Long post incoming! Tl;dr at the end!
So I’m an OT11 Playgirlz; I love all of the girls and eras with my whole heart! Without Kahi, Afterschool would have never existed. I 100% recognize that and we have so much to thank her for! She is a queen. But AS definitely peaked after she left… maybe not in terms of success or popularity, which I think is super unfortunate, because the music and concepts were so iconic.
We got these immaculate title tracks: Flashback, First Love, Shh, Heaven. The music videos all slayed, with Flashback being their best… wow, were they GORGEOUS. Raina’s high note in Flashback, chef’s kis. The pole-dancing for First Love is the best concept that Afterschool did as a group. It’s still something that hasn’t really been attempted by other K-Pop groups (unless I’m mistaken). Shh is easily the greatest Japanese single put out by a K-Pop group, thanks to producer MONDO GROSSO and his sleek house production. He produced Heaven too, which was also retro pop perfection and had one of AS’s most aesthetically pleasing music videos.
Their two best Korean releases (Flashback and First Love) and best Japanese release (Dress to Kill) came during this era. First Love and Dress to Kill are cohesive masterpieces, no-skip from start to finish. Dressing Room and Triangle are impeccable; chills every time. Eyeline gave us a sneak peek at the solo singing career Pledis should have given Nana a long time ago, because wow did she deliver (FYI— she did finally debut solo under her new agency this year and served!). Not to mention all of the other amazing b-sides: Love Beat, Rock It, Dress to Kill, Crazy Driver, Yes No Yes.
Honorable mentions to our unofficial disbandment songs: Week (even with the cringe intro by Brave Brothers) and Shine.
Styling was SO good. No more coconuthead haircuts. E-young’s blonde hair changed lives. Nana’s face card never declined, make-up and hair on point EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Clothes were amazing in MVs, jacket photos, and live performances. The Heaven single shoot is one of my favorites; Yonehara Yasumasa shot the entire thing with a Polaroid camera, and they ate it up. The tattoos for First Love were iconic (even though they were used to cover up the bruises from pole-dancing practices). IMO, this era of the group’s styling aged the best.
The lineup was also really cohesive; when Kahi was a member, she was often presented as the center of the group. Without her, I felt like the other girls got a more fair amount of spotlight. Still, some more than others, unfortunately (justice for Kaeun and E-Young). I’m glad Lizzy finally got most of the raps; it really sucked that they relegated Kahi to main rapper once Bekah left, in my opinion, because it isn’t her strong-suit like dancing is.
Also— Orange Caramel peaked during this era too IMO! We got, of course, the iconic Catallena, along with the severely underrated My Copycat and self-titled Japanese album. Cookie, Creme & Mint is so campy yet so underappreciated it’s insane. The styling for this video is impeccable. It’s unfortunate though that so much focus went to OC over the main group in the end; even Nana herself said that she preferred AS concepts to OC concepts.
I dunno, I know Afterschool’s been over for a decade, but going back to old AS videos and seeing ten year old comments hating on the “new lineup” and having Kaeun and E-young excluded from the reunion performance a few years ago makes me have a lot of strong feelings! I didn’t stan AS until a few years ago so, even though I didn’t experience the pain of losing a member, I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of love for this chapter of Afterschool’s journey as a group. 💟 This era may not be the one that defined the group’s legacy with the general public, but for my journey with them and their music, it definitely does.
Also, fuck Pledis for mismanaging our girls and locking them in the basement. Justice for Afterschool, Pristin, and Hello Venus. It makes me so sad to think about the potential that was wasted with the direction they were going musically, especially with E-young. I will never forgive Pledis for not letting her write/compose more.
Tl;dr — The music ate, the choreo ate, the concepts ate, the girls looked gorgeous all the time, and the dynamics of the group changed favorably. Our girls deserved better!