The effect of this livestream far exceeded Xu Baichuan’s expectations.
FTM’s livestream view count surpassed 10 million, comparable to a top celebrity’s birthday livestream. The number of real-time online viewers tonight was also considerable, clearly showing that many internet users were interested in FTM.
Even more impressive was FTM’s ability to retain fans.
Xu Baichuan discovered that many fans had checked in on the super topic for 90 consecutive days. FTM debuted on August 18th, which was only 90 days ago—meaning that those “investment fans” from the beginning had almost all stayed.
There were also many new fans joining.
Just this one simple livestream directly increased the super topic followers by 200,000, and FTM’s super topic fans had broken one million!
All five members’ Weibo accounts were gaining followers frantically.
Xu Baichuan discovered that many fans had checked in on the super topic for 90 consecutive days. FTM debuted on August 18th, which was only 90 days ago—meaning that those “investment fans” from the beginning had almost all stayed.
There were also many new fans joining.
Just this one simple livestream directly increased the super topic followers by 200,000, and FTM’s super topic fans had broken one million!
All five members’ Weibo accounts were gaining followers frantically.
Their five-person harmony had no substitute in the Chinese entertainment industry. Most new fans were “group fans” who liked the five’s harmonies and dancing, and especially enjoyed their atmosphere together.
New fans’ follow lists typically included all members and the FTM super topic, while some who enjoyed shipping also followed Magic Cube World.
Tonight’s #MagicCubeWorld# was still bustling.
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian had unknowingly given fans a lot of “sweet moments.”
For example, Fang Yinnian saying he would take Mo Xun to the deserted island; Mo Xun recognizing 1-year-old Fang Yinnian in 1 second and mentioning the red mole on Yinnian’s ear cartilage; Fang Yinnian saying he could make noodles and Mo Xun asking him to make some for them to try.
These “sweet moments” were repeatedly captured and discussed by CP fans.
On Bilibili, a skilled video editor made a 30-minute CP promotion video, combining all of Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian’s variety show and livestream interactions.
The content creator excitedly said: “My lips kept curving upward while making this video—how can you not ship such a sweet CP?!”
The edited video indeed made it to the homepage, becoming the hottest CP video recently. Many people who watched it expressed: Great ship!
In the Weibo super topic area for #MagicCubeWorld#, a big fan began serializing a novel.
This major fan called @MagicCubeHousekeeper was serializing a novel titled “Magic Cube Husbands’ Deserted Island Survival Journal.”
The first chapter described FTM going on a sea trip, when a sudden gust of wind swept Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian to a deserted island.
After reuniting, they searched everywhere for their teammates but couldn’t find them, so they had to figure out how to survive on the deserted island.
Fu Fei, always at the forefront of internet surfing, followed the CP super topic with his alternate account. Seeing this novel topped the list, he curiously clicked on it.
The comment section was going crazy—
“I’m consuming this!”
“Hello, let me take a bite!”
“Heavenly author, please produce more content ahhh!”
“It’s so great that our Magic Cube also has authors writing fiction 555”
“Wish there could be 100 chapters updated overnight”
“Good read, I sense this will become a legendary work in the fandom!”
Fu Fei read the beginning and found it well-written, so he eagerly followed the serialization.
The author produced content very quickly, likely inspired, directly releasing three chapters that night. When Fu Fei reached the third chapter, he noticed something amiss.
“It got dark, and the two spent the night in a cave. Mo Xun couldn’t control his feelings and lowered his head for a kiss… Damn, how exciting!”
“What are you mumbling about?” Tan Junwen leaned his head over.
“I found a Magic Cube fan fiction. My goodness, these CP fans are so talented!” Fu Fei pointed at the novel on the computer.
“They even have fan fiction? Let me see.” Tan Junwen curiously glanced at it and couldn’t help laughing. “They’re already kissing? Hahaha, I wonder how those two would react if they saw this.”
“They’d probably be embarrassed enough to dig themselves a three-bedroom apartment.” Fu Fei said with schadenfreude.
“Should we send it to them and see?” Tan Junwen had a mischievous attitude. “I feel like Mo Xun has a big heart and doesn’t care about these things.”
“Brother Nian probably doesn’t care either,” Fu Fei said. “Look at how he said he’d take Mo Xun to the deserted island during the livestream today, giving CP fans sweet moments.”
“His thoughts are simple—he just wants to practice singing well,” Tan Junwen smiled slightly. “So he always gives these sweet moments unexpectedly.”
“Haha, when Brother Nian appears, Magic Cube indeed tops the charts again,” Fu Fei said excitedly. “This CP will probably become widely known.”
“Mo Xun is also unfiltered. That mole on Yinnian’s ear will definitely become a focus in CP fans’ fiction.”
“I understand!” Fu Fei smiled super brightly.
“CP fans must feel like it’s New Year’s Eve tonight,” Tan Junwen concluded.
Magic Cube CP fans were indeed as happy and lively as if celebrating the New Year.
The mole on the ear had already inspired several novels, and the two living on a deserted island was perfect creative material.
Not only had authors begun writing stories, but many artists were also drawing fan comics, such as Mo Xun leaning over to kiss the mole on Fang Yinnian’s ear, Fang Yinnian making noodles for Mo Xun, the two “living together” on the deserted island, and so on.
Comics, emoticons, novels—fan creations filled the super topic, helping #MagicCubeWorld# top the charts once again.
Fang Yinnian hadn’t intended this. When his teammates self-recommended with reasons like telling jokes, drawing pictures, singing… Fang Yinnian naturally chose the “practical” Mo Xun. Wasn’t it normal to bring someone capable of physical labor to a deserted island?
If Fu Fei hadn’t @mentioned them in the group chat saying the Magic Cube CP had topped the charts again, they wouldn’t have paid attention to it.
Mo Xun generously said: “Let it top the charts—I’m used to it.”
Tan Junwen: “Your CP is really popular. Today, a large batch of fan creations emerged. I can’t even save all the images.”
Fang Yinnian curiously asked: “What are they shipping now?”
Fu Fei summarized: “Deserted island duo, the mole on the ear, making noodles, dad and mom, etc. Fan creations absolutely exploded.”
Fang Yinnian: “Really?”
Fu Fei sent a link in the group chat: “Hehe, someone wrote a story—want to take a look?” He was purely stirring up trouble, actually sending fan fiction to the two subjects.
Fang Yinnian curiously clicked on it, then quickly closed the webpage with a red face: “What is this?!”
He shouldn’t have been so curious to click.
Mo Xun asked confusedly: “What did you see?”
Fang Yinnian avoided eye contact, lowering his head and saying: “The novel wrote about us spending the night in a cave on the deserted island, and then…”
Mo Xun became curious: “And then what? We were attacked by wild beasts at night, and we joined forces to repel a wolf pack?”
Fang Yinnian: “…”
Seems like you still don’t understand CP fans well enough.
Mo Xun curiously clicked on the novel. He had thought the novel would describe him and Fang Yinnian teaming up to fight monsters and have adventures on the island.
But as he read on, things seemed increasingly off.
Why was he acting inappropriately and starting to kiss Fang Yinnian, repeatedly kissing and licking the mole on Yinnian’s ear?
Mo Xun’s face suddenly burned up, and he cursed softly: “Damn, what kind of nonsense is this…”
CP fans creating fan fiction was nothing unusual in the industry.
Magic Cube CP hadn’t had that many fan creations before, but the deserted island mentioned today was indeed perfect for imagination, no wonder authors immediately started writing.
Mo Xun looked back at Fang Yinnian, whose ears were red, with that mole above his ear cartilage especially prominent.
Thinking about the scene described in the novel, Mo Xun’s Adam’s apple inexplicably bobbed. He quickly looked away, feigning calmness as he said: “It’s better to avoid reading fan fiction. It’s written too strangely.”
Fang Yinnian stood up: “Mm, I’ll go shower first.”
He grabbed his pajamas and turned to leave.
Mo Xun awkwardly touched his nose, then immediately sent a private message to Fu Fei: “All you do is stir up trouble. Why are you sharing fan fiction in the group chat?”
Fu Fei: “I thought it was funny and wanted to share it with you guys.”
Mo Xun: “Funny my ass!”
Fu Fei: “…”
Mo Xun: “It’s written all messy, and there’s even a kissing scene, damn!”
Fu Fei: “Hehe.”
Mo Xun: “What are you laughing at? Don’t share these anymore!”
Could the captain actually be angry? Isn’t reading fan fiction written by fans supposed to be fun? Fu Fei scratched his head, not quite understanding.
In the bathroom, Fang Yinnian’s ears grew increasingly hot.
That fan fiction was written very vividly, as if he and Mo Xun were really embracing in a cave overnight, with Mo Xun taking his ear in his mouth, biting and licking, kisses trailing downward, finally sealing his lips.
In the silent cave, all they could hear was each other’s rapid breathing, their warm bodies intertwined, as if they were the only two people left in the world.
Fang Yinnian: “…”
He turned the shower to the coldest setting, quickly washing away the memory of the novel from his mind.
Fang Yinnian shook his head vigorously, trying hard to forget about it, then adjusted his breathing before turning to leave.
When he returned to the bedroom after showering, Mo Xun was sitting in a chair replying to messages. Hearing the door, Mo Xun looked up, their eyes met, and they both immediately looked away.
His heartbeat seemed to skip half a beat in that moment-probably influenced by the fan fiction-both feeling somewhat awkward.
Fang Yinnian returned to his spot, sitting down with feigned composure and opening his computer to continue studying the teaching materials his master had sent him.
The room fell into an eerie silence.
After a moment, Mo Xun cleared his throat, breaking the silence: “Um, Brother Xu just said we need to record an instrumental version next week.”
At the mention of work, Fang Yinnian immediately perked up: “Instrumental version?”
But still too embarrassed to look at Mo Xun, he stared at his computer screen and asked: “Will we remove the main vocals?”
Mo Xun said: “Yes, just record the harmony accompaniment.”
Many singers release instrumental tracks online for fans to cover. The manager asking them to record harmony accompaniment was probably for covers?
Fang Yinnian nodded: “Got it.”
Mo Xun continued: “The MV will be officially released next weekend. All five of us will also drop into the QQ Music comment section for real-time interaction. Brother Xu probably wants this song to stay on the trending charts for a while.”
Fang Yinnian often listened to music on various platforms and would check “New Song Rankings” and “Weekly Rising Charts” to find songs. Having their new song stay on the charts longer would certainly be better.
Everyone would naturally follow the manager’s promotional arrangements.
After returning from school on Monday, the five went to the vocal classroom to practice the harmony singing for the accompaniment version.
The sheet music had been modified strangely. For example, parts where Fang Yinnian originally sang solo were changed so that he provided harmony instead, leaving the main melody empty. It was the same for the others.
About 90% of Tan Junwen’s rap section was left empty, with Tan Junwen only coming in at a few key points to mark the rhythm.
The five practiced in confusion.
Fu Fei asked directly: “Teacher Qiao, what is this accompaniment for? Is it for others to cover?”
Qiao Anhua said: “Your manager wants to collaborate with platforms for a cover song activity. It’s my first time seeing this format too-quite fresh.”
The five finished practicing with lingering questions.
The full-group harmony didn’t need practice-they already knew it by heart. For each person’s solo sections, they completed the small adjustments and harmonies themselves. Since the melody for each solo part was the same, everyone mastered it quickly.
The next day, they entered the recording studio and completed the accompaniment recording.
With the song recorded and the MV filmed, their schedule remained demanding. They not only had to consolidate their dance skills but also attempt singing and dancing with fully open microphones.
In the practice room version, the music was added in post-production, so during filming they only needed to match their lip movements. But for actual stage performances, they would definitely need open mics.
Singing while dancing makes it easy to strain your voice, sing off-key, or become breathless-this was the most challenging part.
Many singers’ fully open-mic performances are almost disasters. Some don’t dare use fully open mics, either using half-open mics with high backing tracks or simply lip-syncing.
Since FTM debuted with the vocal group label, they certainly couldn’t lip-sync.
Although they didn’t know when their first official stage would be, everyone needed to take it seriously and practice singing and dancing with fully open mics in advance.
The difficulty doubled.
How to control breathing sounds during intense dance movements, how to ensure vocal stability during frequent position changes-these were all severe tests for them.
…
A week quickly passed.
Friday evening, FTM’s official accounts across major platforms uniformly released the new song’s MV. Fans, content creators, and casual viewers who caught wind of it all clicked in to enjoy it.
People had assumed the MV would just be dance footage with some individual shots and post-production effects-unexpectedly, this MV was actually shot on location.
In the opening, Tan Junwen rapped on the street while interacting with passersby, exuding outstanding charisma, extremely relaxed and confident.
The director’s lighting was excellent, making Tan Junwen look both handsome and natural.
Fang Yinnian’s individual part had many shots, including him seriously playing piano in a piano room and smiling while walking on a sunlit path.
The young man looked up at the sky, sunlight passing through his fingertips onto his face, creating fragmented light and shadows. This scene made many people imagine the male lead in a campus drama-excellent in both character and studies, gentle and quiet.
The scenery perfectly matched his voice.
The bullet comment section was indeed filled with screams of “Ahhh so handsome!”
Tang Che’s part featured more night scenes, with moonlight and the brilliant lights of a bustling city. The sense of solitude about him was particularly evident at night.
A youth walking alone in the darkness, his steps firm and composed, resolutely moving forward because of the passionate dream in his heart.
Fu Fei held a guitar, happily playing and singing in a bedroom, a youth with a face full of smiles, bursting with energy and enthusiasm.
Mo Xun wore cool black clothes with a hood, sweating profusely on stage. His individual part featured many difficult dance movements. Mo Xun dancing for the camera seemed like a born stage king.
During the instrumental section before the chorus, the five seemed to hear some call, setting off together toward a designated location.
This used five split screens, showing each person’s perspective.
They were all running toward the same goal.
As the interlude ended, the five finally converged from five directions.
The moment they smiled at each other, the seed in their hearts sprouted tender green shoots-they had formed FTM.
As the chorus began, the five performed a synchronized knife formation dance.
In the MV, they wore black and white performance outfits, looking better than the casual short-sleeved shirts in the practice room version.
Fans in the bullet comment section could barely contain their excitement.
“Ahhh so cool!”
“Five people rushing toward the same goal-who understands this sense of destiny?”
“This MV is really well-made.”
“The style is very fresh, and everyone’s shots look so good~”
“Like a short campus film.”
“I’m directly taking screenshots frame by frame-the lighting is truly beautiful!”
“I’m also frantically taking screenshots, can barely keep up~”
This song’s MV clearly had effort put into it, with many real locations.
Someone counted at least 10 different scenes: streets, alleys, tree-lined paths, flower beds, and more.
At the end of the MV, the five walked side by side on a sunlit tree-lined path, a warm and healing scene.
It perfectly complemented the harmony in the song’s finale.
“Using notes to connect, the bonds of our lives, never stopping”
As the accompaniment gently concluded, the camera slowly moved from the front to behind the five. The young men’s figures gradually receded-no matter where the future led, they would walk forward together.
As the MV ended, many people watched it again from the beginning, reluctant to finish.
This group, whether in harmonies, dancing, livestreams, or MVs, truly showed sincerity in every aspect.
The view count for FTM’s debut single “For the Music” MV continued to rise, quickly surpassing 10 million.
Many internet users gave positive reviews: “The MV is pretty good.”
“Lots of outdoor real scenes, much more serious than those MVs that just film a bunch of close-up shots indoors and composite them in post-production.”
“You can tell the behind-the-scenes team really valued this song. Both the choreography and MV show real effort.”
“The locations were well-chosen, with beautiful light and shadow.”
“Fresh and natural. The director’s location choices and lighting are good-much better looking than some TV drama directors’ work.”
Positive reviews for the MV increased, with the momentum keeping their new song at the top of various music platforms’ “New Song Charts,” while save counts continued to climb.
Saturday evening, all FTM members dropped into the QQ Music comment section to interact.
Numerous fans rushed to like and flood the comment section with messages, with the five randomly replying to comments.
The interaction lasted for an hour.
The number of comments on this song actually exceeded 1 million!
After a week of continuous promotion, more and more people knew about FTM.
Sunday noon, another major announcement was released.
FTM Official Studio-
“The #SingHarmonyWithFTM# National Cover Contest, a collaboration between FTM and WeSing Official, officially launches today!
Participation method: Register as a WeSing member and download the instrumental version of FTM’s new song ‘For the Music’ from the song library to freely perform.
The accompaniment is divided into 6 audio tracks, including FTM members’ individual harmonies and full-group harmony. Everyone can DIY and customize, selecting different tracks for each section to create your own personalized song.”
FTM group’s five members will sing harmony with everyone!
The contest judges consist of five vocal experts: Zhang Jiaming (General Manager of WeSing), music critics Chen Leyang/Feng Shiyu, music producer Yu Ziluo, and Professor Qiao Anhua from Shengyao Media.
The competition is divided into preliminary selection and final evaluation stages.
The preliminary selection will choose the top 30 participants through netizen voting; in the final evaluation stage, expert judges and online voting each account for 50% of the score.
First prize (1 winner): 100,000 yuan
Second prize (3 winners): 50,000 yuan each
Third prize (8 winners): 10,000 yuan each
Remaining excellent awards: a microphone gift package
Everyone is welcome to participate actively!
Once this news was released, it quickly topped the trending searches, shocking the industry!
K-song platforms have been extremely popular in the last two years, with many talented civilians posting their recorded covers on them.
But no one expected-a boy band releasing a new song would dare to hold a national cover contest?!
The theme of the contest is even “Sing Harmony with FTM.”
The accompaniment is even divided into 6 audio tracks, allowing all participants to freely customize who sings harmony with them.
This format is simply unprecedented!
Other boy band managers in the industry were bewildered: “Can boy bands promote like this? What exactly is Xu Baichuan doing?”
No boy band has ever dared to put their songs on a cover platform for a competition. It’s already polite enough if people don’t mock you, yet they dare to let people cover their songs? Aren’t they asking to be criticized?!
But FTM is different.
As a harmony group, Xu Baichuan has this confidence.
Come on, let everyone cover the song, with the five members serving as harmony tools, and see what talented civilians can create.
Trust in the creative abilities of these talented individuals.
Great rewards will attract brave participants.
It’s just covering a song, with the first prize directly offering 100,000 yuan, and many spots for second and third prizes. With such a high prize pool, it will naturally attract many casual participants.
This song will no longer be limited to the fan circle.
Being able to become popular on cover platforms and letting more people who don’t follow boy bands know about FTM’s harmony group is also a way to overtake competitors by taking a different path.
While the online K-song platform launches, offline KTVs across the country will also offer the instrumental version of this song.
The idol track is too crowded. Xu Baichuan’s “alternative path” promotion method has collectively confused other boy bands. In so many years, this is the first time they’ve seen a boy band holding a cover competition.
It’s truly eye-opening!
FTM’s five members are especially happy.
After all, they don’t want to just entertain themselves and their fans when releasing a song. Wouldn’t it be great if more people could hear it, more people could cover it, and it even appeared in KTVs nationwide?
In the future, they could even select their own songs when gathering with family and classmates at KTV.
Wouldn’t their recognition increase?
FTM’s “National Cover Contest” activity with the K-song platform was excitedly discussed by netizens, trending on hot searches.
“First time seeing a boy band holding a cover competition!”
“FTM is truly different.”
“This is the confidence of a vocal group, right? First, the song must sound good, otherwise what’s the point of covering it-it would just sound worse.”
“Customizable audio tracks, amazing! I like Fang Yinnian, can I choose his voice to harmonize with me throughout?”
“This approach is really brilliant. They already have five different voices, letting creative netizens choose their own accompaniment could produce countless different feelings.”
“Ahhh if I choose Xiao Fei for the entire song, would the recorded song sound very warm!”
“You can also choose the full group version. The five-person harmony in the chorus sounds best, and for the verses, have the corresponding person harmonize-that would be perfect.”
“I just listened to the separate tracks and decided to enter the competition, having five handsome guys as my backup!”
“My singing is terrible, but I’ll record one to try, just to participate~”
“Damn! My goddess Sister Jingjing said she’s going to participate!”
“Several internet celebrities also said they would join.”
“As long as you’re not a formally debuted singer, you can participate. I expect many internet celebrities will ride this wave of popularity!”
“I saw the 2D male god Fox Brother also talking about this…”
The popularity of the cover competition exploded across the internet.
The first boy band daring to offer high prize money for a national cover contest is truly remarkable!
Many internet celebrity singers’ livestream rooms were also discussing this-
“FTM? Oh, I know this group, five handsome young men forming a fresh boy band, they just released a song recently, right? Cover contest? No, no, no, I won’t join the fun, you guys go ahead.”
“A boy band holding a cover contest, who gave them the courage! What? Vocal group? Sorry, I haven’t heard of them… let me listen first.”
“What is this cover contest? Why are so many people in my livestream asking if I’m participating?”
“National cover contest, is it such a big deal?”
“I’ll listen to the instrumental tracks first. This is the first time I’ve seen a DIY track competition-very interesting.”
Well-known music forums in the industry were also discussing this-
“FTM’s new song is actually collaborating with WeSing for a cover contest!”
“This boy band has thick skin, aren’t they afraid of being criticized?”
“Aren’t they an idol boy band? With idol-level singing skills, recording those trashy catchy songs, how dare they let others cover them.”
“This group’s song is actually decent, listenable.”
“Could you listen before criticizing? Coming straight in with attacks makes you look like internet keyboard warriors.”
“I listened, it’s got something.”
“They recorded 6 separate instrumental tracks, you can freely choose when covering, DIY customization.”
“Free customization? You mean each section of accompaniment can be selected?”
“That’s right, originally verse one is Fang Yinnian, verse two is Tang Che, but you can change it so both verses have Fu Fei backing you.”
“The 4 verses can freely change backing members, but for the chorus, it’s best to keep the full group harmony.”
“No exaggeration, the DIY accompaniment is quite fun! I just recorded two versions, one with Tang Che backing throughout, one with Fu Fei-completely different feelings.”
“Fang Yinnian’s solo at the end has such high notes I can’t reach, need to lower the key to record. Looking forward to talented creators’ works.”
“This vocal group is interesting, they can play with one song in so many ways.”
“Mainly because the five have completely different voices with distinctive characteristics. Such a group can indeed play with separate track harmonies-very interesting.”
“I bet my whole family’s ID numbers that this group will definitely become popular!”
After a weekend of promotion across the internet, FTM’s new song instrumental indeed topped WeSing’s cover chart popularity rankings.
Many netizens began creating their DIY works.
“Listen to my recording, please vote for me!”
“I recorded the five-person harmony version, please support if you’re passing by~”
“I’m tone-deaf, please excuse my poor performance, hehe. I’ve never played with this kind of harmony mode before, just joining the fun.”
“…”
Creative works sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain.
On the first day of the competition, the homepage was flooded with cover works.
Sunday night.
The hashtag #SingHarmonyWithFTM# topped the main trending search list, followed by a prominent “boiling” indicator.
This was FTM’s first time on the main trending search list since their debut.
The industry collectively expressed: We don’t understand this group.
However, companies like Xingmang Entertainment and Huayue Century, which also manage boy bands, keenly sensed a huge crisis.
-FTM is taking a different path.
What if this path succeeds?
This hastily formed little-known group definitely has ambitions to impact top-tier boy bands!
##
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