On Mo Xun’s birthday, manager Xu Baichuan announced good news: “Yuntu Satellite TV’s official Weibo will announce your participation in the New Year’s Eve gala tomorrow at 8 PM. Please be ready to repost.”
The New Year’s Eve schedule was finally set! The five were very happy.
However, the next morning, after waking up, Fu Fei opened the super topic and found fans arguing excitedly.
“It’s almost the end of the year, and there are no events?”
“So many satellite TV stations hold New Year’s Eve galas. I see many unknown singers have gone. Are we FTM not qualified?”
“Other boy bands have already announced. FTM’s studio is like a dead place. No wonder it’s a makeshift group!”
“Bluewind announced going to Dongyang Satellite TV, 12-star to Nanxing Satellite TV, Sonic to Yuntu Satellite TV, but FTM has no news.”
“The studio is useless!”
“Ahhh, are we going or not? Can we get a definite answer? I have a budget to buy tickets to support!”
“The official fan club is like dead. Investment fans have followed for three months and are exhausted. Can the fan club be reorganized soon?”
“Where is the fan operation? Connecting accounts?”
“FTM has no fan operation. Since debut, it’s been sloppy. The five handsome guys are popular recently. Can the team not drag them down?”
“@FTM Official Studio, I’m talking to you. Are you still pretending to be dead?”
Fu Fei wanted to check the super topic to see the fans’ recent activities, but it was all criticism of the studio.
Everyone held back from complaining on Mo Xun’s birthday, just wishing the captain a happy birthday. But after the birthday passed, fans’ accumulated dissatisfaction exploded.
The Weibo posts criticizing the studio’s inaction had tens of thousands of likes.
Fu Fei boldly @mentioned the manager in the group chat, asking, “Brother Xu, I see the super topic is full of arguments. Do we have an official fan club?”
Xu Baichuan said, “I recently hired a few people responsible for FTM’s fan operations and event coordination. We formed too quickly, and many things weren’t prepared in time.”
Actually, according to Old Xu’s original plan, they were supposed to officially debut around Christmas. But the higher-ups rushed them to debut in August, and many things weren’t ready.
Mo Xun asked: “Is the official fan club also managed by the staff Brother Xu hired?”
Xu Baichuan explained: “The fan club president is a full-time staff member who guides public opinion at critical moments to prevent troublemakers and anti-fans from infiltrating and causing problems. Then we’ll find some fans to serve as vice presidents and functional groups through public elections.”
He paused: “We also need to set up an official fan club website. In the future, when we hold concerts, we can release some fan tickets and regularly send fans benefits like autographs.”
The five didn’t understand entertainment industry fan operations, but since Xu Baichuan said preparations were underway, they felt reassured.
Although fans would criticize the studio when angry, FTM’s manager was actually quite reliable. All the current imperfections were chain reactions caused by their rushed debut.
Things would gradually get on track.
At noon that day, a message appeared in the FTM super topic.
FTM-Vocal Group Communication: “Hello Music Notes, this is the official studio liaison account. Just received news that tonight at 8 PM sharp, @Yuntu Satellite TV will officially announce FTM’s participation in the New Year’s Eve gala. Everyone can wait for it.”
This message was like a drop of water falling into hot oil, instantly igniting fans’ anger.
“You could have notified us even later, really.”
“Hilarious, announcing at 8 PM tonight and only notifying us now? You might as well wait until after they perform to notify us.”
“Oh, the studio finally got internet access?”
“Is there a comment control group? Should we go like the official blog?”
“The fan club is half-dead, scattered fans can’t unite!”
“This is the worst fan operation I’ve seen for any boy band, bar none.”
“The makeshift team finally has a liaison account, not easy! Going to like tonight to give FTM’s five little ones some face.”
“Finally have a stage to watch, so excited ahhh!”
At the same time, news of the official FTM fan club’s formal reorganization was pinned at the top of the super topic, with many loyal fans actively applying for elections.
Although everyone was complaining, their desire to like the group and do something for them still prevailed.
Many talented fans applied for functional groups like publicity, comment control, data stations, anti-hate stations, etc.
The fan club needed many talented people working together.
Fans were enthusiastic, and some experienced fan circle veterans quickly mobilized the confused scattered fans.
Many rallying posts appeared in the super topic—
“The priority is comment control at 8 PM tonight, front-row likes, give the vocal group some face! Everyone move, this is the vocal group’s first major event appearance. We’re no longer an unknown small group!”
“Tickets for the New Year’s Eve gala go on sale in three days. Ticket purchase channels summarized as follows [Link 1][Link 2]. Music Notes with means can support offline.”
“Sisters going offline must join the official fan club group, beware of scammers, keep your money safe!”
“FTM support color #C36625, amber gold. Must bring light sticks offline! I made a preview of light stick effects, everyone can save the image and have shops customize them~”
“FTM individual station ‘Music Note Sisters Group’ officially established, welcome to follow. Station sisters will go to the New Year’s Eve gala to take beautiful photos for everyone!”
Fans quickly sprang into action.
This was FTM’s first major event since debut.
They had only debuted three months ago, didn’t have enough die-hard fans, and couldn’t organize large-scale offline support. But fans with money and ability were still willing to do their best to let FTM hear their support.
**
At 8 PM, Yuntu Satellite TV officially announced FTM’s participation in the December 31st New Year’s Eve gala. The Weibo post was flooded with fan comments.
The five FTM members also retweeted on time. The official blog’s internal likes quickly exceeded 10,000+, with total likes exceeding 500,000+.
Despite the rushed notice, so many fans could mobilize quickly, showing how strong FTM’s fan-attracting ability had been recently.
An entertainment forum was also discussing this, even creating spreadsheets comparing Chinese boy bands’ comment control data.
“Wind Group has 100,000 internal likes, truly the top group~”
“12star-Star Group has 50,000 internal likes. Most popular are main vocalist He Jing and main dancer Mu Ziqian, these two are always inseparable!”
“Sonic Snake Group’s announcement blog’s top 20 comments were all dominated by Qu Yan fans. Qu Yan’s popularity is truly far ahead.”
“FTM actually has 10,000 internal likes too, the small group is improving!”
“The vocal group’s comment control all has team logo avatars, no individual fans visible. Is their team fan ratio that high?”
“A rookie group just starting, the five don’t even have individual support colors, only team support.”
“This small group just started reorganizing their fan club. Evening announcement, noon liaison account notification – so sloppy, feel sorry for them~”
Fan circles love comparing various data.
This year’s New Year’s Eve galas would feature all four named Chinese boy groups, so newly debuted FTM naturally attracted attention.
Xingmang Entertainment’s Bluewind (Wind Group) had been stable for three years. 12star (Star Group) was the same company’s second-generation group, officially debuting in March with millions of fans before debut.
Sonic (Snake Group) was a standout among recent audition groups, with C-position Qu Yan having over ten million Weibo followers and popularity far ahead within the group.
FTM was most pitiful – just debuted in August, immature in all aspects, with even their New Year’s announcement process appearing very sloppy.
But fan cohesion was strong. In just one afternoon, the official blog’s internal likes exceeded 10,000, comparable to many traffic actors.
Multiple TV stations held New Year’s Eve galas.
The three highest-rated domestically – Nanxing Satellite TV, Dongyang Satellite TV, Yuntu Satellite TV – used all means to compete for traffic stars.
Today announcing a top actor, tomorrow a singing diva – all stations gathered big names with dazzling guest lineups.
Facing such a “feast” as New Year’s Eve galas, FTM as newcomers didn’t even qualify for the main promotional poster. TV stations wouldn’t value them much since many bigger stars existed.
They were invited only because their recent cover contest had decent popularity, and “first singing-dancing stage” was a promotional gimmick.
Recently, forums discussed which stars went to which TV stations, with announcement order and status causing heated debates.
The five had no energy to follow other stars.
They practically lived in the practice room, repeatedly practicing open-mic singing and dancing to build muscle memory.
Dance was mastered, but voice remained key.
Even if they could sing completely in practice, on stage they’d be nervous or face unexpected situations. No one could guarantee smooth performance until completion.
But at least – giving their all would leave no regrets.
***
Time passed quickly, approaching New Year’s.
On the afternoon of December 27th, the five collectively took several days off from school and flew to Yun City with their manager.
The plane landed punctually at 10 PM.
Recently, many stars came to Yun City for New Year’s, so airport security was obviously upgraded. The domestic arrival area had two barrier rows, orderly separating fans picking up arrivals while leaving passage for pedestrians.
After walking some distance and turning a corner, Fang Yinnian’s vision suddenly captured a scene – many girls standing together holding amber-colored light sticks with “FTM” logos.
Seeing the five, those fans excitedly screamed: “Ahhh they’re here!” “FTM fighting!” “Oh my god, so handsome!”
The five were flattered by their first fan pickup experience.
Xu Baichuan whispered: “Fans organized this pickup themselves.”
Mo Xun tried staying calm while waving hello.
Fang Yinnian also smiled, saying when approaching: “Thank you all for picking us up, you’ve worked hard.”
A chorus of “ahhh” screams erupted from the crowd.
Many stars had arrived in Yun City recently. FTM’s flight arrived at 10 PM. Besides their fans, the airport had many other celebrity fan groups with various support items.
Like “Tao Yizhou Global Fan Club,” “Qin Luo Fan Club,” etc., stretching so long you couldn’t see the end.
FTM’s fans numbered only twenty-plus, not conspicuous among masses of other celebrity fans.
Even appearing weak and pitiful.
But the five happily greeted and interacted with them.
Two girls carrying super-long cameras were taking photos, running alongside them out of the airport while frantically pressing shutters.
Mo Xun asked: “Are you station sisters?”
The two girls nodded excitedly: “Yes! Fighting, we’ll support you at the gala!”
Mo Xun was last to get in the car.
After closing the door, he opened the window and waved to pursuing fans: “Go back quickly, thank you for picking us up.”
Fang Yinnian poked his head out, smiling: “It’s late, be safe on the road.”
Tan Junwen opened the third-row window: “Go rest, bye!”
Fans: “Ahhhhh!”
These handsome guys had great attitudes, actively greeting fans. Some big traffic stars ignored fans with cold faces.
Following small groups was more fun – you could see them up close.
Up close, they discovered these five were truly handsome!
Mo Xun walked out first from the airport – his handsome, rugged features and 188cm height created visual impact that left many fans dazed.
Fang Yinnian walked alongside him with flawless fair skin and clear eyes that looked amazing when smiling, making many fans’ hearts race. Especially when his pleasant voice sounded, fans collectively got starry-eyed and screamed until hoarse.
And there was Tan Junwen, smiling warmly with incredible gentleness.
Although Tang Che looked cold, he also took the initiative to nod and greet them. Xiao Fei smiled like a silly fool from beginning to end, particularly cute.
The five’s car quickly drove away.
The remaining fans were still excited: “Oh my god, I saw Yinnian up close, he’s so handsome! Ahhh I’m complete!”
“You have to start following stars from their unknown period, hehe. In a few years when they’re famous, we probably won’t be able to see them in the front row.”
“I just filmed Mo Xun talking, it’s literally a life video!”
“Sister Mu, edit the photos quickly!”
“I’m editing, I’m editing, posting soon~”
Moments later, several station sisters in the super topic posted FTM’s airport photos on Weibo. The telephoto lenses these station sisters carried were high-definition cameras worth tens of thousands of yuan. The station sisters who came to follow FTM had excellent aesthetic sense.
A station sister named “Like Spring Breeze” took many photos of FTM, edited and uploaded them, dazzling a group of fans.
She was a group fan who balanced things well, posting a nine-grid set of photos for each of the five, making everyone look good.
There was also a CP fan station sister “Magic Cube Family Group” who specialized in photographing Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian. In just a few minutes of the two walking out of the airport side by side, she captured numerous beautiful photos.
CP fans said: “Perfect match!”
When the two walked together, it was truly a perfect height difference.
CP fans also found plenty of sweet moments from the airport video: “I noticed in the seven-seater van, Mo Xun and Yinnian sat together in the second row!”
“When Mo Xun opened the window at the end, Yinnian leaned forward and poked his head out to greet everyone, so cute!”
“The little couple sitting side by side in the second row, no problem there.”
“These two always give us sweet moments whenever they’re in the same frame. Is it because I want to ship them? Obviously they’re forcing us to ship them!”
On the way back to the hotel, the five couldn’t calm their emotions for a long time.
Seeing so many girls holding FTM light sticks and screaming excitedly, the five experienced fans’ enthusiasm firsthand for the first time.
Fu Fei said happily: “We have fans too, and station sisters, hehe. That camera the station sister was carrying looked so expensive!”
Tan Junwen said: “I really admire them. Carrying such heavy equipment on their shoulders and still running so fast.”
Mo Xun smiled and said: “Many station sisters have both money and time. To photograph their favorite celebrities, they fly all over the country. In the future, we’ll probably see them often at offline events.”
Fu Fei opened Weibo excitedly and said: “I found the photos those station sisters just took, they made us look so handsome!”
He shared the photos in the group chat.
Fang Yinnian clicked to look—this photography skill was really amazing!
In the photos taken of Fang Yinnian, the passersby around were blurred out, the candid angles were particularly good. In the photos, he had a slim waist and long legs, smiling eyes curved—comparable to official promotional photos.
Xu Baichuan also saw the photos and praised: “The station sisters who came to follow FTM all have good aesthetic sense. This is a good thing.”
Official studio photos from major events come out relatively slowly. Station sisters posting photos immediately at offline events can have promotional and fan-retention effects.
Some photos taken by station sisters are even better looking than studio photos.
These station sisters with advanced equipment are “high-quality fans.” Starting to follow FTM so early shows their good judgment.
Xu Baichuan smiled and said: “From now on, you need to get used to encountering fans at every offline event. Everyone should pay attention to posture management and behavior—you’re no longer an unknown small group.”
All five nodded.
Fu Fei looked at the unfamiliar city outside the window and said excitedly: “We’ve left the newbie village. This is our first time entering the main city, right?”
Fang Yinnian said: “Doesn’t going to Nancheng to record variety shows count?”
Fu Fei shook his head: “That doesn’t count. Variety shows are side jobs. Even if you perform poorly, you’ll just get teased a bit—that’s just daily small dungeons. Singing and dancing is our main profession, stages are our professional dungeons!”
Xiao Fei’s words were crude but made sense.
Even losing three games in a row on variety shows wouldn’t negatively impact their professional abilities—at most the audience would laugh. But as a singing and dancing group, if they mess up on stage, the impact would be serious.
Especially since fans were coming to support them offline this time.
They absolutely had to sing well.
The hotel the manager booked was only a 5-minute drive from the New Year’s Eve gala stadium. This hotel would also be the first choice for many celebrities.
To prevent paparazzi and sasaeng fans from entering, the hotel lobby had strict access control, and the internal environment was very quiet.
After checking in, the five returned to their rooms to rest.
Xu Baichuan quickly notified in the group chat: “Received a call from the artist department supervisor. We’re scheduled for 8 AM rehearsal tomorrow morning.”
Fang Yinnian was startled: “That early?”
Xu Baichuan said: “This New Year’s event has over 50 groups of artists, so scheduling coordination is very troublesome. Whatever time they give us, we’ll take it and try to cooperate.”
Even the big shots had to obediently go rehearse. As a group of unknowns, they couldn’t possibly expect the production team to accommodate them.
Mo Xun said: “No problem, we’ll get up early.”
Everyone went to bed early that night, got up at 7 AM the next day to wash up and eat breakfast, and set off for the stadium at 7:30.
The stadium was Yuncheng Asian Games Center, which could accommodate 60,000 people. Each year’s New Year’s Eve gala was a major event for satellite TV stations with many sponsors, so the stage specifications were extremely high.
When the five arrived at the scene, they were all amazed by the stage before them.
The colorful castle theme of the Shengyao Family Concert had already shocked them greatly, but this Yuntu Satellite TV New Year’s stage with its “Stellar Light” theme was actually built as a high-tech cosmic starry world!
The stage design used “spaceships” and “planets” as core elements.
The center featured a huge curved main screen dozens of meters wide, with a “stellar gate” below. Wave-shaped sub-screens extended on both sides, with LED projections of brilliant galaxies flowing along the wave screens around the entire stadium.
Above the stadium were three “planet”-shaped structures—these were actually suspended projection screens that could display the live stage in real-time from all four sides.
Around the three large planets were many small planets as decoration, which could light up at night and change different colors.
The central platform consisted of over a dozen lifting modules, each controllable individually to form various three-dimensional stages.
The stage floor was covered with LED panels that could simulate various sci-fi elements like starry skies, meteors, and spaceships.
On the left and right sides of the stage were towering “red and white twin towers” with huge laser emitters installed at the tops. Different colored laser lights would make the nighttime stage effects even more spectacular.
Many wire-flying equipment was also suspended in the air.
There were starships, spaceships, hovering cars, and more.
Fang Yinnian stared up at the massive sci-fi world before him—truly worthy of a New Year’s stage built with money, so amazing!
Compared to this, the Shengyao concert was like children playing house.
Seeing the scene before him, Mo Xun couldn’t help but get excited: “This stage design is amazing, is it a sci-fi theme?”
Fu Fei said excitedly: “Yuntu Satellite TV is really over the top. The New Year’s scene is like a special effects sci-fi blockbuster!”
Tan Junwen squinted and said: “So many spaceships in the air, and several planets overhead—they could directly bring in a film crew to shoot Star Wars.”
Tang Che said coolly: “Money talks.”
Truly one of the top three satellite TV stations in China—money really talks. For this New Year’s gala, the naming sponsor’s fee was reportedly over 100 million yuan.
FTM being able to perform on the New Year’s stage was thanks to their recent cover contest popularity and good data for their debut single. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even get entry tickets.
Xu Baichuan smiled and said: “Eye-opening, right?”
All five nodded. Fu Fei excitedly rubbed his hands: “Hehe, we’ve finally left the newbie village and arrived at the main city!”
Xu Baichuan said: “Let’s go, follow me backstage.”
The group followed their manager backstage to greet the staff.
Early in the morning, staff were already busy.
Among them, a young man holding a walkie-talkie with dark circles under his eyes was directing various departments to check details.
Xu Baichuan proactively stepped forward to shake hands: “Hello, Director Xin.”
Director Xin said: “You’re the first to rehearse?”
Xu Baichuan nodded: “The artist department supervisor scheduled us for 8 AM rehearsal.”
Director Xin glanced at his watch: “Good, it’s almost time. I looked at your stage design—you want to sing and dance with fully open mics, right?”
Xu Baichuan: “Yes.”
Director Xin frowned: “To ensure stage effects, 70% of New Year’s gala performers lip-sync. Only singers with very strong vocals dare to use fully open mics. You’re all newcomers—want to reconsider?”
Fang Yinnian said: “Director, we just want to try performing with open mics.”
Director Xin said: “Every New Year’s gala has train wreck scenes with fully open mics. If you mess up, don’t regret it.”
Fang Yinnian said: “We’ll do our absolute best to complete it.”
Director Xin smiled and shook his head—truly fearless newborn calves.
Every satellite TV New Year’s gala has train wreck scenes, and some crash scenes even get discussed and trend on social media.
The entertainment industry lacks nothing more than buzz. Going off-key or voice cracking, as long as it trends and creates topics, satellite TV stations are happy to see it happen.
Director Xin nodded: “Alright then. For your entrance, how about coming directly through that stellar gate in the middle?”
He paused and said: “The twin tower laser lights will illuminate you, creating a time-travel feeling as you enter on a starry tunnel.”
The five exchanged glances, extremely excited—this entrance method sounded so cool!
Director Xin explained: “Since you’ll be singing and dancing, complex entrance methods like wire-flying, walking bridges, or sitting on lifting platforms are out of consideration. Keep it simple and make the stage effects good.”
Having all five wire-fly together would be dangerous, and they certainly couldn’t dance while sitting on aerial spaceships. For singing and dancing songs, it was better to play it safe.
Xu Baichuan agreed, “Let’s do it this way, thank you Director Xin!”
Director Xin: “Prepare for rehearsal. There are many stars coming today, you only have 30 minutes to run through the positioning and songs a few times.”
He paused and said, “Lighting will be followed up during tomorrow night’s joint rehearsal. Today is just for running through the process and listening to the sound effects.”
The five quickly followed the staff and went to the backstage entrance position under the director’s command.
During their first rehearsal at the Shengyao concert, they spent the whole afternoon practicing. Since it was their company’s event, the director and staff were familiar and patient with them as newcomers.
But the New Year’s Eve gala is different, with many stars gathered. They, as unknowns, couldn’t occupy the stage indefinitely.
With only 30 minutes, the five nervously practiced their positioning while checking the cameramen’s shooting positions. Their voices trembled while singing.
Director Xin said helplessly, “I say, why don’t you just lip-sync to the original track? What is this singing?”
The five: “…”
Xu Baichuan said, “Sorry Director Xin, they are a bit nervous.”
Director Xin was clearly impatient: “Newcomers going on stage and opening mics, unnecessary. Many veteran singers don’t dare to sing fully live. You guys really…”
Although he didn’t finish the sentence, the latter half was obvious—they are troublesome and cause problems for the staff.
If they lip-sync to the original, they wouldn’t need to repeatedly adjust the microphone sound effects. The microphones wouldn’t even need to be turned on, just for show.
Fang Yinnian clenched his fists tightly.
So lip-syncing is the trend at today’s galas?
He hadn’t paid attention before, but today he heard from the director that over 70% lip-sync.
Then what kind of New Year’s Eve gala is this?
Might as well call it the “New Year’s Lip-syncing Competition.”
Singers holding microphones and lip-syncing are actors. Anyone could lip-sync well to the original track.
Fang Yinnian’s values were overturned.
So is everyone just giving up?
Going with the flow from debut, lip-syncing all the way, with no improvement in singing skills. Years later, when people mention FTM, they are just a group of amateurs relying on post-production and lip-syncing.
… He didn’t want that.
Wasting their skills from the start, relying more and more on post-production, and becoming more and more afraid to sing live.
Fang Yinnian took a deep breath and said to the director, “Director Xin, we want to sing fully live—even if we mess up, we insist on opening mics.”
Director Xin: “…”
Never seen such stubborn newcomers.
Xu Baichuan smiled to smooth things over, “Director Xin, if the kids want to insist, let them sing. Whatever happens, they will bear the consequences themselves.”
Director Xin was silent for a moment, then nodded, “Alright, as you wish.”
Anyway, every New Year’s Eve gala has its fun moments. If you go off-key and trend on social media, it adds to Yuntu Satellite TV’s buzz.
##
