TTIG Chapter 63.1

FTM’s first album was a huge success, with sales breaking through 1 million copies—a result many in the industry completely hadn’t anticipated.

 

Since authorities began regulating fan circle chaos and limiting digital album purchases, artists who could make it onto album sales rankings in recent years all had very high public recognition.

 

FTM debuted one year ago, and their first album sold 1 million copies… even exceeding the combined album sales of three other boy groups?!

 

This made the fans’ bragging about “top-tier boy group” Bluewind particularly awkward—where exactly was their so-called “top-tier” status?

 

In terms of sales, Bluewind’s album this year only sold 300,000 copies.

 

In terms of stage performance, they didn’t dare sing and dance with full live mics, with most stages having extremely high backing tracks, just going through the motions with lip-syncing.

 

Perhaps only Weibo data could be “top-tier.”

 

The fake prosperity created by fans registering dozens of Weibo accounts each was ruthlessly exposed by FTM’s real money album sales.

 

Bluewind and 12-Star boy groups both belonged to Xingmang Entertainment, heavily invested idol projects by Xingmang Entertainment.

 

Their management teams had been looking quite grim recently.

 

Xingmang Entertainment’s internal group chat was full of discussion.

 

“Why did FTM’s album sell so well?”

 

“Could it be fame brushed up from ‘Music Billboard’?”

 

“Album producer Yu Ziluo is a famous music producer. The album he wrote for Xie Shiqi before also had good sales”

 

“Is that Xie Shiqi’s ‘Won’t Forget’ album from last year? Sales seemed to break a million too”

 

“Teacher Yu’s songwriting level is pretty good”

 

“The star groups’ next album should find a powerful producer!”

 

“Indeed need to value the producer’s role”

 

“…”

 

After discussing back and forth, they attributed FTM’s album success to producer Yu Ziluo, believing Teacher Yu Ziluo’s high-level songwriting earned listener recognition.

 

Recently, Teacher Yu’s phone had been ringing nonstop.

 

His songwriting copyright fees skyrocketed, with some singers offering astronomical prices of over a million per song, asking him to custom-create music albums.

 

After returning to Jiangzhou, Fang Yinnian privately visited Teacher Yu.

 

Yu Ziluo excitedly said: “Yinnian, thanks to you all, recently singers looking for me to write songs are offering double the price, with queues extending to next year!”

 

Fang Yinnian smiled: “Master’s songs are indeed good. Higher copyright fees are normal. Master, did you accept their invitations?”

 

Yu Ziluo waved his hand: “No, I declined many people. I have no inspiration lately and don’t want to write songs temporarily.”

 

He looked at Fang Yinnian meaningfully: “That even includes a certain boy group whose manager also found me, offering high prices for me to write an album.”

 

“These people never understand—your album’s huge success is because it’s sung by you five.”

 

“Your voices are the irreplaceable key.”

 

If five different people sang it, this album would definitely flop.

 

No one could sing harmonies as beautiful as FTM’s, and few boy group main vocals could compare to Fang Yinnian’s tone.

 

No matter how capable Yu Ziluo and Xu Baichuan were, they only played supporting “talent scout” roles—FTM was the real thoroughbred horse.

 

And a super dark horse that wasn’t favored at debut but ran faster and gained more popularity!

 

Certain industry people always thought highly of themselves, refusing to acknowledge these five youths’ actual abilities, preferring to attribute their success to external factors—then thinking about how to copy and imitate.

 

Otherwise, how could you say the entertainment industry had so many blind people?

 

They never grasped where successful cases’ key points were.

 

Yu Ziluo declined other boy groups’ album production invitations for a simple reason—with their unpleasant flat vocals, even the most sophisticated songs would sound like KTV level when sung by them. He didn’t want to damage his own reputation.

 

His own little disciple sang the most beautifully.

 

Yu Ziluo believed that if his songs were worth 80 points, Fang Yinnian could sing them to 90 points, while other boy groups would probably sing them to 50 points.

 

He had already put on thick little disciple filters, finding everything about his own disciple particularly pleasing.

 

Fang Yinnian showed his recent songs to his teacher, respectfully saying: “Teacher Yu, I wrote two more songs. When you’re free, could you help me look at them and give me some advice?”

 

Yu Ziluo smiled: “Good. Yinnian, you write songs with great inspiration. In the future, you could also try being an album producer.”

 

Fang Yinnian blushed: “My current level can’t produce a full album yet. Thank you, teacher. I’ll work hard.”

 

Yu Ziluo patted his shoulder: “Mm, you’re only 19. You have a long road ahead—take it slowly.”

 

His teacher’s encouragement made Fang Yinnian feel pleasant.

 

After returning from Teacher Yu’s house, Fang Yinnian came to the company for a meeting.

 

Xu Baichuan said: “Company executives are quite satisfied with your album’s results. For the next few months, we’ll continue promoting the new album with many stage performances.”

 

“September 19th Nanxing TV Mid-Autumn Festival gala—this time Nanxing TV has upgraded your treatment with an independent dressing room, golden time slot performance, and you can sing two songs consecutively.”

 

“Let’s discuss what specifically to sing, and I’ll report it to the program.”

 

The five exchanged glances. Mo Xun suggested: “For two consecutive songs, I suggest ‘Sunny Coast’ and ‘Night Scene’—how about it?”

 

Fang Yinnian nodded in agreement: “I think that works. One dance track plus one ballad won’t be too tiring.”

 

Fu Fei scratched his head: “But what about the music promotion outfits? Sunny Coast’s outfits are summer vacation style, while Night Scene is suits.”

 

Xu Baichuan thought for a moment: “Like this—since it’s a Mid-Autumn gala, let’s have some seasonal outfits. You’ll all wear jade rabbit cosplay to dance ‘Sunny Coast,’ then after dancing, take off the outer layer and continue singing ‘Night Scene’ in the light-colored clothes underneath.”

 

Tan Junwen couldn’t help laughing: “Hahaha bunny outfits, like the kind we wore for last year’s Mid-Autumn special?”

 

Xu Baichuan said: “Pretty much, with ears and tails.”

 

Fang Yinnian suddenly remembered last year’s Mid-Autumn when they participated in “Red vs Blue Competition” special, all cosplaying jade rabbits, and Mo Xun had even touched his rabbit ears, making CP fans scream with excitement.

 

But that was a comedy variety show after all. Could wearing rabbit outfits to dance really work? Fang Yinnian hesitated: “Won’t it be too childish?”

 

Xu Baichuan said: “No, having some different stages gives audiences freshness.”

 

Since the manager said so, everyone had no objections.

 

The cosplay outfits were quickly custom-made according to their heights.

 

Since they needed to dance, they couldn’t be too bulky. Each person got fluffy tails and ears, with clothes made from lightweight, breathable materials.

 

After putting them on and dancing a few times in the practice room while laughing, with ears and tails swaying around, it was really amusing.

 

Tan Junwen complained: “We’re aging backward, directly retreating to kindergarten Children’s Day performances.”

 

Fu Fei imitated host commentary, announcing loudly: “Next, please welcome FTM’s five little children to bring parents the jade rabbit version of ‘Sunny Coast’!” After finishing, he couldn’t help squatting down laughing, “Hahaha, we’re so embarrassing.”

 

Tang Che said flatly: “Just treat it as kindergarten arts performance. Anyway, we don’t know the dark mass of audience below.”

 

Mo Xun looked at Fang Yinnian’s cute rabbit outfit, smiled and petted his ears: “Mid-Autumn galas don’t need to be that serious. Wearing cute outfits and being lively is pretty good.”

 

Fang Yinnian sighed helplessly.

 

Their music promotion outfit styles were truly diverse.

 

There was “Blazing’s” sexy red leather jackets, “Sunny Coast’s” summer vacation rainbow color-block shirts, “Night Scene’s” all-black suits, “Prayer Under the Moonlight’s” light blue gentle casual wear…

 

Now they actually had cute Mid-Autumn jade rabbit cosplay outfits.

 

Truly “varied styles”—each performance could give people freshness.

 

***

 

On September 19th, Nanxing TV’s Mid-Autumn Festival gala officially began. FTM took the stage to perform during the golden 9 PM time slot.

 

They brought two songs this time, still singing and dancing with full live mics, and the five also brought a backup dance crew on stage.

 

The backup dancers were 10 cute little girls dressed as white rabbits, while the five of them were adults wearing colorful rabbit outfits.

 

On stage, big rabbits and little rabbits danced together with relaxed, cheerful music and bouncing choreography—it was particularly lively and festive.

 

Live stream audiences filled the bullet comments with “hahahaha.”

 

“Is this group trying to make me die laughing?”

 

“Is today a rabbit kingdom gathering?”

 

“Ahhhhh all the rabbits are explosively cute!”

 

“Dressing as jade rabbits for Mid-Autumn is very appropriate, they’re really thoughtful”

 

“Five handsome guys are super cute, I could eat one in one bite!”

 

“The rabbit ears swaying back and forth ahhh so adorable TAT”

 

“When they turn around the rabbit tails also sway along hahaha”

 

“Bouncing kindergarten stage!”

 

“I want to be FTM’s mom-fan!”

 

“Oh my god, is it really okay for five handsome guys to be this cute?”

 

The first song required singing while dancing, which was very demanding on stamina. All five were panting and sweating profusely after finishing the dance.

 

But the performance wasn’t over yet.

 

In the brief dozen seconds when the stage lights dimmed, they hurriedly took off their rabbit outfits and tossed them to the backup dance children to take away.

 

Under the rabbit outfits were white long pants and light blue short sleeves.

 

Simple, gentle attire as they continued singing “Night Scene.”

 

Having just finished a dance segment and immediately following with a ballad, close-up shots captured Fang Yinnian’s face—his hair slightly disheveled, sweat drops continuously falling from his hair and sliding down his beautiful neck into his collar.

 

The cute rabbit Fang Yinnian who had just made countless audiences cry from cuteness instantly transformed into a sexy, gentle male god.

 

The moment he opened his mouth, it was that clear voice that cleansed the ears, with very stable pitch. You could hear very light panting, making his voice even more authentic.

 

Live performances with full open mics had more charm than listening to CDs. The five coordinated seamlessly and successfully completed the entire song.

 

Shortly after the performance ended, Nanxing TV’s official Weibo released live footage of “FTM’s Mid-Autumn Stage” for both songs.

 

Many fans repeatedly rewatched this stage performance.

 

It was really too cute!

 

Five big rabbits leading ten little rabbits, bouncing around on stage with a strong festive atmosphere that made audiences happy along with them.

 

That evening, Nanxing TV’s “Mid-Autumn Gala Most Popular Stage Selection” saw FTM undoubtedly win first place for “Most Popular Stage” with crushing vote numbers.

 

The entertainment group started another high-rise discussion thread.

 

This thread was titled “Has FTM Exploded?”

 

The main post listed many supposed “evidence” of FTM’s explosion.

 

Super topic fan check-ins exceeded 2 million;

 

Fang Yinnian’s personal Weibo followers broke through 8 million, while the other four members’ Weibo followers all exceeded 7 million;

 

First album sales of 1 million copies with revenue exceeding 21 million yuan;

 

Three consecutive Music Billboard championships; Most popular Mid-Autumn gala stage;

 

Based on all the above, has this group exploded?

 

People quickly began discussing in replies.

 

“Exploded, exploded! It’s time for the top-tier groups to change!”

 

“Laughing to death, the so-called domestic top-tier group Bluewind’s album sales aren’t even half of FTM’s~”

 

“12-star and Sonic’s album sales are even more unbearable to look at”

 

“FTM is the well-deserved TOP domestic boy group”

 

“The music group’s previous Spring Festival gala stage with all-red festive outfits + live lyric changes for blessings, this Mid-Autumn stage with everyone cosplaying jade rabbits—this group really puts sincerity into every performance”

 

“The key is they always use full live mics. As an audience member, I feel respected—so much better than those lip-syncing groups”

 

“FTM as best boy group—who disagrees?”

 

“The Yangtze River’s back waves push the front waves; FTM’s appearance can make all the slacking previous waves die on the beach”

 

“…”

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 (advanced chapters available on kofi)