S.E.S. (band)
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S.E.S. is a popular K-Pop group. Along with H.O.T, it was popular in the 90s, and S.E.S. was considered the female version of H.O.T. Both groups were created by Lee Soo Man, head of SM Entertainment, after Lee asked teenagers what they wanted in their music groups. He had planned in advance to have these Korean groups branch out to other nations, and having members speak in other languages helped his cause. S.E.S was the first outstandingly successful female K-pop group, although they did not survive unchallenged: groups like Fin.K.L and Baby V.O.X were always waiting in the wings. Although an intense rivalry developed between S.E.S. and Fin.K.L fans, members of both groups have always stated that there was no rivalry and that they in fact were friends. However, while S.E.S. managed to consistently have high sales numbers for their albums (beating out all other female groups), it was Fin.K.L who went away with the 대상 (Daesang, the Korean equivalent of the Grammy Award) for "Artist of the Year". S.E.S. broke up at the end of 2002, and its members have gone solo to varying degrees of success.
- 1 Members
- 2 History
- 2.1 Pre-debut: Discovery
- 2.2 Debut: Cute Girls [1997-1998]
- 2.3 Image Overhaul: Rebellious Artists [1999-2000]
- 2.4 Another Image Overhaul: Mature Divas [2000-2001]
- 2.5 Image Revertion: Cute With a Twist [2001]
- 2.6 Their Last Image: Fun, Sexy Singers [2002]
- 2.7 Solo Careers?
- 3 Discography
- 4 Notes
- 5 See also
- 6 External links
Members
- Sea/Bada -- real name Choi Sung-Hee (Hangul: 최성희, Hanja: 崔盛希). Considered to be the best singer of the group, with the greatest vocal power and range. However, she was also the one most criticized about her looks.
- Eugene -- real name Kim Yoo-Jin (Hangul: 김유진, Hanja: 金流真). The face of S.E.S., seen as the most beautiful of the group. Although vocally weaker than Bada, her cute appeal made up for it. In group advertisements, she often took center stage.
- Shoo (singer) -- real name Yoo Soo-Young (Hangul:유수영, Hanja:柳水永). Shoo was pretty and able to harmonize fairly well; however, she did not excel in either singing or looks, and was not as popular as the other two.
History
Pre-debut: Discovery
The official biography video states that Bada was the first one discovered in 1996, when Lee Soo Man saw her singing at her performing arts school. Taken by her voice, he quickly offered her a recording contract, and was therefore the first member to be chosen. It is assumed that Bada was originally going to be a solo member, although this was never officially confirmed. Eugene, on the other hand, 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.Debut: Cute Girls [1997-1998]
They released their first album in 1997 under SM Entertainment, and had their public debut in November of 1997. Their look at the time was very cutesy, with their songs being cute little ditties about love. However, they also made sure that they were seen as talented entertainers. In much of their promotional work, including an appearance on Korean diva Lee Sora's Propose show, they displayed their talent: Eugene demonstrated her piano training, while Bada showed off her strong vocal chops, Shoo backing her up in perfect harmony. Lee Soo Man's promotional strategy worked: I'm Your Girl and Oh, My Love! became huge hits for S.E.S., and they quickly became one of the top-selling groups in K-Pop. It was fairly obvious from the beginning that Bada was the main singer, usually taking the choruses of songs and having solos in which she could show off her vocal range. Eugene was quickly chosen by the public as the prettiest member of the group, while Shoo, although having her fans, was not noted for any special talents.Their second album, Sea & Eugene & Shoo, was released in 1998. They changed little from their first album, although for their first single, Dreams Come True, they had a very space-themed look with funky hair and shiny outfits. This song also became a huge hit, along with 너를 사랑해 (I Love You), which saw them returning to their cute looks. They also managed to release a Japanese album, Meguriau Sekai, in 1998, although it fared poorly. 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.
Image Overhaul: Rebellious Artists [1999-2000]
At the end of 1999, their third album, Love was released. It was their best-selling album, selling over 762,000 copies; this is currently the record for best-selling album in Korea by a female group. This album also saw a marked change in their image, away from cutesy girls into edgy singers. All of them dyed their hair and had fairly extreme leather looks. In fact, Bada bleached her hair blonde without the knowledge of her management, thinking that it would fit the album concept well. Their fans ate this up, and the title song from the album, a R&B-techno song, became a huge single for S.E.S. This was helped by their sophisticated video, which was made in New York City and cost over US$1,000,000—a large amount spent on a music video at that time. Their second single, Twilight Zone, which was a techno-dance song, also saw the continuation of this edgy, grown-up theme, although all of them changed their hair colour into darker shades. However, this was abandoned at the tail end of their promotional activities, reverting back to a cute look. Promotional activities stopped at the end of January 2000.Another Image Overhaul: Mature Divas [2000-2001]
December of 2000 saw the release of S.E.S.'s fourth album, A Letter From Greenland. This again was accompanied by a change in image. This album saw them move away from the cute image entirely, having instead a "mature women" concept. All the members wore suits for their performances, and their look was significantly more sophisticated. The music was also more mature: instead of having cute poppy songs (like their first two albums), or techno-lite songs (like their third album), this album was very jazzy. 감싸 안으며 (Show Me Your Love), their first single from this album, was a slow, jazzy ballad that was technically one of their best singles, 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 promoted a second single, Be Natural, which did fairly well but was underpromoted in comparison to Show Me Your Love.Image Revertion: Cute With a Twist [2001]
In the summer of 2001, a special album was released (receiving the ".5" label).South Korea has an interesting album labelling system. Instead of being known by their titles, they are titled first in order of appearance. Therefore, a debut album would just be known as their first (or 1집), while their fifth would simply be their fifth. The actual title of the album is secondary. Under this system, "real" albums are given whole numbers, while special or concept albums are labelled "half" albums. Because this album was not new material but old material made new, it is not considered "real" material. For a prime example of this, look at BoA's discography. Called Surprise, their 4.5th album was a collection of their Japanese songs re-recorded in Korean. The first single, Just In Love, had them back to their happy, poppy roots, although they were still womanly. The video was filmed in Thailand, and it matched the sunny theme of the song quite well. All in all, it was a very popular song, and it was heavily promoted. However, Bada collapsed from exhaustion during a performance on one of Korea's major music shows. Because of this, S.E.S. stopped promotional activities early and released the other singles without music videos or promotion efforts. This caused the album to underperform compared to the group's previous works, although it still managed to sell more than 350,000 copies.Their Last Image: Fun, Sexy Singers [2002]
Their last major album (Choose My Life-U)was released in early spring, 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; the video showed the girls in dominant roles and positions, with Eugene even becoming some sort of dominatrix for one scene. 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 a happy dance track with an equally happy video. However, it seemed as though S.E.S. stopped putting effort into their performances around this time, as their live performances were quite mediocre and stopped early. This prevented Feeling from hitting the top of the charts.Their last album as a group, Friend (their "5.5"th), was released at the end of the year. Their single was titled "Soul II Soul (S.II.S.)", which was a play on words (as the number 2 can be pronounced as "E" in Korean). The music video, though, was quite dark, as Bada is seen writing letters while crying, Eugene is cutting up bunnies in a room (suggesting mental instability), and Shoo is seen caressing a large ball of light on her bed. However, it did not create much controversy, because it was officially announced that S.E.S. was breaking up at the end of 2002. According to news reports, the girls had promised each other at the end of 2000 that they would break up in a couple of years, no matter what. This disappointed a lot of fans, but the news failed to jump-start sales: final numbers ended up being under the 100,000 mark.
Solo Careers?
Currently, Shoo has also left SM Entertainment, she is the last to have left the company. Shoo has differed from her former bandmates in that she did not pursue a solo 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 UuongJinKoWare Entertainment, while Eugene is with PFULL Entertainment.All three members have said that S.E.S. will 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. In fact, when receiving a special award from MTV Korea in November 2005, the three re-united and sang a song, to the surprise of thousands of fans.
Discography
Korean Albums
| Album cover | Album Info | Tracklisting; Singles in bold |
|---|---|---|
 | 1 - S.E.S.
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 | 2 - Sea & Eugene & Shoo
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 | 3 - Love
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 | 4 - A Letter From Greenland
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 | 4.5 - Surprise resung in Korean and remixed |
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 | 5 - Choose My Life-U
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 | 5.5 - Friend
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Korean Singles
| Single cover | Single Info | Tracklisting |
|---|---|---|
 | S.E.S. Remixed - 달리기/Just A Feeling
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|
Notes
See also
External links
- [SMtown website]
- [FinKLSES Forum: SES Bio/Discography thread]
- [AsiaFinest page with individual biographies]
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