Everything You Need To Know About SM Entertainment Girl Group That Debuted In 2005—CSJH a.k.a The Grace
SM Entertainment is famous for having boy groups and girl groups that debut every year always with different concepts. In this article, you are going to find detailed information about one of the veteran girl groups that debuted in 2005, long before the Hallyu wave became global, which is The Grace that had 4 members, namely Lina, Stephanie, Dana, and Sunday.
Let’s find out more about The Grace, also known as CJSH, in the Byeol Korea article below.
The Grace Members Full Profiles
The Grace Lina
Real Name: Lee Jiyeon (Hangul: 이지연)
Stage Name: Lina (Hangul: 린아)
Birthday: February 18th, 1984
Star Sign: Aquarius
Position In The Group: Main Vocalist, Visual
Official Site: Instagram (@maomaomi84)
The Grace Dana
Real Name: Hong Sungmi (Hangul: 홍성미)
Stage Name: Dana (Hangul: 다나)
Birthday: July 17th, 1986
Star Sign: Cancer
Height: 170 cm (5ft 7in)
Weight: 54 kg (119 lbs)
Blood Type: O
Position In The Group: Main Vocalist
The Grace Sunday
Real Name: Jin Bora (Hangul: 진보라)
Stage Name: Sunday (Hangul: 선데이)
Birthday: January 12th, 1987
Height: 162 cm (5ft 3in)
Weight: 48 kg (105 lbs)
Blood Type: O
Star Sign: Capricorn
Position In The Group: Lead Vocalist, Maknae
Official Site: Instagram (@sunday040728)
The Grace Stephanie
Korean Name: Kim Bokyung (Hangul: 김보경)
Real Name: Stephanie Kim
Stage Name: Stephanie (Hangul: 스테파니)
Birthday: October 16th, 1987
Star Sign: Libra
Position In The Group: Main Dancer, Vocalist, Maknae
The Grace Group Facts
- The Grace members’ religion is Protestantism. They are the only group in SM Entertainment whose all members are of the same religion
- The Grace is a multinational girl group consisting of three Koreans and one American. However, even though Stephanie’s nationality is American, she is of Korean descent
- The Grace were paired with TVXQ to debut together as a boy group and girl group from SM Entertainment
- The Grace have been selected as the best singers in the history of girl groups, along with Brown Eyed Girls, Spica, Sistar, and Mamamoo
- The Grace have released some Japanese songs, such as “Sweet Flower”, “Piranha”, “Stand Up People”, “Coming to You”, and a Chinese song titled “Too Good”
The Grace Debut Era
The four-member a cappella pop girl group formed by SM Entertainment consisted of Dana, Sunday, Lina, and Stephanie. This particular girl group didn’t have a leader per see, however, as with other groups, the eldest sister, Lina, took the role of leader.
On May 1st, 2005, they debuted with “Too Good” on SBS’s Inkigayo, a group formed as a female version of TVXQ. Like TVXQ, at the beginning of their debut, each member’s name was preceded by ‘Cheonmu’, ‘Sangmi’, ‘Jiseong’, the word ‘blissful’ was attached, but it was deleted in 2006.
The group was named as Cheon Sang Ji-hee (天上智喜) and started talking about its formation around the early summer of 2004. As it was planned as a female version of TVXQ, the group name, member naming, and the most talented trainee within SM were selected taking TVXQ’s plans as they were.
The fan club name was Shapley and the official balloon color was pastel rose, but in 2006, the group name was changed from Cheon Sang Ji-Hee to Cheon Sang Ji-Hee The Grace, and since then, Pearl Pink has been used as their fan club color.
Cheon Sang-ji-hee was born as a girl group that will be recognized around the world by Dana, who entered China, Sunday, who was receiving localization training in Japan, Stephanie, who grew up in the United States, and Lina, who was active in Korea. It is known that only elite trainees who were recognized for their exceptional skills gathered together, and the expectations within SM were high.
At one time, it was said that Cheon Sang Ji-hee was a girl group planned by Kim Kyung-wook, a former SM official. Although the timing of their debut was right at the time when Kim Kyung-wook enrolled, Kim Kyung-wook was fired shortly after Cheon Sang-ji-hee’s debut, and it was aired right after Cheon Sang-ji-hee’s debut.
In December 2004, at a press conference held in China as well as a briefing session for SM’s Hot in Asia project, Cheon Sang Ji-hee’s debut was officially announced. At the press conference at the time, it was announced that they would debut with one Chinese member, just like TVXQ, but after that, the recruitment of Chinese members naturally fell through.
At this time, Cheon Sang Ji-hee was introduced and they were announced as Female TVXQ, but this really touched the hearts of Cassiopeias and had a very adverse effect.
Befitting the ‘female version of TVXQ,’ the bizarre words ‘Sangmi’, ‘Happiness’, ‘Intelligence’, and ‘Cheonmu’ were added in front of each member’s name, saying, “Chunmu Stephanie’, ‘Sangmi Lina’, ‘Ji Sung (智聲) Sunday’, ‘Hee Yeol (喜悅) Dana’ was born, and this was scorned by the public as well.
At the time, public opinion about Cheon Sang Ji-hee was not good, so SM tried to compete with a ballad song that could compete with their singing abilities. Was intended, but this did not seem appropriate as a reasonable reason for the selection of the title song. In a situation where the antis were scolding them for being a recycling group, they were a miss when, starting with Stephanie, who was a rookie, the title of “Too Good”, which was made with Dana, who was already known, was pushed as the title in a field where even they could erase the impression that one of the members was a second-hand rookie.
However, the song wasn’t very impactful. As the title song was changed abruptly, “The Club”, which was scheduled to be included as track 5, was omitted from the tracklist, The “Too Good” music video was filmed just before the album’s release.
Cheon Sang Ji-hee, who had completed all preparations for their debut album, were not well known, but in fact, on April 7th, 2005, they had their first unofficial debut on M.net’s M Countdown non-broadcast stage. On this day’s stage, they performed “Boomerang”, which was originally supposed to be the title song.
There was a high possibility that the schedule was made without canceling it because it was a schedule that was decided in advance when there was an opinion to change it for a long time. In the first place, the slander stage itself was just going up to gain stage experience. However, if you look at other SM teams, the slander stage before their debut usually showed the title song, so the original plan of pushing “Boomerang” was clearly shown.
After returning to Korea after a long time, the team underwent several changes, the team name was changed from Cheon Sang Ji-hee to Cheon Sang Ji-hee The Grace. The Grace has the meaning to further enhance the image of the acappella pop group, which was the original team color.
Since it was difficult to pronounce the name Cheon Sang-ji-hee in English-speaking countries, the agency decided to use the name The Grace instead of abbreviations such as CSJH, which is derived from the first letter of the syllable in romanization, TSZX, which is derived from the first letter of Pinyin, or TJCK in Japanese.
The Grace First Subunit
As the rumors that the members’ contracts with SM Entertainment have ended, and rumors of Stephanie being bullied, and other baseless rumors were growing the domestic fandom was torn apart.
As Lina, Dana, and Sunday appeared out of the blue at the 2010 SM TOWN concert, fans were able to have hope for a comeback, but most of Stephanie’s comeback was half-defended. This is because Stephanie received treatment in the United States, and the school banned students from performing arts activities.
The plan for Cheon Sang Ji-hee’s activities, which had become opaque as the years went by, only materialized in 2011, and when news of their return came, the fans who had been waiting for their comeback were enthusiastic. However, the fans who were waiting for the comeback as a full group were sad because it was decided to come back with Dana and Sunday without Lina and Stephanie.
In fact, until about 2012, even within SM, through Dana & Sunday, the group Cheon Sang Ji-hee continued to be maintained, but now it seems to be recognized as a disbanded group. Cheon Sang Ji-hee’s name can no longer be found in projects or media where all SM artists are dispatched.
The Grace Disbandment and Future Activities
There are two most convincing theories about the reason for the break from team activities, except for rumors that are floating around. The comeback was canceled due to copyright issues with CLIFF EDGE. Due to this, there is a theory that activities in Japan were naturally suspended due to the conflict between the Japanese agency Avex and SM Entertainment, which made their activities in Japan unclear.
The story about the failure of the Korean comeback is a somewhat credible guess because the single and the Japanese 2nd full album Dear…, which contains the song, have not been licensed in Korea.
However, because of this, there are many parts that are unclear to believe that the team activities have completely stopped after this, and it is more likely that there are unknown company circumstances or stories that we do not know. Even if there were problems at the time, we could have made an album when the four of us were in Korea again, but even that didn’t happen.
According to Stephanie’s interview, which took place a long time later, she said that during her hiatus after a back injury, she thought that her career as a singer ended here because albums were no longer produced in Japan. It seems that this was a serious blow to Cheon Sang Ji-hee’s future activities. The internal affairs of the company related to Cheon Sang Ji-hee were complicated.
Since then, the agency has not officially announced the exact position that the disbandment is the disbandment, or that the activities will be suspended for some reason, so the fans are just waiting impatiently (the same is the case even now). After that, SM’s official position was to make a comeback as a unit, but there was no feedback about Cheon Sang Ji-hee’s all-stop activities. As mentioned above, Stephanie also left SM Entertainment.
After this, more time passed, and the time for individual activities of the members opened, and it became more and more obscure to hear about Cheon Sang Ji-hee, but the common stories of the members were not disbanded.
In 2018, when Dana made a comeback through the YouTube ‘다.날.다’, she was criticized for inappropriate behavior during the Instagram Live held in the meantime. “There was no contact information,” she said, causing controversy.
However, it is difficult to take this statement seriously, but Stephanie has been constantly interacting with Sunday and Lina in addition to Dana. It is very difficult to assert that Lina and Stephanie are an obstacle to the reunion, as the comments regarding Lina were solely from Dana’s side.
It is more likely that Lina did not agree to the album promotions as a musical activity at the time, and she refused to promote as a unit due to her mental and personal circumstances. This is because it seems that there was a time when Cheon Sang Ji-hee stopped promoting in 2009 and all the members were personally struggling. After the 1st Live Tour Dear… in Japan in 2009, their activities have been suspended.
Although they have not officially announced their disbandment, they have not been active as a four-member group since 2008, so it is like a group that has actually disbanded. Cheon Sang Ji-hee, who ended her third single promotion in early 2007 had actually started working on their first full-length album. Since then, the appearance of the four of them together in private has never been revealed.
In addition, Dana’s Instagram broadcast was criticized for being rude to the public, and some claim that Dana was insincere in her group activities. However, on this day’s live broadcast, Dana mentioned that it might be possible to meet in person, so it’s impossible to drive it into a complete discord.
After that, Dana posted an apology, and Sunday too, through SNS, saying that she hoped that all the members would not get sick, and the fans suffered greatly.
Then after that, Dana&Sunday activities are no longer expected, and all the members are doing their own individual activities, and Lina became even more difficult when she got married to actor Jang Seung-jo. In addition, in May 2016, Stephanie ended her contract with SM Entertainment and completely transferred to her affiliate Mafia Records.
Cheon Sang-ji-hee’s official site was closed, and as Stephanie was removed from Cheon Sang-ji-hee’s profile on the SM main site, a complete comeback became virtually impossible. Sunday’s in May 2020, and in June, Dana’s contract with SM Entertainment was terminated. As time goes by, it seems difficult to see them together unless they get together for a one-time show on a program like Sugar Man.
The Grace Discography
The Grace became one of the girl groups from SM Entertainment which at that time got quite a lot of promotion, from releasing singles, albums, concerts, comeback stages, and other activities. Even The Grace also had the opportunity to release several songs in other languages, such as Japanese and Chinese.
At the start of their promotions in 2005, The Grace released their debut single titled “Too Good” and another track titled “Boomerang”. A year later, The Grace released 2 singles titled “The Club” (featuring Rain), and “My Everything”, as well as Japanese singles titled “Boomerang”, “Sweet Flower”, “Juicy Love”. In 2007, The Grace released Korean singles titled “One More Time, OK?” and “Dancer in the Rain”, along with the new Japanese single titled “Piranha”.
In 2008–2009, it was the last time when The Grace promoted as a whole unit and released Japanese singles, such as “Stand Up People”, “Here”, “Near ~thoughtful・1220~”, and “Coming to You”.
The Grace Filmography
The Grace, who debuted in the mid-2000s, also had the opportunity to film a music video that was considered very suitable for the concept and trend of music at that time. Well, let’s have a little throwback and watch The Grace’s music videos in this section below!
On their first debut stage, they performed a decent live performance like an a cappella pop group, which drew favorable reviews. Cheon Sang Ji-hee, who were a hot topic even before their debut, actually made their debut, and had a very sluggish debut ceremony. However, at this time, the rookie Stephanie’s fantastic solo dance, which was tightly hidden, became a hot topic and began to attract attention, and unlike the slight reaction of the title song, it began to gather topics.
In March 2006, Cheon Sang Ji-hee released the second single “The Club”, which was originally intended to be a follow-up song to their debut single, and decided to release it simultaneously in Korea and Japan. This song features Hallyu star Rain, and in the Japanese version, SEAMO features.
”The Club” was a powerful dance song following “Boomerang”, and Stephanie’s splendid solo dance part was also present in this song. In addition, Stephanie’s solo song was also included in this single, which was praised for its quality equal to that of the title song.
At the same time as the release, it had a good reaction in Korea and had a foreboding of a hit, but unfortunately, it angered many fans by only planning activities for two weeks for Japanese activities. However, it was not until they returned to Japan that they achieved remarkable results.
Even though “The Club” was promoted only with its first airing and music video, it was performing well as it ranked 7th in the voting for Inkigayo Mutizen Song TAKE 7 and ranked in the top 10 on the Mnet chart. However, their Japanese activities were so important that they barely finished the first stage and went straight to Japan.
As the activities of “Once more, OK?” began, the live skills, outstanding song quality, and performance accumulated in both Korea and Japan for two years began to receive good responses, and two years after their debut, they finally began to enjoy their popularity.
This was a valuable achievement after two years of hard work after debut, and Cheon Sang Ji-hee performed a passionate live on every stage, showing a complete stage that is still called a ‘crazy live’, ‘mr removal legend’.
Above all, at this time, the members finally merged like a group and boasted the best teamwork. But since they appeared after reorganizing the team concept and name, the previous feeling of playing separately had also disappeared, and you can see them reaching the peak in all aspects.
What do you think of The Grace’s music videos?
The Grace Concert Tour
The Grace lived their career for approximately 4 years with full members before finally releasing their first subunit. The Grace also held a concert in 2008 with the theme Graceful Party Vol. 1 and Tenjochiki 1st Live Tour Dear… in 2009.
Beside that, The Grace also participated as a guest star on some concerts, such an SM Town Summer Concert in 2007, SM Town Live ’08, SM Town Live ’10 World Tour in 2010, SM Town Live World Tour III in 2012, and SM Town Live 2019 in Tokyo 2019 (as separate performers).
The Grace Award Achievements
During their career in the entertainment industry, The Grace had won some awards 3 years after their debut. Let’s find out more about The Grace’s awards that they received in this section below.
- 2007: Best Female Group at the 14th Annual Korea Entertainment Arts Awards and Best Dance Music at the M.net Asian Music Awards
- 2006: Hallyu All-Star Award at the 13th Annual Korea Entertainment Arts Awards
- 2005: Best Female Group at the 12th Annual Korea Entertainment Arts Awards and Best Foreign Singer Group at the 3rd South-East Music Ceremony
Well, that was all the information about The Grace, also known as CSJH, starting from their full profiles, fun facts, discography, filmography, to their career journey from debut to their latest activities before disbanding. If you like this article, please don’t forget to kindly share it on your social media and stay tuned for more interesting upcoming articles from Byeol Korea!
