Music / Idols

Acts I wish would sue their agencies, part 2: CSJH

Written by Ree On October 18, 2011

Today, we bring you part 2 of our “Acts I wish would sue their agencies” series with the beloved CSJH, who seriously needs to have sued SM about six eons ago.

In terms of talent, with these girls, I essentially have no complaint. Lina has got to have one of my favourite vocals ever heard from a female in Kpop. And Stephanie, Dana, and Sunday all hold their own very, very well. There’s no baggage here. And SM were careful to ensure that there wouldn’t be any baggage- since CSJH were meant to be the female answer to the legendary ‘DBSK‘. I won’t say SM Entertainment are foolish when it comes to this quartet, or at least they weren’t. Because initially, SM actually put quite a bit of thought into CSJH. They put quite a bit of thought when recruiting the members, and they put quite a bit of thought concerning their promotional material. And so, when CSJH first debuted, they pretty much had everything going for them.

Contrary to popular belief, CSJH’s career didn’t actually fall downhill when they first debuted in Japan. After they debuted in the Japanese market, they did fail, but they returned to Korea. And when CSJH returned, they continued to release good promotional tracks and once again seemed to be on the right path. SM payed valuable attention to them, they had the talent thing down and pat, and they had decent promotional singles as well. However, SM obviously didn’t catch the hint the first time around, because shortly after the release of their first album, they were whisked back to Japan again.

And this time they didn’t come back.

Doing mediocre in Japan, and being pretty much forgotten in Korea during their absence, they also lost their place as the SM golden girl group to SNSD. But they kept up the unnoticed Japanese promotions up until 2010 where they went on a hiatus.

However, there was hope! This year SM announced that CSJH would be making a comeback, and all Shapley’s rejoiced!

Until SM confirmed it to be only actually half of CSJH making a comeback, with a digital single, not an album. However, Shapley’s still rejoiced because, hey, at least half of the CSJH girls would be making a return. I know I was super excited for the comeback, I actually stayed up to wait for the MV to come out. I was pretty much at the edge of my seat all night- that is- until it was finally released.

What is that processing? What is that cheap MV? What is that non-existent colour scheme? What is this reject f(x) song?

Dana and Sunday are actually the two weakest vocalists in CSJH, and by two weakest vocalists, I don’t actually mean they were weak vocalists. They were damn fine vocalists, who could pull off far better than what SM gave them. All of CSJH deserve more investment than what SM is giving them. If any fandom has the justified right to be butthurt, it’s Shapely’s. Will CSJH be getting a good promotional run from SM anytime soon? Honestly, if you ask me, I don’t think so. The fact that one of SM’s high roller boy bands, don’t get good promotional material, leaves me doubtful that CSJH will receive any. So all I can do now is hope that one of them initiates a lawsuit (which seems to be the trend within SM nowadays anyway) and all four jump ship to something like LOEN or whatever.

TAGS: CSJH The Grace

Tigana

Actually, Dana was promoted as the group’s lead vocalist. She and Sunday are regarded as the more vocally skilled half. They’ve got softer voices than Lina/Steph, but when they belt out those notes, they’re just as powerful.

Alwaysh

No, I’m pretty sure they were the weaker voices. That’s why everyone was just :/ when it was only Dana and Sunday promoting and not Lina/Steph.
http://colourmesplendid.wordpress.com Ree

Ooh, really? Sorry- was not aware. I was told Steph/Lina were the stronger vocal half :x Still, doesn’t change the fact they need to jump ship.

tru

then why don’t you research before writing your articles? dana and lina were considered the leads, steph and sunday the subs but sunday can sing both high&low.

http://colourmesplendid.wordpress.com Ree

Because I did research? As you can see from the comments, there’s a discretion in who people consider to be the stronger vocalists. And from the material I saw, as well as people I discussed it with, to me the stronger vocalists are Lina and Stephanie and they’ve both impressed me more than Dana and Sunday. But fair enough, I should have checked who SM deemed the ‘lead vocalists’ before adding in that sentence.
where’s the party?

I always thought the weakest was Sunday (and by weakest I mean it in relative) not Stephanie. And I don’t know whoever the heck SM deemed lead vocals, but I’ve listened to most of their material, and in my opinion Stephanie just sounds better than Dana, don’t know about technique, but I like her voice more. And Lina is just undisputedly the most amazing singer in the band- like wow. Not that Dana and Sunday aren’t great either.

Also I’m pretty sure @twitter-145072684:disqus established whatever you’re trying to say, except in an elaborated, less accusatory, and more respectful way.
Showmepositivity

Take a chill pill. She never even wore that they weren’t the lead singers, but that they were the weakest. And who’s considered the weakest depends on opinion.

Anonymous

Personal opinion but after listening to all of their music, I would have to say that Steph and Lina , especially Lina are heaps and bounds stronger vocally than Sunday and Dana even when the later two belt it out. Don’t get me wrong I think Sunday and Dana have nice voices but they just aren’t to the same level as Lina in terms of power and range.
http://twitter.com/MonicaDBSK Monica

Really? I always thought Lina and Dana were the more vocally skilled half. Lina being the best of them all, and Dana being more skilled than sunday and steph, but because her voice is naturally higher pitched than stephanie (whose voice is very deep), people get the impression that steph is more skilled. Eh but anyway, yes so true about this group not having any baggage at all, Dana, sunday, and steph can even wipe out some other girl groups’ lead vocalist.

Oh and will f(x) be featured on the next “Acts i wish would sue their agencies”? Cuz I think they should.

http://twitter.com/ovenfreshhhhh ovenfreshhhhh ☆

SM Entertainment just can’t keep up with the trend of heavily Western-influenced songs saturating K-pop these days. SM’s earlier stuff was good because it was actual “pop” music. But when SME steps out of their little bubble and tries to release a song that’s supposed to be a club/dance track, we get horse shit.

Sigh. Don’t even get me started on the mess that is SNSD’s new song…
japa

I love CSJH’s most recent song! The lyrics poke fun at the different controversies of women stereotypes such as woman’s rights, patriarchy, insecurities etc etc with a korean feel that SERIOUSLY only a koreans would be able to catch. Its a very comical song. But even so, they did it to the extent that made netizens uncomfortable which is no surprise. Safe and secure is all netizens acknowledge and accept. Also.. Dana and Sunday are vocal teachers in SM entertainment. Who knows what else they do, they’re at a sophisticated age to go down paths of their own. Their priorities have seemed to become more diverse than just being famous idol stars.
Skye

And when they get out of SM, Lina needs to sing another song with Jaejoong. That’s a fact.

Aside from that, I agree. I knew them this year (mostly bc I wasn’t into kpop back when they were REALLY active) but I really like most of their Korean stuff (haven’t gotten into their Jp stuff yet), and the girls are really talented (way more than a lot of popular girl groups). I wish they would have been given better material and not that poor excuse of an f(x) song. A lawsuit would be good too xD
Anonymous

I recommend ANYONE who is unfamiliar with old-CSJH to immediately go youtube and look up ‘CSJH A Capella’ and watch the very first recommended video – because it explains without words about just why it is SUCH a damn shame SM left them in a ditch.

Also – Dana and Sunday are both EXCELLENT, but not only was the new song not suited for their vocals (and what was up with that squeak rap??), they’re also the two sopranos of the group while Lina and Steph were the two altos. When they were together as four, the different qualities of their voices worked together and really contributed to the feeling of depth in their singing. It falls a little flat (even with excellent voices) when it’s just two sopranos or two altos.
Van Nguyen

Haha yeah when I first heard this song I automatically thought of DBSK’s hot autotune mess of a song (can’t remember the name though…)
But yeah, these girls have totally FINE vocals, they don’t NEED autotune. A lesson learned the hard way.
tyounge1991

They are extremely talented, SM just doesn’t get it. They are capable of making polished performers and seem to afford that luxury to their least talented groups. It’s a shame.
Anonymous

i haven’t heard of them so i went and check them out and holy cow, they are talented. what is sme thinking?!

like i said before, its frustrating to see talented artists get shafted by a company that claim they have the “best system”. bs!
Anonymous

i haven’t heard of them so i went and check them out and holy cow, they are talented. what is sme thinking?!

like i said before, its frustrating to see talented artists get shafted by a company that claim they have the “best system”. bs!
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