Entering the annual top ten in just one day—any subsequent growth was pure profit. They had completely no sales pressure anymore.
August 25th, another Saturday. FTM’s name appeared once again on the “Music Billboard” program lineup.
The official released this week’s music promotion playlist—
FTM “Night Scene”
Zuo Qing “Rainy Day”
Ouyang Xi “Thoughts”
Zhou Chen “Forever Love”
Lin Yushi “Rose Hidden in My Heart”
As soon as the lineup was released, netizens excitedly discussed it.
“Holy crap, FTM is back to grind the weekly dungeon?”
“They changed songs this time!”
“I love ‘Night Scene’ so much, finally can hear it live ahhh”
“This is their first time singing a ballad on the music promotion stage, right? Hope they can hold steady!”
FTM was already familiar with this stage.
Today all five wore dark suits with ties, their hair styled up. With an average age of 19, they had a unique quality somewhere between innocent youth and mature men.
With their perfect long-legged figures in suits standing on stage, they looked like five little princes.
This song “Night Scene” told the story of lovers confiding their feelings to each other under moonlight by the seaside, with a very gentle style.
The moment Fang Yinnian’s clear, clean voice came out, the live judging panel instantly sat up straight.
“Ahhh Fang Yinnian is here to cleanse our ears again!”
“His vocal tone is absolutely amazing!”
“So beautiful, so beautiful”
“Oh my god, Yinnian’s gentle opening made my heart tremble”
Ballads were actually not easy to sing.
Especially when singing live with open mics, because of the slow rhythm and gentle melody, vocal flaws would be magnified and clearly presented.
But Fang Yinnian was incredibly stable today.
He gently closed his eyes, picked up his custom microphone, and told the seaside story word by word.
On a quiet night, with stars twinkling in the sky, a pair of lovers sat on the soft beach, expressing their feelings for each other.
The breeze tousled their hair, the waves provided joyful accompaniment, and the sound of the ocean gradually merged with the rhythm of their heartbeats.
Fang Yinnian sang with deep immersion, as if he could transport people to that gentle, romantic seaside.
His teammates’ harmonies were also perfect, softly backing Fang Yinnian and highlighting his unique vocal tone.
On the simple stage, only five white spotlights shone down from the ceiling, falling on the five boys in suits.
This song had no choreography.
They simply stood there singing with sincere emotion.
The entire venue was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only their voices clearly amplified by the microphones, echoing continuously throughout the hall.
As the song reached its conclusion, the five ended with a melodious humming section, putting a period on this story.
The moment the final note fell, the accompaniment ended perfectly.
Enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience.
The live stream screen was also filled with dense white text comments.
“Ahhh so beautiful!”
“This live performance can rank in my top three for boy groups”
“FTM is amazing, they sing ballads so well too!”
“All five voices are so stable, can’t hear any trembling or nervousness”
“So gentle, made my heart soft~”
“First time hearing a boy group sing a ballad, not bad!”
The host walked onto the stage: “Thank you FTM for bringing us the gentle ‘Night Scene.’ Please have the public judging panel vote and score FTM!”
The scores on the big screen began rising rapidly.
FTM performed third today. The singers before them had also performed ballads, scoring 895 and 830 votes respectively.
What score would they get?
The five looked expectantly at the screen.
The numbers changed quickly and finally settled—
The host excitedly shouted: “907 votes!”
The live stream audience sent a row of 666s.
“Broke 900 again!”
“Does the public judging panel really like FTM?”
“Have to say FTM broke public prejudice against idols”
“Old familiar faces, are some people giving courtesy points?”
“Could they win the weekly championship again this week?!”
Under everyone’s anticipation, the two singers who performed after also finished their performances, scoring 899 and 903 votes respectively.
This episode’s competition was quite intense, especially the top three with 907, 903, and 899 votes—the vote gap was within 10 votes.
FTM’s 907 votes took first place.
Host: “Congratulations to FTM’s ‘Night Scene’ for winning this week’s championship!”
The audience couldn’t believe it.
If last week’s “Sunny Coast” won the weekly championship because the dance design was outstanding and the singing and dancing performance was flawless…
Then what about this week’s ballad?
A ballad winning the weekly championship had completely different significance!
You have to know that what idols are most criticized for is their “vocal ability.” For intense dance tracks, impressive knife-group choreography can mask some vocal flaws by focusing on the visual dance elements.
But once it comes to slow-paced ballads, defects like tight vocal cords, unstable breathing, flat vocals, and unpleasant high notes are all exposed.
FTM’s ballad “Night Scene” this week was actually very good, even winning the championship in a PK with other singers’ ballads?!
The five hugged each other tightly on stage.
Fang Yinnian felt like crying—he knew that compared to the dance track “Sunny Coast,” winning the weekly championship with the ballad “Night Scene” would be much harder!
Yet they had achieved it!
Today his teammates were incredibly supportive. Everyone’s pitch was on point, no one made mistakes, their voices were open, with no trace of nervousness or dryness.
It was fantastic.
Their FTM was truly fantastic!
Back backstage, Fu Fei held the golden trophy and danced with excitement: “Are we the first boy group to win a weekly championship with a ballad?”
Tan Junwen said: “That’s right, well done brothers!”
Tang Che said bluntly: “Other groups probably don’t dare come to this stage—a bunch of cowards.”
Mo Xun smiled slightly: “Other groups don’t have skin as thick as ours. They’re afraid that singing poorly will get them mocked by netizens.”
The more afraid you are, the less you dare to use live mics, gradually forming a vicious cycle where vocal skills naturally can’t improve.
Everyone suddenly felt extremely grateful for Fang Yinnian’s persistence back then.
At last year’s Yuntu TV New Year’s Eve gala, the director had told them not to use live mics and that lip-syncing would be safer.
For such a large-scale performance, many singers in the industry, including top-tier Tao Yizhou, were lip-syncing. The Sonic boy group openly lip-synced, other boy groups nominally used live mics but had 80% backing track.
But Fang Yinnian had said very firmly: We want to use live mics.
Even though they later faced internet-wide mockery due to microphone malfunctions and even encountered a wave of terrible cyberbullying… they never regretted it.
Because singing with live mics is a singer’s respect for the stage.
One mistake, two errors, getting trending for criticism—none of this mattered. Live performances will always have various unexpected incidents.
Only through continuous stage experience accumulation and tempering could their mindset and vocal skills be comprehensively improved.
Today’s FTM was no longer that little unknown group whose voices trembled from nervousness.
They had confidence now.
And much more self-assurance!
They stood on stage, picked up microphones, and could boldly sing out loud.
Their vocals became increasingly stable, their dance coordination increasingly seamless, and their stage presence kept improving.
Unknowingly, this group was growing rapidly.
Two consecutive weeks of championships elevated FTM’s new album popularity to another level. After all, winning a weekly championship with a ballad had extraordinary significance, with more music-loving passersby getting to know and follow them.
Album sales also continued rising.
On Saturday, September 1st, FTM came to the “Music Billboard” music promotion scene again. This time, the song they performed became “Prayer Under the Moonlight.”
Netizens who saw the news were stunned—had these little idols really turned the music promotion stage into their “weekly dungeon”?
What kind of surprise would this performance bring everyone?
Audiences sat by their TVs with Yuntu TV/Taohe Video APP, opening the program promptly at 8 PM.
FTM had changed outfits again today.
All in casual wear with light blue and deep blue tones, gentle and clean, perfectly matching the style of “Prayer Under the Moonlight.”
This was also a ballad.
Different from “Night Scene,” this song had many vocal runs and harmonies. When Teacher Yu wrote the song, he combined all five of their vocal characteristics to fully showcase the music group’s harmony level.
The chorus harmonies featured all five taking turns singing.
Sometimes Fang Yinnian took the lead with Mo Xun providing harmony, sometimes Tang Che led with Fu Fei harmonizing, plus various arrangements like three-person harmonies, four-person harmonies, etc.
Rich vocal tones continuously rang in the audience’s ears.
The five’s harmonies were like bright moonlight spilling onto the earth. The entire song had incredibly high quality, like listening to a professional concert!
When the song ended, the live judging panel once again cast surprisingly high votes.
The host said excitedly: “Congratulations to FTM’s ‘Prayer Under the Moonlight’ for receiving 927 votes and becoming this week’s champion!”
Audience: “…………”
#FTM Music Billboard Three Consecutive Championships#
This hashtag unstoppably shot to first place on entertainment trending, sparking massive netizen discussion.
“Holy crap, the music group actually got three consecutive championships?!”
“Debut performance ‘Sunny Coast’ weekly championship, consecutive championships with ‘Night Scene’ and ‘Prayer Under the Moonlight’—this group really has something~”
“This wave of popularity explosion really can’t be stopped”
“The key is the songs are really good, and their performances are flawless. Dance tracks with singing and dancing are super handsome, and ballads are sung super stably”
“Congratulations FTM on three consecutive championships!”
“Has FTM turned the weekly dungeon into their own backyard?”
“Their vocal skills are becoming more and more mature, improving at godlike speed!”
Most netizens were amazed by FTM’s three consecutive championships and gave positive evaluations of their performances.
But some haters and “passersby” suddenly emerged to question.
“Did Sheng Yao Media buy off Yuntu TV?”
“This is too ridiculous. Three consecutive weeks of championships all going to them—hard to believe there’s no inside story”
“Where did this public judging panel come from? Must be rigged”
“Backed by a big company is nice. Did Sheng Yao pay to sponsor this show and the production team handed over the championship with both hands?”
“A nobody music promotion show making mysterious hype!”
“…”
Due to too many questioning comments from haters, the hashtag stayed trending, forcing Yuntu TV’s official production team to respond.
“The thousand-person judging panel of ‘Music Billboard’ changes personnel every episode. The judging panel includes 500 music/media professionals and 500 public judges, with all public judges selected through online applications.”
“The judging panel votes and scores each singer’s live performance based on fair and just principles. Regarding rumors like ‘voting manipulation,’ the production team reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility!”
Once this statement was released, online rumors significantly decreased and public opinion gradually shifted.
“The judging panel changes people every week, so there definitely can’t be manipulation”
“How are there so many people spreading rumors about voting manipulation? Are the wastes who don’t even dare use live mics having meltdowns?”
“FTM’s brilliance is too strong, seems to have aroused industry jealousy~”
“Going to buy an album to support them”
“FTM won three consecutive championships with live mic singing and dancing based on ability. If you don’t like it, deal with it~”
“Are the three consecutive championships making you angry? Don’t worry, there’s more to be angry about—this group will get more and more popular!”
“Those cowards who don’t even dare use live mics shouldn’t get involved”
“…”
Those comments spreading rumors about voting manipulation caused public backlash, since audiences who had actually watched the show knew that FTM’s three weekly championships were well-deserved!
More and more people went to save FTM’s album.
On September 2nd, the country’s largest music forum finally opened scoring.
FTM’s album “Forever FTM” received a high rating of 8.8, becoming NO.3 on this year’s album rating charts.
Other music companies and singers in the industry went from initial shock and disbelief to gradually becoming envious, jealous, and hateful.
Classic industry sour grapes—
“Why can a bunch of idols’ album be so popular”
“Those songs are obviously very ordinary”
“Do netizens have any music appreciation ability at all”
“Chinese music is doomed!”
“…”
These days, the music scene was full of jealous breakdown voices.
Xu Baichuan’s face was about to split from smiling.
With three consecutive weeks of music promotion stage championships and the music forum rating becoming a top-three annual album, this album exploded into mainstream popularity at an unstoppable speed.
More and more passersby went to purchase and save it.
Famous self-driving travel bloggers used “Sunny Coast” as background music in their travel vlogs.
Famous emotional broadcasters played FTM’s “Night Scene” during their live streams. Pet bloggers used FTM’s lively “Happy Dialogue” when editing videos of their cats and dogs.
Many songs from the album were discovered by the public.
On September 18th, the digital album had been on sale for a full month.
Sales statistics from the three major platforms left the industry stunned.
—Monthly sales broke through 1 million copies, revenue exceeded 21 million yuan, ranking third on this year’s Chinese music album sales charts!
Annual global music album sales chart ranked in the top fifty.
Global male group music album sales chart ranked in the top ten.
Industry: “…”
Major music companies collectively fell silent.
This group’s popularity explosion seemed unstoppable!
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I have shared your website in my social networks!
An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
I conceive you have observed some very interesting details , thanks for the post.