Recently we've been storming by the massive new girls band in Kpop industry, for example: Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls, Kara and Many more. But forget them all cause we are talking about the pioneer of the early girls band in Kpop industry, yes S.E.S aka Sea.Eugene.Shoo this group last in 1997-2002.
S.E.S consist of Bada aka "Sea" (Choi Sung-hee /최성희), Eugene (Kim Yoo-Jin/김유진), Shoo (Yoo Soo-Young/유수영). At the early staged Bada was the first one discovered in 1996, when Lee Soo Man saw her singing at her performing arts school. Impressed by her voice, he quickly offered her a recording contract, and was therefore the first member to be chosen also the main singer. Eugene, however, did not first appear in person. She, in fact, sent in a video from Guam, where she was living at the time, which showcased her bubbly personality. SM executives saw the video and agreed that Eugene could be a star. The last member to join was Shoo, who was the only member to go through a "real" audition process. Executives figured that Shoo would be a nice fit to the group, and so the group was formed. They quickly began training, going through voice, dance, and interview lessons.
The first S.E.S album released in 1997, under the label SM Entertainment titled their name S.E.S and so they public debut performance in November 1997. The single "I'm your girl's" and "Oh, my love" bubbling up their popularity at that time, they became one of the top selling records artist in Kpop industry.
The Second Album released in 1998 titled "Shoo & Eugene & Shoo" which made them look different with the hits "Dream Come True" they become very space-themed look with funky hair and shiny outfits. The music video followed the theme as well, which had the girls take on fairy images. This song also became a huge hit, along with "너를 사랑해 (I Love You)", which saw them returning to their cute looks. The album sold over 650,000 copies.
They also managed to release a Japanese album, Meguriau Sekai, in 1998, although it bared unsuccessful. In between their Korean albums, S.E.S. would continue to release Japanese singles and albums, but these were never as widely received as their Korean works.
S.E.S.'s fourth album, "A Letter From Greenland" change their cute look to the mature and edgy style. this album was very jazzy. "감싸 안으며 (Show Me Your Love)" was their first single from this album. It showing off the vocal abilities of all three singers, this single and album continued S.E.S.'s winning streak, helping to cement their status as K-pop's reigning queens. They also released a second single, "Be Natural", which did fairly well but was under-promoted in comparison to "Show Me Your Love".
In the summer of 2001, a special album was released Called Surprise, the album was a collection of their Japanese songs re-recorded in Korean (with new instrumentals). The first single, "꿈을 모아서 (Just In Love)", brought S.E.S. back to a happy, poppy theme, although they avoided the cutesy images from their debut. The video was filmed in Thailand, and it matched the sunny theme of the song quite well. "Just In Love" was a very popular song, and it was heavily promoted. However, due to the Bada collapsed from exhaustion during a performance on one of Korea's major music shows, S.E.S. was stopped promotional activities early and released the other singles without "real" music videos (compilation or montage videos instead) or any promotion efforts. The album underperformed compared to the group's previous works, although it still managed to sell more than 350,000 copies.
Their last major album, "Choose My Life-U" was released in early spring of 2002. This was a continuation of their sophisticated theme, with the album booklet full of suggestive pictures of the girls. Their first single "U" was quite different, being very dance-intensive, this song also did well and returned S.E.S. to the top of the charts. "Just A Feeling", their second single from this album, was an energetic dance track with an equally energetic video. However, their promotional schedule for the song was limited and it was not performed as often as their other singles. "Feeling" became one of their few singles to not hit the top spot on the music show charts.
Their last album as a group, "Friend", was released at the end of the year. Their single was titled "Soul II Soul (S.II.S.)". The single itself was a drawing that their about to break up. Although Eugene was the first to leave, news reports stated that the girls had promised each other at the end of 2000 that they would break up in a couple of years, no matter what. The news did not increase sales of their last album: final numbers ended up being under the 100,000 copies.
Recently, all the members are busy working on individual careers. Although Shoo was the only member who had decided to stay with SM after the first contract expired, she later chose to leave SM Entertainment in 2006. Shoo has differed from her former band mates in that she did not pursue a solo music career; instead, she has done musicals such as Bat Boy, which have added to her credibility as a singer.
The other two have since signed with other companies: Bada is under JIIN Entertainment, while Eugene is with PFull Entertainment. Both of them have pursued solo music careers, with varying degrees of success. While Bada's first album had strong sales, her second performed dismally. Her last record, though, has resuscitated her career. Eugene, on the other hand, had two albums with mediocre sales numbers, both with a strong first single. She has since moved on to acting, however.
All three members have said that S.E.S. may regroup sometime in the near future. Only time will tell if this will actually happen, but the three of them are still together in some capacity, being close friends. In fact, when receiving a special award from MTV Korea in November 2005, the three re-united and sang a song from their fifth album, to the surprise and delight of their fans.
In 2007, the group reunited again celebrating their 10th Anniversary, and in 2008, they appeared as a group on the Korean show Happy Sunday, though a reunion is not clear. In October 2009, they made another appearance together as a group on the show Come to Play.
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