Fang Yinnian took a week’s leave from school.
For using the bathroom and showering, Fang Yinnian would use the crutch himself.
During the day, he would study composition and arrangement materials in the dormitory. In the evening, Mo Xun would carry him to the company for classes.
Mo Xun applied medicine and massaged him on schedule daily. The injured muscles recovered rapidly, and the original redness, swelling, and bruising gradually subsided.
Being young and in good physical condition, Fang Yinnian recovered quickly. After a week, he could walk steadily.
Of course, he still couldn’t perform too strenuous movements.
Mo Xun had him start with simple movements first, postponing the more difficult ones until his foot had completely healed.
Soon it was late October.
Yan Chi returned from out of town and began having them practice team positioning.
The most difficult aspect of group dancing wasn’t the movements but “synchronization.”
When waving hands or stepping, if five people aren’t synchronized, even the most beautiful movements visually resemble “wild dancing demons.”
To dance in unison, team movements needed repeated correction.
Either one was too high or another too low, and sometimes taking half a step too many in positioning could result in colliding with teammates.
Five-person group dancing required extremely high coordination. Yan Chi continuously supervised them, and anyone with imprecise movements would be stopped.
This repeated fine-tuning tested their patience considerably.
Fortunately, FTM’s five members had been a team since their unknown days and had developed certain bonds. They wouldn’t become impatient or complain about teammates falling behind.
The five were very united. If someone couldn’t keep up, the other teammates would stop and wait, or actively teach them. Even though progress was slow this way, everyone was happy with daily improvements.
Especially team captain Mo Xun, who took on the role of half-teacher for FTM in dancing, carefully correcting each teammate’s movements.
Tan Junwen was most prone to becoming agitated, though he never directed his frustration at teammates, only at himself—when agitated, he liked to grab his hair, often turning his beautiful curls into a teddy dog-like mess.
Group dance practice was exhausting.
Fang Yinnian even dreamed about dancing every night.
By comparison, vocal lessons were much easier. Although Qiao teacher repeatedly corrected their pronunciation and singing skills, it wasn’t as physically demanding.
During this period, Fang Yinnian and Tang Che practiced extra until 2 AM daily. When they got home, their bodies ached all over, and they felt like lying on the floor to sleep.
But thinking about how many trainees had it harder, practicing for years without debuting, they didn’t feel justified in giving up.
Fang Yinnian persevered through gritted teeth.
Tang Che was the same. For those with weak foundations, practicing group choreography was truly grueling—it felt like every muscle in the body had been dismantled and reassembled.
The busy days passed one by one.
They mastered movements one after another, steadily accumulating progress.
By early November, they could finally perform the complete group dance with commendable movements. The harmonies were also well-practiced, ready for recording studio sessions.
On November 5th, producer Yu Ziluo came to the recording studio to personally record their song. Xu Baichuan also invited photographers, saying they needed to shoot “behind-the-scenes footage” for promotional purposes.
The five had been practicing singing every day and had completely memorized the lyrics, able to sing smoothly without looking at the sheet music.
The song opened with Tan Junwen’s rap, followed by Fang Yinnian, then Tang Che.
The recording went smoothly. Under Teacher Yu’s guidance, they recorded several takes, selecting the best version for post-production.
The recording quickly completed post-production. Yu Ziluo sent them the complete version of the song, smiling as he said: “This is the final version. If there are no issues, it can be released on music platforms directly.”
The five excitedly downloaded the song to their phones.
Before the official release, they couldn’t privately share it with family and friends to prevent leaks, but they could listen to it themselves. Everyone was satisfied with the final version and looked forward to the reviews after its release.
Fu Fei excitedly asked: “Brother Xu, when will our song officially release? Which platform will it be on?”
Songs could be released on China’s three major music platforms.
If released exclusively on one platform, the share of member downloads/paid revenue would be higher. For top-tier singers, platforms would even pay high prices to acquire their songs as exclusive content to retain subscribers.
Although FTM had some popularity online, in the eyes of music platforms, they were still small and unknown.
Few people would listen to their songs, so they weren’t “must-have” valuable resources. No platform would pay a high price for exclusive broadcasting rights.
The best approach was “all-platform release.”
Releasing the song simultaneously on the three major music platforms would help increase recognition.
Moreover, Xu Baichuan didn’t expect to make money from this song.
The main purpose of the first song was to help FTM break into the market, letting more people know about this group and listen to their music.
The timing of the release was crucial—choosing a day when no major celebrities were releasing new songs, and preferably not clashing with any major entertainment industry gossip.
If they could stay on the popular charts for a week, it would attract more casual listeners to click and listen. Those who liked what they heard would save or even download the song, potentially becoming FTM’s casual fans.
Xu Baichuan said: “Don’t rush. Once all the preliminary work is completed, it will be released simultaneously across all platforms.”
After producing the song, the next steps were to shoot a practice room version MV and the official music video.
On November 6th, Xu Baichuan brought in photographers to first film the complete dance in the practice room.
The five wore pastel-colored outfits, looking youthful and energetic as they danced to the music rhythm in the practice room.
With the camera directly in front of him, Fang Yinnian felt nervous and was slow on two movements. He quickly stopped and bowed to the photographer: “I’m sorry, let’s redo it.”
After a moment, it was Tang Che’s turn to bow: “Sorry, I made a mistake on one movement.”
During the third take, Tan Junwen’s lip-syncing didn’t match.
The photographer helplessly stopped and said: “Don’t be nervous, just relax. Also, pay attention to your facial expressions—they’re too stiff and will look strange on camera.”
Xu Baichuan laughed: “You dance so well normally, but once the camera is on you, you forget how to dance?”
The five scratched their heads in embarrassment.
Xu Baichuan said: “It’s fine. Today we’re just doing this one thing all day. After a few more takes, just imagine there are many fans behind the photographer cheering you on, and dance well.”
The manager and photographer were very accommodating, and the five gradually let go of their nervousness. As they continued dancing, they actually got into it.
After all, they had practiced this group dance for a full 35 days. Their bodies had formed muscle memory, knowing exactly where to position hands after extending them.
Once everyone started enjoying the dance, being filmed up close wasn’t so burdensome anymore. Tan Junwen even winked at the camera while rapping.
The practice room version dance shoot was finally completed successfully.
The post-production editing quickly produced the final version. After viewing it, Xu Baichuan said satisfactorily: “Next step, MV—weekend flight to Rongcheng.”
All five were surprised: “We’re not shooting the MV locally?”
Xu Baichuan said: “There aren’t many good locations locally. The director and I have selected several spots in Rongcheng. We’ll go there to film over the weekend, two days.”
Fu Fei was extremely excited after hearing the news and said privately in the dormitory: “I thought our MV would just be some dancing in the practice room, a few movements, and then post-production compositing. We’re actually going to Rongcheng for on-location shooting? That must be expensive, right?”
Tan Junwen smiled and said: “The manager definitely saved the marketing budget and put it into MV production.”
The four looked at him in unison: “How do you know that?”
Tan Junwen said: “Because our group has a naturally popular CP! Brother Mo and Yinnian get popular every time they appear, with their CP super topic frequently topping the charts—this must be worth millions in marketing costs, right?”
Fu Fei scratched his head: “That’s true! It seems like FTM only bought trending search marketing once during our debut day, with hardly any marketing afterward.”
Fang Yinnian said: “Xiao Fei, you also made a great contribution—one fall that trended, creating the effect of millions in marketing costs.”
Fu Fei chuckled: “Then my fall was really worth it. I should ask the manager for some hardship pay, haha!”
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian exchanged glances—FTM’s trending topics had all been quite mystical: Fu Fei’s fall once, breaking the escape room record with their actual abilities once. The subsequent times were all due to the Magic Cube CP exploding.
Xu Baichuan must have saved a lot on publicity costs, no wonder he improved their MV production treatment.
Fang Yinnian said expectantly: “I’ve never been to Rongcheng. I wonder what locations the director will choose?”
The weekend quickly arrived, and everyone flew to Rongcheng together. Over two days, they would complete all the MV footage.
The MV director hired by Xu Baichuan was surnamed Zhang. With experience directing several low-budget web dramas, he wasn’t famous in the industry, so his price was reasonable and his schedule easy to coordinate.
But Xu Baichuan didn’t choose him because he was cheap, but because of his style—he mostly directed modern dramas and wouldn’t use excessive dark lighting or eerie camera angles. His fresh, natural style was more suitable for FTM.
Saturday morning, the five arrived at a tree-lined path in Rongcheng, where the director wanted to film a sequence of them walking side by side.
Sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, shining on the youthful faces of the five young men. The lighting technicians illuminated the path, and Director Zhang captured footage of each person as material for post-production editing.
This was their first time filming an MV, and they were all somewhat confused, simply following whatever actions the director instructed them to do.
Rongcheng’s filming locations were all very beautiful.
Besides the sunlit tree-lined path, there was an old alley full of stories, a flower-filled park, roadside sidewalks, a street music store, and many night scenes.
There were shots of all five together, as well as pairs and individuals. The director collected a wealth of material. Until the official MV was released, no one knew what the director would ultimately create.
However, everyone enjoyed the filming process.
The weekend MV shoot felt like a short trip. They visited several beautiful locations in Rongcheng and tried many local delicacies.
On the way back, Fu Fei kept rubbing his hands excitedly: “We shot so many scenes, and I wonder which ones will be used. I can’t wait to see the finished MV!”
Mo Xun said: “I looked at the original frames the director shot—the lighting is quite good, and the style is very fresh.”
Their styling all featured light makeup, and with the song’s lively rhythm, an overly fancy MV with lots of special effects would have been inappropriate.
The director had good ideas, and everyone looked forward to the final result.
After returning to Jiangzhou, it was already mid-November.
This was the season of major online shopping promotions, with all platforms frantically running advertisements and TV stations hosting Double Eleven galas. Xu Baichuan certainly couldn’t release the song at this time—it would sink like a stone with no ripples.
After the online shopping wave passed, on November 15th, FTM’s official blog suddenly released a teaser clip.
FTM Official Studio: “FTM’s long-awaited first original song is here! Recording studio behind-the-scenes footage—Music Note babies can get a preview! [Recording studio teaser video link]”
Fans excitedly rushed to view it.
Then they rushed back out, cursing.
“Debuted in August, original song in November, it’s been three months, damn, is this makeshift group for real?”
“Just releasing a teaser to pacify us?”
“Hand over the entire song immediately, or I’ll blow up Shengyao headquarters!”
“Didn’t you record the practice room dance? Where’s the audio source? Where’s the MV? Stop squeezing toothpaste so slowly—hurry up and serve it!”
“Ahhh my little unknown group finally has an original song, but it’s just a teaser. Let me join in cutting the manager~”
It wasn’t that the fans were all impatient.
Rather… the teaser was just too stunning!
This was behind-the-scenes footage of the five harmonizing in the recording studio, only half a minute long, recording the chorus section. The five looked relaxed and smiled at each other while singing.
They looked very happy, as if enjoying the music.
All five members looked good as usual, and their harmonies sounded great!
Their harmonies at debut were already passable, but after a period of “closed-door training,” this recording was even better than before.
Fans were all itching with anticipation, wishing they could crawl into their computers and steal the master track.
But Xu Baichuan was well-versed in entertainment marketing strategies.
Good things need a warm-up to build maximum anticipation before being served gradually.
If you directly serve a full imperial feast, people won’t know what to eat first.
—Yes, FTM’s promotional team hadn’t exerted much effort before, as the members had created several waves of trending topics from variety shows, saving them money.
Xu Baichuan hadn’t even spent all the marketing funds allocated from above.
The real promotion was only now officially beginning.
Money should be spent where it counts. This time, he would use the first original song to thoroughly establish FTM’s name as a vocal group!
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