Pre-debut

A majority of the members in After School have been back-up dancers for Son Dam-bi as well as for other artists before debut. Park Ga Hee, After School’s leader, has been seen as a back-up dancer for artists under both SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment, most notably for BoA. Park was also part of a Korean American girl group called S.Blush, whose first digital single peaked at #2 at the Billboard Hot Dance Chart. In 2008, Park was featured in Son Dam Bi’s “Bad Boy” music video as a rapper, and Kim Jung-ah was featured in Son’s performances as a back-up dancer. Lee Jooyeon was featured in Son’s “Crazy” performances.

Days before After School’s debut, Pledis Entertainment officially announced that the group’s music concept is heavily influenced by the Pussycat Dolls, and that they “will be a type of group that Korea has never seen before.” On January 15, 2009, Sony BMG released a 30-second teaser video to the web, reaching 10 thousand views on the first day. The girls, as a group, made an unofficial first appearance on December 29, 2008 at the SBS Song Festival ‘S’, performing “Playgirlz” with Son Dam Bi.

Debut

After School’s debut single was released as a digital single on January 15, 2009, and they made their debut performance on January 17, 2009 on MBC‘s music program, Music Core.

Second single

It was announced by Pledis Entertainment that Uee (real name Kim Yoo-jin) would be joining After School as a sixth member. She was first introduced to the public as a friend of Wonder Girls member Yoobin on Introducing a Star’s Friend, where they revealed that they were initially part of a 5-member girl group with Good Entertainment that was eventually disbanded due to financial reasons.

Their second single is “Diva”, which is an upbeat dance song; their first round of promotional activities will begin on April 9, 2009, with a performance on MNet’s M! Countdown.

Members