Kaeun talks about not having promos since 2013 & After School’s status on ‘Produce 48’

In the recent ‘Produce 48‘ teaser, Bae Yoon Jung was shown asking Kaeun of the disbanded girl group After School what the group’s status was, and she addressed that and how she’s being doing over the past five years.

Honestly? Not great, which is understandable.

“My last album promotions were in 2013,” she said. “Five years passed by, and I did think, ‘Will it be difficult to do a comeback?’” Dance trainer Bae Yoon Jung asked her what she’s been doing while not promoting. Lee Kaeun hesitated and became tearful before she replied, “I waited for our comeback. I kept waiting, and then it didn’t happen so…” In her interview, Lee Kaeun cried as she said, “Honestly, I was cheerful while taking a break for a long time, and I thought that it was okay. But then at some point, I realized it wasn’t okay at all.”

She also talked about having to see labelmates go on ‘Produce’ and meet success while she was left to rot in the basement.

“In the first season of ‘Produce 101,’ friends that I’d trained with appeared as contestants. I wondered whether I would have done well if I’d gone on season one if I hadn’t debuted.” The first season of “Produce 101” included several contestants from Pledis, and two of the trainees (Nayoung and Kyulkyung) made it into the final project group I.O.I. The contestants later went on to debut as members of PRISTIN. Lee Kaeun continued tearfully, “I thought, ‘I definitely debuted, so why am I at home watching this, unable to do anything?’ It was frustrating.”

Then came the question everybody was waiting for, which was what the status of After School was. Kaeun … didn’t sound like she was confident of a comeback.

Bae Yoon Jung asked Lee Kaeun if After School has no plans to promote in the future, which made Kahi laugh and say to her, “Why are you asking her?” Cheetah added, “You should ask the CEO.” Bae Yoon Jung clarified that she wanted to know if she’d heard anything, and then asked if they’d disbanded. “No, we haven’t disbanded,” replied Lee Kaeun. “But since they told me that I could come on the show, I’m wondering if it might be like that.”

Honestly, she got thrown into one of the worst situations in terms of debut. Barely started and then basically forced to wait out the rest of your contract doing nothing.