Bada

Choi Sung-hee (; born February 28, 1980), known professionally as Bada (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.

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. 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.

Bada was scouted by Lee Soo-man and entered SM Entertainment. She debuted as the leader and main vocal of S.E.S., the first successful female K-pop idol group.

Bada studied theater at Dankook University.

Career

1997–2002: Career with S.E.S.

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. 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. 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. 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. Right afterward, she took on the role of Esmeralda as a part of the original Korean cast of Notre-Dame de Paris. 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. 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 2010, Bada played Peggy Sawyer in Broadway on 42nd Street

In 2012, she briefly took on the role of Mozart's wife, Constanze, in Mozart!,

In June 2013, she was cast as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. During Legally Blonde, her mother died. 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. 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. She also cast as Marguerite in the first Korean adaptation of Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel. That same year, Bada appeared as a vocalist for the song "City Life" on American musician Brian Transeau's album A Song Across Wires.

She returned as Esmeralda in the 2013 production of Notre-Dame de Paris. She then signed on to depict Carmen in the first Korean production of the musical Carmen.

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. 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. Bada later released collaboration single "Cosmic" with Super Junior's Ryeowook on September 22, as a part of SM Entertainment project SM Station.

In October 2016, Bada, along with Eugene and Shoo re-formed S.E.S. to celebrate their 20 years debut. 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 and its music video released on December 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.

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. 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.

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.

2019–2020: 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.

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.

2022–present: Singles On August 11, 2022, after 3 years of break, Bada released her comeback single titled "localized heavy rain", her second 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.

On August 25, 2025, Bada came out with another single named "Love wave" and just after 5 months of its release, Bada then again released a winter balled titled "Our Loud Goodbye" on January 7, 2026, which was praised for her strong vocals.

Personal life On January 13, 2017, her agency confirmed that she would marry a franchise restaurant owner eleven years her junior. Her wedding was held in Seoul on March 23, 2017. On August 30, 2020, Bada posted a letter on her fancafe announcing her pregnancy. On September 7, 2020, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter.

Discography Albums A Day of Renew (2003) Aurora (2004) Made in Sea (2006) See the Sea (2009)

Special albums Flower (2016) Summertime (2016)

Singles Title Year Peak chartpositions Sales Album KORGaonAs lead artist "Music" 2003rowspan="7" A Day of Renew "Aurora"2004Aurora "Eyes" "Find the Way"2006 Made in Sea "Start" "Mad"2009See the Sea "Yes I'm in Love" "With Me" 2011 — "Precious" 2014 — "Flower" 2016 — Flower "Summertime" — "Off the Record" 2019 — "The Blue Night of Jeju Island" 2021 — "Local Rain" 2022 — "Not For Sale This Christmas" 2023 — "Ping@.@" 2024 — "Let Me Be the Sea" — "Love Wave" 2025— "Our Loud Goodbye" 2026— Collaboration "Cosmic" 2016 — SM Station Season 1 "Sangnoksu 2020" 2020 — As featured artist "Like You" 2002rowspan="3" Bad Guy "Dream" 2007 Enlightened "Think About' Chu" 2008 Think About' Chu "A Song Only I Can Sing" 2011 — Infinite Challenge's "Seo Hae-An Highway Music Festival" "City Life" 2013 — A Song Across Wires "Candy" 2015 — Golden Goose Part. 1 "I Go Party" 2024 — "Seashells" — Soundtrack appearances "One Day Passes" 2004 I'm Sorry, I Love You soundtrack "Rainbow"2006 Spring Waltz O.S.T. soundtrack "Start Again" Famous 'Seven' Princess soundtrack "?" 2009 Notre Dame de Paris musical soundtrack "Only One" 2010 — Bread, Love and Dreams soundtrack "Sweet My Love" 2011 — A Thousand Kisses soundtrack "It's Hurt and Hurt" 2012 — Glass Mask soundtrack "Stay"2013 — Goddess of Marriage soundtrack "If I Could" — Carmen musical soundtrack "That You Loved Me" 2017 — Witch at Court soundtrack "I'm in Love" 2020 — Homemade Love Story soundtrack "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Participation in albums

[Vol.143] Yoo Hee-yeol's Sketchbook With you: 93rd voice 'Yusuke'

Immortal Song - Edited by the late lyricist Park Geon-ho'' "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Concerts Showman aLIVE (2006) Varacon (2009)

Television Year Title Notes 2006 X-Man 21 May 200626 Nov 2006 2009–2012 Infinite Challenge 31 October 200930 January 201030 April 20117 May 201111 June 201118 June 201125 June 20112 July 20117 January 2012 2012 Golden Fishery Radio Star 14 June 2012 Saturday Night Live Korea 7 July 2012 2013 Adrenaline 2 16 April 2013 All the K-pop 16 April 2013, 23 April 2013 QTV's Handsome Boys of the 20th Century 11 June 2013 My One Fantasy 10 July 2013 Immortal Songs 2 20 April 2013 4 May 2013 1 June 2013 - won 8 June 2013 15 June 2013 - won 22 June 2013 6 July 2013 13 July 2013 27 July 2013 - won 3 August 2013 10 August 2013 24 August 2013 31 August 2013 - won 7 September 2013 2016 King of Mask Singer May 29, 2016 June 5, 2016 My Little Television July 23, 2016 July 30, 2016 Running Man August 14, 2016 - won 2017 Happy Together June 22, 2017 Idol SchoolRegular, Vocal Coach 2021 The Penthouse 2: War in Life Park Young-ran Cameo Goal Girl Cast Member Season 2 2022 Artistock Game User agent

Musicals Year Musical Role 2003 The Peppermint Bada 2007 Tell Me on a Sunday Denise 2007, 2009, 2013 Notre-Dame de Paris Esmeralda 2008, 2011 200 Pounds Beauty Kang Hanbyul 2010 Broadway on 42nd Street Peggy Sawyer 2010 Legally Blonde Elle Woods 2012 Mozart! Constanze 2013 The Scarlet Pimpernel Marguerite 2013 Carmen Carmen 2014, 2018 Gone with the Wind Scarlett O'Hara

Awards 21st Korean Best Dresser Award – Female Artist (2004) City of Seoul (2008) We Start Recreation Headquarters (2008) Catholic Life Committee (2009) 3rd The Musical Awards (2009) Tour de Korea (2013)