S.E.S. member Bada [Herald Pop (now Herald Muse)]
S.E.S. member Bada [Herald Pop (now Herald Muse)]

Bada, the leader and main vocalist of K-pop group S.E.S., has shared a warm story about Lee Soo-man, the former SM Entertainment founder who produced the group.

In an Instagram post Friday, Bada wrote that she would "truly never forget" how Lee had learned of her family's financial difficulties and paid her college tuition. "I want to again express my gratitude to the teacher who, knowing how hard things were for my family back then, covered my university tuition," she said.

Reflecting on her first meeting with Lee 29 years ago, Bada said talking with him felt like "speaking with someone who could see the future."

"He described to me — an 18-year-old artist — the exact position and vision that Korean idols would one day hold in the distant future, with great precision and detail," she wrote.

Referring to Lee as "teacher," Bada said she sensed "a conviction as pure as a boy's" in him back then and still feels it in their conversations today. "From the S.E.S. days, I have listened quite seriously to what my teacher, who has been like a father to me, has had to say," she added.

Bada said Lee had "dressed my healthy voice in music of a refined color" and had "perfectly prepared me with pride as Korea's first female idol vocalist."

She described it as "a truly special experience" to watch someone she knows display, from start to finish, a faith and conviction that grows clearer and more transparent with time — and to keep creating idol music full of vitality, within the music and alongside the era.

"The beginning of Korean idols, the moments when everything was a first, the time spent with my teacher — the reason I still remember it all so vividly and dearly is that everything was so clear, as if we had seen the future," Bada wrote. "The things I heard and experienced fill me with such joy, happiness and wonder."


yul@heraldcorp.com