Choi Sung-hee (Korean: 최성희; born February 28, 1980), known professionally as Bada (바다) (also known as Sea), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, composer, musical actress and television presenter. She debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group S.E.S. in 1997, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea. After S.E.S. disbanded in December 2002, she released her first solo studio album, A Day of Renew, in October 2003. Since then, she continued her active singing career with songs such as Aurora, Eyes, V.I.P, GoGoGo, Queen, and Mad.
Apart from recording and performing songs, she has established herself as an actress, notably through her participation in the original and Korean versions of stage musicals including Notre-Dame de Paris, 200 Pounds Beauty, Legally Blonde, and Mozart!. She won Best Actress at the third Musical Awards and has starred in ten musicals to date.[1]
Early life
Choi Sung-hee, born on February 28, 1980, is the daughter of Choi Sae-wol, a trot singer with a background in Korean pansori.[2] Her childhood was marked by financial struggles, particularly after her father's illness. For nine years until her debut, she resided in a container home provided by a local church.[2] In lectures aimed at youth, she has shared her humble beginnings and encouraged students not to let their backgrounds hinder their pursuit of dreams.[3][4]
Bada was scouted by Lee Soo-man and entered SM Entertainment. She debuted as the leader and lead vocal of S.E.S., the first successful female K-pop idol group.
Bada made her debut with S.E.S. in 1997. The group released their debut album I'm Your Girl on November 1, 1997. The group later became the top-selling K-pop girl group. Since their debut, the group has released five Korean albums, two Japanese albums as well as a Japanese compilation album.
The group released a Korean compilation album, Friend before breaking up at the end of 2002. Members Bada and Eugene parted ways from SM Entertainment, while Shoo stayed with SM Entertainment until 2006.
2003–2008: A Day of Renew, Aurora, Made in Sea and Musical acting
Bada signed an exclusive contract with WoongJin entertainment.[6] In 2003, Bada released her debut solo album A Day of Renew that has sold approximately 130,000 records, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea. Bada became the first Korean idol singer to venture onto the musical stage in 2003 with the musical Peppermint, a love story about a singer named Bada.[7] It was written for her by creator and producer Lee Yu-ri, who is also responsible for other musical projects such as Typhoon, Mother and Winter Sonata.[8]
In 2004, her second album Aurora was released and has sold approximately 23,000 copies.
In 2006, her third album, Made in Sea, was a big success. In 2007, Bada was cast in the role of Denise in the Korean version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me on a Sunday.[9] Right afterward, she took on the role of Esmeralda as a part of the original Korean cast of Notre-Dame de Paris.[10] Her widely praised portrayal of Esmeralda gained her acceptance as a musical actress and won her the Best Newcomer Actress award and others at The Musical Awards and the Korea Musical Daesangs in 2008; she reprised the role in 2009.
2009–2013: See the Sea and Musical acting
In 2009, Bada released her fourth
album called See the Sea which featured both Korean rap group Untouchable and 2PM's Ok Taec-yeon.
The following year, 200 Pounds Beauty, a musical based on the popular movie of the same name, cast Bada in the titular role of Kang Han-byul, an overweight ghost singer who aspires to become a star and undergoes extensive plastic surgery.[11] Bada's turn as Kang earned her the Best Actress honor at the third The Musical Awards. She was recast in 2011 for the project.
In 2012, she briefly took on the role of Mozart's wife, Constanze, in Mozart!,[13]
In June 2013, she was cast as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.[14] During Legally Blonde, her mother died.[15] Despite the loss, Bada continued performances for the musical until its final run and famously sang Secret Garden's "You Raise Me Up" on KBS's Open Music Concert just two days after her mother's death.[16] She has since stated that this loss was the reason for her relative inactivity in both her music and musical career from 2011 to mid-2013.[17] She also cast as Marguerite in the first Korean adaptation of Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel.[18] That same year, Bada appeared as a vocalist for the song "City Life" on American musician Brian Transeau's album A Song Across Wires.[19][20]
She returned as Esmeralda in the 2013 production of Notre-Dame de Paris.[21] She then signed on to depict Carmen in the first Korean production of the musical Carmen.[22]
2016–2017: 20th anniversary debut project
On May 28, Bada, along with S.E.S. members Eugene and Shoo, attended a charity event, Green Heart Bazaar. Bada released a special album titled Flower on June 13, 2016, to celebrate her 20th debut anniversary.[23] The album contains four tracks with lead single "Flower" featuring popular rapper Kanto. She released double music video for "Flower" on June 13 and "Amazing" on June 15. A few weeks later, Bada released a special summer album titled Summertime on June 26.[24] Bada later released collaboration single "Cosmic" with Super Junior's Ryeowook on September 22, as a part of SM Entertainment project SM Station.[25][26]
In October 2016, Bada, along with Eugene and Shoo re-formed S.E.S. to celebrate their 20 years debut.[27] They started their project of the 20th anniversary debut with released digital single "Love[Story]", a remake of their 1999 single "Love", through SM Entertainment's digital project SM Station on November 28[28] and its music video released on December 29.[29]
In early December 2016, they aired their ten episode reality show Remember, I'm Your S.E.S., which broadcast through mobile app Oksusu. To accompany their 20th anniversary debut, they held a concert Remember, the Day, on December 30 and 31 at Sejong University's Daeyang Hall in Seoul.[30]
On January 2, the special album of their 20th anniversary debut Remember was released. The album consists of double lead singles. "Remember" was digitally released on January 1 and "Paradise" was released along with the album on January 2.[31][32] They held a fanmeet as their last project of their 20th anniversary debut called I Will Be There, Waiting for You on March 1, 2017.[33]
In July 2017, she became the vocal mentor for survival show Idol School.
Bada successfully held her solo concert for the 20th anniversary debut, Twenty Steps, on December 31, 2017, at the grand hall of Unjeong Green Campus at Sungshin Women's University.[34][35]
2019–present: Off The Record
On October 14, 2019, Wave Nine announced Bada's comeback with a single title "Off The Record", which released on October 24.[36][37]
On April 19, 2020, Bada teamed up with 33 singers to release a remake song of Yang Hee-eun's "Evergreen" for the medical professionals around the world fighting COVID-19 and also to mark the 60th anniversary of the April 19 Revolution.[38]
On August 11, 2022, Bada released her comeback single titled "localized heavy rain", her first single under Wavenine Entertainment.
On December 22, 2023, Bada released her christmas single "Not for sale this christmas". The song featured vocals from fellow S.E.S member Eugene.
On April 25, 2024, Bada released her single titled "PING @.@", featuring Truedy. Later that year, on December 2, 2024, Bada released the single "Let Me Be the Sea", a song about gratitude, peace, and prayer.
Personal life
On January 13, 2017, her agency confirmed that she would marry a franchise restaurant owner eleven years her junior.[39] Her wedding was held in Seoul on March 23, 2017.[40][41] On August 30, 2020, Bada posted a letter on her fancafe announcing her pregnancy.[42] On September 7, 2020, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter.[43]
20 April 2013[57] 4 May 2013[58] 1 June 2013 - won[59] 8 June 2013[60] 15 June 2013 - won[61] 22 June 2013[62] 6 July 2013[63] 13 July 2013[64] 27 July 2013 - won[65] 3 August 2013[66] 10 August 2013[67] 24 August 2013[68] 31 August 2013 - won[69] 7 September 2013[70]
^Kim No-eul (August 10, 2022). "S.E.S 바다, 11일 '국지성 호우'로 컴백…3년 만 신곡" [S.E.S Bada, comeback with 'Local Rain' on the 11th... New song after 3 years] (in Korean). X-ports News. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022 – via Naver.
^Kang Hyo-jin (October 19, 2022). "바다, 데뷔 25년 만에 스크린 주연 "첫 영화 응원 부탁" [Bada, starring on screen after 25 years of debut, "Please support me for my first movie"]. SpoTV News (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022 – via Naver.
^Kim Jin-seok (February 3, 2021). "[단독]S.E.S 바다, 유진 인연으로 '펜트하우스' 특별출연" [[Exclusive] S.E.S Bada and Eugene make a special appearance in 'Penthouse]. isplus.joins (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021 – via Naver.
^Won Se-na (October 21, 2021). "유빈, '골때녀' 합류… 'FC 탑걸' 멤버 "배워보고 싶었다" [Yubin joins 'Goal Girl'... 'FC Top Girl' member "I wanted to learn] (in Korean). The Fact. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021 – via Naver.
^Park, Se-yeon (September 29, 2022). "[종합]음악, 주식을 만나다…'아티스탁 게임', 발칙하지만 더없이 순수한" [[General] Music meets stocks... 'Artistak game', quirky but supremely pure] (in Korean). Star Today, Maeil Business News. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2022 – via Naver.
