was over without actually saying “it’s over,” then on September 5th Lizzy said in an interview for her new show “Please Look After My Vanity 2” she said “I thought my source of income had dried up,” and explained, “Now that the end of my contract is nearing, [the company] isn’t giving me any work.” This is an explosive thing to say especially on a photo op for her new job which Pledis obviously got her plus she has had hosting jobs on a car show not long after this which finished around the end of the year plus a new one she’s on now, but I’m taking this as an indication that at least Lizzy thinks Pledis won’t renew her contract or she won’t renew it so Pledis is letting her dangle until it runs out, not a positive indication to be sure. Lastly there was something said by a member of Pristin which is a little bit of a stretch as evidence but bare with me, after losing two members of After School any future would include adding new members given that After Schools whole concept is the graduating one, and to add new members you would have to have trainees ready to go, but all the trainees that anyone even knows about are currently now in Pristin, which goes to what one of the girls said, “The company suddenly said to us one day, do you want to debut together? And that’s how we came to be.” Given that Yebin (Rena) said during Produce 101 that she was worried because going back to her company is no guarantee of debuting to everyone we know in Pledis is now in Pristin means that there is no longer any trainees ready to go to add to After School, at least none we know of.

Could After School continue as five members? Sure that’s possible but you can’t lose anyone else, if Uee had an eight year contract and we assume Nana and Raina and Lizzy do too then Nana and Raina’s contract are due at the end of October or end of November which is only three or four months away, I’ve said this before, they are the line you can’t cross, lose even one of these girls and it’s over for sure.


There is one last thing which I’ve seen that may indicate After School may already be dead and we just don’t know about it but Orange Caramel “may” still exist (maybe because the OC girls have a separate contract for being in OC?)

http://www.pledis.co.kr/html/notice.html?mode=v&bbs_data=aWR4PTYzJnN0YXJ0UGFnZT0mbGlzdE5vPTI2JnRhYmxlPWNzX2Jic19kYXRhJmNvZGU9bm90aWNlJnNlYXJjaF9pdGVtPSZzZWFyY2hfb3JkZXI9||&bgu=view

Everyone but After School is on this poster which seems like a large omission to leave out the longest running group in your company, unless that is it no longer exists.

arhat wrote:Do you guys think that After School and Orange Caramel are over?

Nope

arhat wrote:Even if After School does do a comeback, it won't be the same group as it before obviously.

After Schools has never come back the same as their previous promotions. There's always been changes in After School whether it's the evolution of their skills, member lineup, their relationship with each other or this fandom.

arhat wrote:I also have to note that this forum and the parent website are pretty dead at this point too.

I remember Shu saying(on twitter) that ASdaze will be on hiatus.

intrepid wrote:but in May 2016 Nana removed the tags ‘After School’ and ‘Orange Caramel’ from her instagram account which at the time had 1.3 million followers, while that may mean nothing it’s still a very provocative move by Nana

I'm not worried about Nana removing After School from her instagram. In August 2016 Nana made it clear that even though she enjoyed acting and has a strong desire to try other roles and characters, singing is her main job and she wants to stand on stage soon. Even though arrangements haven’t been made for the next comeback yet but once they have, she wants to prepare and come back. See https://www.soompi.com/2016/08/24/nana-reflects-2-year-preparation-future-singing-acting-career/ for more info.

intrepid wrote:then on September 5th Lizzy said in an interview for her new show “Please Look After My Vanity 2” she said “I thought my source of income had dried up,” and explained, “Now that the end of my contract is nearing, [the company] isn’t giving me any work.” This is an explosive thing to say especially on a photo op for her new job which Pledis obviously got her plus she has had hosting jobs on a car show not long after this which finished around the end of the year plus a new one she’s on now, but I’m taking this as an indication that at least Lizzy thinks Pledis won’t renew her contract or she won’t renew it so Pledis is letting her dangle until it runs out, not a positive indication to be sure.

Not sure what Lizzy is doing or trying to do but regardless, it is clear that Pledis is not letting her dangle until her contract runs out as she was suggesting. You've aleady pointed out that Lizzy has already(seemingly at least) contradicted herslef by saying Pledis isn't giving her any more work at an interview for a photoshoot for “Please Look After My Vanity 2” BUT pledis obviously got for her the job and the there were other jobs Pledis got for her after that one. I remember multiple times where Lizzy has been grateful to Pledis and praised them so for her to say that does not seem like a positive indication...or she could have been joking or actually drunk at the the of saying that.

intrepid wrote:Could After School continue as five members?

You've heard me say this before but I'm going to repeat it anyway. After School start with 5 members. 3 core performers and 2 backup singingers/dancers. After School can continued exactly as they have started i.e. 3 core performing members(orange caramel) and 2 backup singers/dancers(E-young and Kaeun).

intrepid wrote:There is one last thing which I’ve seen that may indicate After School may already be dead and we just don’t know about it but Orange Caramel “may” still exist (maybe because the OC girls have a separate contract for being in OC?)

http://www.pledis.co.kr/html/notice.html?mode=v&bbs_data=aWR4PTYzJnN0YXJ0UGFnZT0mbGlzdE5vPTI2JnRhYmxlPWNzX2Jic19kYXRhJmNvZGU9bm90aWNlJnNlYXJjaF9pdGVtPSZzZWFyY2hfb3JkZXI9||&bgu=view

Everyone but After School is on this poster which seems like a large omission to leave out the longest running group in your company, unless that is it no longer exists.

This could be an indication of After School may already be dead(although I don't think that's the case) or it could be an example of Pledis' incompetence. Which ever is the case Pledis deserves to burn for their blasphemy.

With all due respect PlayboyzAdam, either you are a great fan with great faith, or you're a bit of a fanatic...

Overall, let's wait and see shall we? 4 years is still a long time, and all the members before OC have left both AS and also Pledis altogether. The group's character is going to be quite different if it comes back as is.

I have to note, two members added to OC and it becomes a completely different group that is AS as it is now.

Pledis doesn't list Pristin on its artists page, while After School is listed, and with an outdated lineup...

PlayboyzAdam, I’m a pessimist and a realist which means I don’t have either much faith or hope that After School is ever going to come back; over the last year after I wrote my opinion piece I’ve have seen the continuation of the second generation girl group decimation, groups that I thought would continue on until the ten year mark like 2NE1 and Sistar, two of the three top tier groups of their generation are no more, being top tier and also being groups more focused on music with members more known for being in the group than what they did out of it I calculated they would extend their contracts, but that didn’t happen.

After School has withdrawn from the music scene completely, in 2014 they still did the music festival circuit as a group, Orange Caramel as well, in 2015 it was mostly Orange Caramel and in 2016/2017 neither.

With no new members and no new music and no music festival circuit to remind people they still exist, After School has lost relevance to the public and they were a mid-tier group at best to start with, they can’t afford to lose touch with their audience and yet they have, and over the last three years they have lost three members, to me it looks grim.

I’ve been increasing my understanding of how kpop works over the last year and everything I’ve learnt only supports my opinion that After School/Orange Caramel is dead, I hope I’m wrong, I wish I’m wrong but I don’t believe I am, anyway we’ll probably find out by the end of the year.

I need to vent and as dead as this place is it’s about the only place left to do so.

Recently KBS released a list of companies participating in the idol reboot show “The Unit” and Pledis was on that list, given that SEVENTEEN is a top group I don’t expect anyone from them, NU’EST are on a roll finally after P101 and are coming back as a unit in October so they don’t need to go on this show which leaves Pristin and what’s left of After School; given that Pristin is doing ok I doubt they would send anyone from there but who knows, that leaves After School as the likely candidate.

I doubt Pledis is going to send “all” the remaining girls from AS because of conflicts and possible contract renewals so I’ll go down the list of least to most likely to go on the show and why I think it’s not a good idea for AS.

First off Nana won’t be going, she starts filming her first lead role in the drama “Four Sons” which starts filming in November, her acting career is taking off and she would be too busy, also we have to contend with the possibility that her contract if it is the same length as UEE’s will probably end in October – November and I think she’ll go into acting full time when that happens, she could still re-sign with Pledis but UEE proved that no matter how well you’re treated business is business and going to a full acting agency is probably better career wise but we’ll have to see.

Raina, I’m fifty fifty on her going, given her age she probably wants to go full solo, this show would give her valuable exposure but if she got into the project group AS/OC couldn’t make a comeback and she couldn’t establish herself as a soloist, there are pros and cons for her but she joined AS the same time as Nana so probable contract ending.

Lizzy, she is famous enough that going on the show would cause a stir and if Nana and/or Raina leave Pledis left out on a limb so would benefit from the exposure, she joined later than Nana and Raina so no contract renewal problems but it wouldn’t benefit either AS or OC if both are disbanded by either Nana or Raina leaving, I see her as a highly likely candidate to go on the show.

E Young and Kaeun, one or both going on the show I see as very likely, they are the two most underrated members of AS, and if AS is over this gives them a chance at a new start, which brings me back to why I don’t think this is a good idea.

When NU’EST joined P101 there was a storm of protests from their fans saying this is a terrible idea and Pledis should “promote them better,” I was one of the few who argued the opposite and that the exposure it would give them would benefit them, I was right but I factored in that they were still young and that Pledis would be in a position to leverage that benefit by staging a comeback as some sort of group providing that enough of the groups singers were available, with AS Raina is their main vocalist and while the rest are good they can’t carry the group like she can, she is the vocal anchor they need to sound half great and while OC “could” still go on if she stays in Pledis both AS/OC are dead without her and if either Lizzy/E Young or Kaeun join The Unit and succeed in increasing their profile then if either or both Nana or Raina leave AS/OC Pledis can’t make a group out of those three, it just won’t happen.

The other problem I have is both E-Young and Kaeun are just terrible at promoting, people say that their lack of profile is Pledis’s bad promotions, not true, they were promoted plenty, I’ve watched the shows they were on and they just didn’t do anything to stand out so didn’t get the air time they needed and were either edited out or down, in this show they need to stand out and while having the name AS attached to them will give them some guaranteed coverage they need to make sure they stand out enough to take advantage of it, something I don’t have much faith in given their past performance.

In short I don’t see any upside for OC/AS for any member participating in this show, win lose or draw, I don’t see how Pledis could make use of the greater exposure unless Nana and Raina stay in both AS/OC and the rest of the girls make a good enough showing to create anticipation of a comeback but don’t do so well as to get into the project group, this only works well for individual promotions not group promotion unless I’m missing something important, this is why I don’t see this as a good thing for either AS or OC.

So E-Young is opening a music academy… at first I wasn’t sure how this bodes for After School, on the one hand she doesn’t do much so probably needs to do something to earn money, on the other if she’s doing this how would it impact on an After School comeback if that’s ever going to happen, what does this mean?  

When she posted the first couple of images there wasn’t much details but now the information has come out it’s in Chuncheon which is a city and not a district of Seoul which is what I first thought when I read it, her home town to be exact… E-Young is going home.  

This isn’t to say E-Young isn’t “technically” still in After School but it isn’t likely she’s going back home in a different city to set up and run a business and still be a functioning member of a girl group, she’s also most likely moved out of the dorm because why commute all that way when you have a home there, that only leaves Raina, Lizzy and Kaeun living in the dorm; when did E-Young join AS? April 2011 some time? That means if her contract is seven years it expires next year, who knows, but as I pointed out in the above post if either or both Nana or Raina are due next month and don’t re-sign then it’s over anyway, Pledis would probably release her from the rest of her contract anyway if they haven’t already… I really really really h8 this death by a thousand cuts After School has become.  

So The Unit, it’s probably safe to say though not certain E-Young won’t participate, which leaves maybe Kaeun? I don’t even know anymore, if going on The Unit is a strategy by Pledis to gain some type of promotion for a comeback then it only seems to benefit a solo comeback at this point which means maybe Raina? This is driving me insane, I keep running scenarios in my head to figure it out but none makes any sense at all, After School looks like it’s already dead, the signs all point to that conclusion yet I keep looking for a magical out that probably won’t happen.  
 
It could be that Pledis isn’t sending anyone from AS to The Unit, that’s just a conclusion we fans made because it seemed reasonable and any positive feedback could benefit an AS comeback, but if Nana is acting and Lizzy is starting her new hosting gig and E-Young is gone then why bother with sending Kaeun? It would be easier/cheaper to do nothing then release her from her contract when the point of hiding AS’s disbandment is a moot point, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.    

Can you post up the article that shows E-Young is going back home to Chuncheon to open her music academy?

What I don't like about Wikipedia now is that E-Young's and Kaeun's Wikipedia entries aren't available anymore. One could see that Kaeun is from Seoul before, but not anymore.

That said, I didn't think E-Young would go to The Unit since she hasn't been involved in Pledis activities for a while, at least as far as I've seen. Who knows what will happen to Raina and Kaeun.

arhat wrote:Can you post up the article that shows E-Young is going back home to Chuncheon to open her music academy?

What I don't like about Wikipedia now is that E-Young's and Kaeun's Wikipedia entries aren't available anymore. One could see that Kaeun is from Seoul before, but not anymore.

That said, I didn't think E-Young would go to The Unit since she hasn't been involved in Pledis activities for a while, at least as far as I've seen. Who knows what will happen to Raina and Kaeun.

It was mentioned in an allkpop article here…

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2017/09/after-schools-e-young-opens-idol-training-school-e-young-music-academy

To follow up this information to confirm it’s veracity I checked the phone number E-Young posted on her instagram, 033 2557119, “033” is the area code for Gangwon-do a Provence on the East coast, Seoul is on the West coast, Chuncheon is its capital and it is E-Youngs’ home town, there is a high speed train service between Seoul and Chuncheon which takes about an hour one way.

I don’t see any point in E-Young setting up a school to teach music so far away from where she currently lives unless she no longer plans living there, and since that’s where she comes from it makes sense she would move back home with her family which would be entirely in keeping with Korean custom, while some of this is fact some of it is also speculation on my part but it’s so logical 'join the dots' type logic that its plain she leaving Seoul, Pledis and After School behind her.

The Unit’s whole deal is to reboot already debut idols careers, idols that didn’t for whatever reason get the exposure to fully shine, in this context E-Young would be the perfect candidate for such a show especially being that she hasn’t had any activities but this changes that calculation enormously, I don’t see her going on a show to reboot her idol career at the same time she is opening a teaching academy that makes no sense at all.

Raina is plainly trying to go solo, she is a singer after all so her going solo is logical, Kaeun is the mystery, I don’t see her going solo she’s talented but not that talented, she’s DJ’ing at the moment and she did have a small roll in a drama recently, I just don’t know.

intrepid wrote:I’ve been increasing my understanding of how kpop works over the last year and everything I’ve learnt only supports my opinion that After School/Orange Caramel is dead, I hope I’m wrong, I wish I’m wrong but I don’t believe I am, anyway we’ll probably find out by the end of the year.

@intrepid After School isn't like other Kpop groups so the general knowledge about Kpop groups you've learn throughout the last year might not be applicable to After School. I'm very certain that After School will continue but Orange Caramel's existence is a bit more of a concern considering how old the Orange Caramel girls are getting.

intrepid wrote:When NU’EST joined P101 there was a storm of protests from their fans saying this is a terrible idea and Pledis should “promote them better,”

The protest fans had against Nu'est participating in Produce 101 was just done out of petty and their own vanity. They didn't care that it was a great oportunity to promote Nu'est. All they can think of was how bad it looks on them that Nu'est has admitted that they wanted to be like their juniors(e.g. Pristin and Seventeen) and being relabelled as "trainees" when they've been debut 5 years ago. It takes great strength for Nu'est to admit what they have said as well as participating knowing how it negatively looks but LOVEs were too petty to see that, they continued to protest and also blame Pledis for forcing them to participate...LOL which is funny because Nu'est themselves wanted to participate.

intrepid wrote:with AS Raina is their main vocalist and while the rest are good they can’t carry the group like she can, she is the vocal anchor they need to sound half great and while OC “could” still go on if she stays in Pledis both AS/OC are dead without her

More people need to recognise just how important Raina is to After School and show her the recognition she deserves.

intrepid wrote:The other problem I have is both E-Young and Kaeun are just terrible at promoting, people say that their lack of profile is Pledis’s bad promotions, not true, they were promoted plenty, I’ve watched the shows they were on and they just didn’t do anything to stand out so didn’t get the air time they needed and were either edited out or down, in this show they need to stand out and while having the name AS attached to them will give them some guaranteed coverage they need to make sure they stand out enough to take advantage of it, something I don’t have much faith in given their past performance.

@intrepid While I disagree with fan's belief that E-young and Kaeun's lack of public interest and awareness is a result of Pledis' poor promotions skills. I also disagree with you when you say E-young and Kaeun just didn’t do anything to stand out while they were in shows. For example, E-young played the bass for 20 minutes in "Big Question" back in 2011 which made her finger bled and she only stopped because the show hosts stopped her. Also I remember Kaeun really stood out in the 2012 MBC Idol Wrestling Championship where she won second place and only lost to Yewon(former Jewelry member). Kaeun was also the MVP of another wrestling championship in an episode of "Let's Go Dream Team 2" where she wins the championship and she also faces off against her previous rival(Yewon) and beats her I remember Kaeun(along with Raina and Lizzy) also particiaptes in an episode of "Let's Go Dream Team 2" where Kaeun remains undefeated but as a team they still loss because of Lizzy and Raina weren't as good at wrestling.

intrepid wrote:In short I don’t see any upside for OC/AS for any member participating in this show, win lose or draw, I don’t see how Pledis could make use of the greater exposure unless Nana and Raina stay in both AS/OC and the rest of the girls make a good enough showing to create anticipation of a comeback but don’t do so well as to get into the project group, this only works well for individual promotions not group promotion unless I’m missing something important, this is why I don’t see this as a good thing for either AS or OC.

The important thing is that participating in the show will increases public awareness and interest in them(i.e. as individual members) and/or After School(as a group) no matter how much that maybe.

intrepid wrote:So E-Young is opening a music academy… at first I wasn’t sure how this bodes for After School, on the one hand she doesn’t do much so probably needs to do something to earn money,

Given that E-young frequently has international vacations and now she has her own performing arts academy...I'm pretty sure she doesn't need to do any thing to earn money. At this point I'm pretty sure being an After School member is just a hobby for E-young.

intrepid wrote:When she posted the first couple of images there wasn’t much details but now the information has come out it’s in Chuncheon which is a city and not a district of Seoul which is what I first thought when I read it, her home town to be exact… E-Young is going home.

E-young may own the academy but that doesn't necessarily mean she's the only teacher there. Maybe there are other teachers there that teaches students and E-young can resume her After School activities when After School comes back.

intrepid wrote:This is driving me insane, I keep running scenarios in my head to figure it out but none makes any sense at all, After School looks like it’s already dead, the signs all point to that conclusion yet I keep looking for a magical out that probably won’t happen.

@intrepid Maybe none of the scenarios you'll running make any sense because After School isn't dead. In the last few years After School has been a sinking ship and lots of members has already jumped ship but from what I've seen the ship has stop sinking and is slowly and steadily floating back to shore

Well there are 3 days left to the end of October will November be a happy time for us, happy as in no news (the "best" sadly we can hope for) or will what I have predicted to happen actually happen, tick tock tick tock.

And let's continue the conversation when enough time passes.

And oh look, Lizzy is talking about getting a national make up license and that the idol life can't continue forever.

https://www.soompi.com/2017/10/26/schools-lizzy-shares-latest-thoughts-idol-life-future-plans/

Tick tock tick tock.

arhat wrote:And let's continue the conversation when enough time passes.

And oh look, Lizzy is talking about getting a national make up license and that the idol life can't continue forever.

https://www.soompi.com/2017/10/26/schools-lizzy-shares-latest-thoughts-idol-life-future-plans/

Tick tock tick tock.

This isn't the first time Lizzy has mentioned that the idol life doesn't last long, she also mentioned it on a program she was on with Nana, and lets see what happens when enough time passes though I'm not looking forward to it.

Hello guys. TLDR; is it true Orange Caramel's contracts are expiring this November?

Renzel wrote:Hello guys. TLDR; is it true Orange Caramel's contracts are expiring this November?

That is the question we don't know the answer to because we don't know if they have a separate contract from After School and we don't know how long their contracts are or if they extended them in the past; Jung A's contract ended after 7 years, Jooyeon's ended after 5 years, Uee's was 8 so how long the other girls are is anyone's guess but the start date is usually (but not always) from the day they debuted so that is the month you should stay vigilant for.

I am more on Inrepid's way of thinking.
I admit that Adam is the most optimistic here, I don't even hold hopes anymore.

Just one minor detail about NU'EST: Not all fans positioned the same way when the announcement was made. I wasn't the only one saying that I was sad but I could totally see why they were doing this. There were others twitting and doing tumblr posts about it.

Not all of us agreed with the petition or backed it up.

The real cons I saw back then was the dangers of the audience calling NU'EST out for joining a trainees & rookies show, and labeling them as unfair. Which actually happened at the beginning.

I agreed that something that extreme was needed, I just wasn't sure the show choice was the right one (for the reason stated above), but I also foresaw how it could work in the long run if they played their cards well.

I just see little possibilities for AS coming back anymore. I got the feeling that, at the moment, everybody concerned in the matter, except the fans, are done with it.

I just read this story on Koreaboo, "Nana Talks About How She Felt Exposing Her Breasts In New Movie"

http://www.koreaboo.com/buzz/nana-talks-felt-exposing-breasts-new-movie/

This was unexpected, not that I have a problem with her doing such a thing because I live in a tropical environment in a tourist area and during summer the beaches are full of women sunbathing topless, it's not a big deal to me but when idols do such things it is a big deal, actors may get criticized but tend to get away with such things idols not so much, I never heard of an idol doing such a thing and coming back, another nail in the coffin of AS/OC demise.

Yes, you are right. Is not usual for idols of any kind to expose their breasts.

It was already a taboo a few years back to see them kiss at all on screen, so imagine what that meant to Nana. But also, I think she is leaving the idol label more and more now.

intrepid wrote:Well there are 3 days left to the end of October will November be a happy time for us, happy as in no news (the "best" sadly we can hope for) or will what I have predicted to happen actually happen, tick tock tick tock.  

@intrepid I'm not sure about you guys but November has been pretty good for me(regarding After School) and I don't think what you guys are predicting to happen will actually happen.

OKDR wrote:I admit that Adam is the most optimistic here, I don't even hold hopes anymore.

@OKDR I'm not really an optimist or a pessimist, I'm a realist. I h8 repeating things but I'll repeat this again, After School is only dead to this fandom but to Pledis and After School themselve, After School is still very much alive. See the following links,
https://www.soompi.com/2017/11/19/schools-nana-expresses-wish-school-comeback-talks-stage-name/
https://www.soompi.com/2017/11/19/after-schools-nana-renews-contract-pledis-entertainment/

OKDR wrote:I just see little possibilities for AS coming back anymore. I got the feeling that, at the moment, everybody concerned in the matter, except the fans, are done with it.

@OKDR not sure how you're getting the idea that everybody concerned in the matter, except the fans, are done with it when last year Nana said singing is her main job and she wants to stand on stage soon as well as the stuff she said in one of the links I've just posted. The truth is, the fans are the ones that are done with it and want it over not Pledis and not After School and like I've previously said, After School is still very much alive to After School themselves and Pledis. LOL ya got love Nana for her yearly reminders to the fandom that it's only this fandom that want After School dead.

intrepid wrote:I just read this story on Koreaboo, "Nana Talks About How She Felt Exposing Her Breasts In New Movie"....

when idols do such things it is a big deal, actors may get criticized but tend to get away with such things idols not so much, I never heard of an idol doing such a thing and coming back, another nail in the coffin of AS/OC demise;

@intrepid I believe using other idol as analogues for predicting AS matter isn't very useful...we'll see. I got no problems with her exposing her breasts and it may add to her many charms of which are already over powering...so her breasts might not standout(i.e. be a bit disappointing) compared to her other charms.

For some reason, I didn't receive any emails notifiying me of any updates to this thread. I was about to post the recent links of Nana, but Adam has done it already.

I guess it's time to say what I held my tongue on, with some modification in light of new information.

I don't think you're a realist Adam. You come across as more of a fanatic who just seems to refuse to entertain the possibility that After School might be dead, probably because of how much you love After School... To the point where you just dismissed intrepid's words without any proper refutation, and just simply stated that the AS ship is coming back to shore at the end of the last message before your latest one...

We love After School too, but they simply haven't come back since 2013, all the while other acts has come in to the scene, like TWICE. I'll give Nana the fact that she wants an AS comeback and that she has renewed her contract with Pledis. And to you even for the other links you've posted.

While other groups have come and gone, like 2NE1, Rainbow (which happens to be number 6 in November's girl group brand reputation ranking despite being disbanded https://www.soompi.com/2017/11/10/november-girl-group-brand-reputation-rankings-revealed-2/), and now four members of SNSD, all groups have their different situations, but to be fair, if a group doesn't do a comeback in a while it's very likely to be dead. I don't care what group that is.

And don't twist our words. We don't want After School dead, we're just prepared for the worst.

I don't know what effect Nana showing her breasts in the movie will have on her career, since I don't live in Korean society and thus don't keep up with the cultural or societal norms. I'll just be sure to watch the movie.

Now it's just a matter of seeing whether Raina, Lizzy, and E-Young will renew their contracts. I've heard that Raina is definitely going to renew, and E-Young's contract is coming up in December. I know nothing about Kaeun's contract. Let's wait and see shall we?

arhat wrote:I don't think you're a realist Adam. You come across as more of a fanatic who just seems to refuse to entertain the possibility that After School might be dead

@arhat I may do some extreme things but I dont't think I'm a fanatic. Maybe we have different definitions of "dead", my definition is that After School is dead when either Pledis disbands After School or when all After School member don't want to be in After School anymore. Whether After School has a comeback anytime soon or if at all has no part in the definition.

arhat wrote:To the point where you just dismissed intrepid's words without any proper refutation, and just simply stated that the AS ship is coming back to shore at the end of the last message before your latest one...

@arhat if you read back to earlier posts you'll see that I have indeed given proper refutation for intrepid's words e.g.  intrepid said that in May 2016 Nana removed the tags ‘After School’ and ‘Orange Caramel’ and I refuted the idea of there being any negative significance from what intrepid said  by pointing out that in August 2016(i.e. 3 month after what intrepid said happened) Nana said that  singing is her main jobs and she wants to be on stage soon.

arhat wrote:We love After School too, but they simply haven't come back since 2013, all the while other acts has come in to the scene, like TWICE

After school not coming back yet does not make them dead. You guys know the reasons why After School hasn't came back yet but the cherry  picking you guys do is unbelievable.

arhat wrote:And don't twist our words. We don't want After School dead, we're just prepared for the worst.

@arhat I'm not twisting anyones words. Search around the internet and you'll find plenty of fans wanting After School members to disband and leave Pledis. I really don't think you guys here are preparing for the worst, you guys are expecting the worst and I know there are members of ASDaze forum who wants After School members to disband.

arhat wrote:Now it's just a matter of seeing whether Raina, Lizzy, and E-Young will renew their contracts. I've heard that Raina is definitely going to renew, and E-Young's contract is coming up in December. I know nothing about Kaeun's contract. Let's wait and see shall we?

In my opinion if E-young and/or Kaeun left, that won't kill as but I think if Raina or Nana left then that might have a high chance of killing AS.

EDIT: LOL I thought the forum was broken when I saw the changes after posting this post but it turns out that Renzel is in the middle of revamping the forum while I was writing the post. Thanks for revamping the forum Renzel <3

I have to say I didn't have many hopes of Nana renewing now her acting career is starting to be more stable. Not after Uee also left.

However, I don't retract myself, the group musically at the moment seems to be done. It doesn't mean is completely dead, but as arhat said, some of us are prepared for the worst already.

If Pledis decides to grant them a come back, then we will be there.

I am back after reviewing Pledis' new site.

I will tell this to Adam whom, it is the most optimistic. Admit that, besides being realistic on your own view of things, you're also the only trully optimistic. I haven't even been that optimistic this year after seeing Uee was graduating.

Regarding that, I've been reading she's not doing that well outside of Pledis, so I'd like to read some of your opinions on that, Adam. I haven't got time to be updated with the drama world for months.

Going back to the site.

I must say I don't believe Pledis bothered to build the new After School page as it is if they didn't mean to refloat the boat.

I still believe that right now everything points out at them giving up on the project on musical terms, but the site is a hope on a way too opposite route.

They even bothered to list ALL the graduated members and their current agencies.

For some people commenting on Reddits and All K-Pop's article about Nana's renewal:

Kaeun wouldn't have an individual page if the agency planned to let her go.

I do believe it's unfair people say Pledis mismanages the girls individual careers. You all know I am not the biggest fan on their music planning, but they have tried their best to push the members individually. I guess this is why I wished Uee recognized that and stayed with them.

Raina not renewing, would be a big disappointment for me. She's the only one I expected to renew. I know she's not the biggest solo singer out there, but it seems that Pledis has always let her do her own music.

I recall a comment Adam said once about one of her singles not being too good, but Pledis let her release it anyway. And looking at the past, she's been granted solo work to have a solid career even if she's not uber famous.

I just hope Lizzy would been fairier commenting on the company and her currently having that much work. I hope she's only joking and by the time to negotiate, she stays.

Pledis even, finally, bother to do BUMZU a proper page, so I don't see why they would bother to renew the whole site with AS & OC's pages (plus Nana's & Kaeun's solo actress, Raina's singer page) if they didn't intend to refloat the boat when everybody least expects it.
That would totally sound like Pledis, but with an improved marketing plan skills.

The only thing that gives me hopes on being wrong on my feelings about them being done with AS is that. That the site could had been just updated with the addition of the newest acts, no bother to build the whole interface from scratch again, but that is not what they did.

They actually built a complete new page for each act and bothered to add proper info on each one of them (some bits seem to be still under construction, though).

About Kaeun (going back to the subject), I just don't see why bother into putting her into the Id@lmaster series if they aren't going to use that later. Same about Yoonjo being in MIXNINE.

I just hope she renews and doesn't leave, like some people seem to be wishing for.

OKDR wrote:However, I don't retract myself, the group musically at the moment seems to be done.

Considering Nana has now on 2 separate occasions stated that she wants to be back on stage again and yesterday Kaeun liked an IG post from a fan crying for a comeback. I would say that's a good indication that they are still musically alive.

OKDR wrote:I will tell this to Adam whom, it is the most optimistic. Admit that, besides being realistic on your own view of things, you're also the only trully optimistic. I haven't even been that optimistic this year after seeing Uee was graduating.

The reality is that After School members are still addressing themselves as After School members(Raina at least), the reality is that even during this period of hiatus, After School members are still indicating they want a comeback(Raina, Nana, Lizzy and Kaeun at least) and the reality is that Pledis has not disbanded After School yet so the reality is that After School is still alive. I'm not being optimistic and I don't think I'm a fanatic, I'm being realistic.

EDIT: Reality is great when you're an After School fan

OKDR wrote:Regarding that, I've been reading she's not doing that well outside of Pledis, so I'd like to read some of your opinions on that, Adam. I haven't got time to be updated with the drama world for months.

@OKDR I'm not a K-Drama fan and I haven't seen any K-Drama's before so I'm definitely no expert on K-Drama but I can think of a few possibilities to why she might not be doing that well. One possibility could be because she was given betters dramas when she was in Pledis regardless of the fact the Pledis is more Kpop orientated. Another possibility is that she's not as popular as she use to be which could be a result of factors such as her physical changes or other idol actress-actresses taking the attention from her.

OKDR wrote:I still believe that right now everything points out at them giving up on the project on musical terms, but the site is a hope on a way too opposite route.

@OKDR at least you're not one of those fans that are just out right declaring it means we'll get an AS comeback in 2018. The problem with fans is that fans think if Pledis wants a comeback they can magically make it happen.

OKDR wrote:I recall a comment Adam said once about one of her singles not being too good, but Pledis let her release it anyway. And looking at the past, she's been granted solo work to have a solid career even if she's not uber famous.

@OKDR ...I need to clarify that I didn't say Raina's single wasn't good. I said I didn't like it, mainly because the way she alternates her pitch has the same effect on me as hearing police sirens and all of that is just my opinion.

I don't like to just see all the doors closed, but I am not that much optimistic because, as you said, fans have claimed so many times before come backs were happening and then those weren't.

I still believe the AS part that lets members' individual talents shine is alive but, anytime they comment they want a come back, there's a third factor that makes it impossible. Whether it is their schedules conflicting or Pledis telling them they won't give them money for that at the moment.

I never believed for a second the company was broke and that is the reason why they said "there was no money for a come back". I prefer to interpret this as "right now we are not going to spend money on a come back because you're more profitable individually". On the other hand, seeing for how the groups that share their generation and have more mature concepts had to fight against a huge pool of rookies and newest girl groups with more cute & school based concepts, I wasn't in a rush for a come back if that was going to be as underappreciated as First Love was in the end. I had enough seeing the likes of 9Muses, Dal Shabet & Rainbow struggle to get some spotlight at that moment.

However, I do believe 2018 could be a better time for an AS concept to hit the market. Like, all trends have peaks and right now, the large group school super girlie concepts seem to be at that peak, but next year may be the time to start having room for something else.

We know that among all these new trends, still SNSD or Wonder Girls managed to do more than good, but we cannot compare fanbases and popularity, which seems to never be in AS favor.

All the time you see people asking for AS come backs but, when that happens, it doesn't feel like the comments translate into sells. However, that is internationally speaking, I have no clue if the Korean fans and general audience are the same (asking for AS come back). Sure they may still hold some popularity, but if that doesn't translate in sells, then is not enough.