Ongaku Cafe (The 2000s): Tenjochiki - Graceful4 (November 2007)

I found Tenjochiki’s “Graceful4” to be equally impressive and enjoyable and the DVD version just the icing on the cake to add that visual appeal and show that outside the vocals and beauty, these young women can dance. All in all, an album worth recommending and I hope a group that people will definitely give attention to.

GROUP: Tenjochiki (aka Cheon Sang Ji Hee the Grace)

ALBUM: Graceful4

LABEL: RhythmZone

CATALOG #: RZCD-45738

DURATION: 52:05

RELEASED ON: November 14, 2007

Piranha
One More time, OK?
Just For One Day (Special Edition) (Tenjochiki and JEJUNG from Tohoshinki)
I’ll Kiss You
Boomerang
PARDON ME??
5cm
Sweet Flower
Get on the floor (Tenjochiki & DOGMA)
The Club (Tenjochiki feat. SEAMO)
juice LOVE (Tenjochiki feat. CORNEAD)
My Everything

DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Approx: 25 minutes

One More Time, OK?
Piranha
juice LOVE (Tenjochiki feat. CORNHEAD)
Sweet Flower
The Club (Tenjochiki feat. SEAMO)
Boomerang

Originally reviewed back in November 2007

I have a few Tenjo Chiki CD singles on my “to review later” shelf but it was not until I saw a performance of “Piranha” for “a-nation 2007″ that left me speechless by their sexy choreography and vocals.So, naturally did my research to find out who this group is and to find out that Tenjo Chiki is a Korean quartet that goes by the name “The Grace”. Similar to Tohoshinki, they have several names in Asia but for the sake of this review, I will use the Japanese name Tenjo Chiki.

The four women consist of So. California girl Stephanie, Sunday (who released CD singles in Japan back in 2004-2005), Dana (released two solo albums in Korea) and Lina (member of Korea’s IsakNJiyeon).

I admit I was surprised that one of the members was Dana (a person I listened to during the time S.E.S. was around and bought the SMTown Christmas albums) and Lina of IsakNJiyeon, so naturally I went back and started listening to the CD singles and now all into this group. And Stephanie, I’ve seen her perform (and showcasing her awesome dance moves) on the SBS Korean variety show “XMAN” but never really put two and two together that Tenjo Chiki is CSJH.

Here we are with their full length album and if you thought the “Piranha” CD single was full of energetic music, then “Graceful4” is twelve times that.

I have listened to this album over and over again and it has definitely captured my attention because it’s very contemporary pop, dance tracks that are not very J-Pop-ish in nature and even different to a lot of the K-Pop I have listened to as well. There is something about this album that manages to capture the synergy that you find in a well-done pop album and you can’t go wrong with any track because this album is all good!

The first thing I noticed on this album though is that a lot of the original composers for the music on the album are not Japanese or Korean. Thus probably some songs really getting an injection of Western type of pop and R&B feel to it.

The first track “Piranha” (RZCD-45626, rel. Aug. 2007) is the group’s fifth CD single release and features a very awesome dance track and one of the hottest music videos that I have seen coming from an all Asian female group.

The second track “One More Time, OK?” is another cool dance track and kind of has that Janet Jackson “Rhythm Nation” style of feel to it.

The third track “Just For One Day (Special Edition)” features Tenjochiki collaborating with Jejung of Tohoshinki in a romantic slow jam. The song was featured on the “Piranha” CD single but all in all, a very smooth ballad.

The fourth track “I’ll Kiss You” is a song that departs from the R&B dance tracks on the album by sounding very Western in a similar nature to Jessica Simpson and early Britney. Still a fun song to listen to. Also, rap lyrics written by Stephanie.

The fifth track “Boomerang” is the group’s first CD single (RZCD-45274, Rel. Jan. 2006) and is actually my favorite track on the album. Upbeat and very catchy, love how the women’s vocals come together for this track. Just awesome harmony.
The sixth track “PARDON ME??” is another song that is different from other tracks and though a fast up-tempo track that sounds a little Destiny’s Child and a bit more in your face. It’s probably in my opinion the weakest song of the album.

The seventh track “5cm” is a track that gets the benefit of a Nao’ymt production. The producer who has spun hits such as Amuro Namie’s “BABY DON’T CRY”, lecca’s “Otaku Girls no Utage” and inspired by artists such as Jodeci and R. Kelley definitely shows on this track as it has that western soul R&B groove to it.

The eighth track “Sweet Flower” is the group’s third CD single (RZCD-45355, rel. April 2006) which is another track that has awesome harmony and showcases the women’s vocals and an addictive drum beat.

The ninth track “Get on the floor” features Tenjochiki collaborating with hip hop artist DOGMA. A very smooth track with a great beat, awesome harmonizing and very good balance with the girls vocals and DOGMA’s rapping. All in all, a very addictive song.

The tenth track “The Club” is the group’s second CD single (RZCD-45332, Rel. March 2006). Whereas “Boomerang” was very awesome in showcasing the women’s harmonizing vocals, “The Club” showcases the group’s ability to experiment with different styles of music and a very cool collaboration with SEAMO.

The eleventh track “juicy LOVE” is the group’s fourth CD single (RZCD-45400, Rel. June 2006). It’s interesting because each time I find a song where I think the women are just so smooth in their harmonizing, then you get near the end of the album with this track. The song utilizes a reggae, summer and breezy feel to it because of the music and the beautiful harmonizing by the ladies. And then once it gets to the middle of the track, a sudden transition to some reggae dance hall music which was a surprise and then a return back to the summer, breezy music. Pretty cool track!

The final track “My Everything” is an awesome ballad by the ladies and was originally featured in the “Piranha” CD single.

The CD+DVD is definitely the version to get because you get a total of six music videos and I can go on and on how sexy the quartet is and how I really dig their energy and choreography for each music video but if you want to feed your curiosity about this group, then definitely get the version CD+DVD version.

One thing you will notice with their music videos is that each video is pretty much big budget and doesn’t look cheap or basic. From the look and feel of the videos, they are done well and it helps to know that none of these videos are boring to watch.

The first music video “One More Time OK?” features the women showcasing their vocals and dance moves with a a group of guys and girls grooving to the music with a few race cars in the background. If anything, the video is a good showcase of beauty, sexy choreography (especially a cool segment with the girls dancing with the cane) and their vocals.

The second music video “Piranha” is a music video that just screams “Sexy Choreography”. If you thought Koda Kumi’s music video were sexy, this video will show you that Tenjochiki embodies sexy with their choreography for this video. Looking at the previous music videos from Tenjochiki, you can see how far they came in the past year in terms of style and choreography.

The third music video on the DVD is “juicy LOVE” has that summer, breezy feel to it. The women sing in Summer colors with tropical plants in the background and then a transition to Cornhead’s rapping segment showcases a precursor to the beginning of the women’s cool choreography before “Piranha”.

The fourth music video featured is “Sweet Flower”. Features the women before they died their hair lighter and yes, they look different than their music videos now. Cool choreography but again, a precursor to the talent they would become two singles later.

The fifth music video “The Club” features a very cool music video featuring the girls in different segments. The girls arguing with their manager in a limo, sitting in a round table singing to each other and another shot singing and dancing and performing in front of people. A very short appearance by SEAMO.

The sixth music video is their first song “BOOMERANG” featuring the ladies performing and if anything, I think this video showcases the group’s vocals and dancing. In a way, it looks like a modern day MAX and a pretty cool video and definitely interesting to see how the women were image-wise before the transformation to the current style (fashion and choreography) they exhibit now.

The CD insert features the lyrics for the songs on the album plus photos of the women individually and as a group.

Back in the 90’s, MAX were the quartet that I loved watching. To watch four women showcase their choreography and display something different than other female artists were doing at the time.

A decade later, many more female groups especially K-Pop groups have really changed the musical scene by showcasing great vocals and choreography. Tenjochiki features four women, handpicked by SM Entertainment of Korea, known for artists such as BoA and groups in the past such as S.E.S. and H.O.T. now having top acts in Japan with Korean artists BoA, Tohoshinki and now Tenjochiki, really makes things exciting.

I really dig Tenjochiki’s music and it may be different for Japanese because it has a very western pop appeal musically but I happen to find their first five CD singles awesomely addictive.

I found “Graceful4” to be equally impressive and enjoyable and the DVD version just the icing on the cake to add that visual appeal and show that outside the vocals and beauty, these young women can dance.

All in all, an album worth recommending and I hope a group that people will definitely give attention to.

Ongaku Cafe (The 2000s): Tenjochiki – Graceful4 (November 2007)

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