going to the platinum concert was a no-brainer for hyojung. all things aside, such as her friendship with the members, she believed in being a supportive company senior for all the groups within gold star. if she found the time in her schedule, she’d gladly go to any concert or fanmeeting that was asked of her. she was lucky this time around with yumi’s cells filming not having started just yet, and that’s how she finds herself backstage after the concert.
there’s been a lot on her plate with transit love, yumi’s cells, and selene’s comeback all sort of whirl winding into her life, but the concert was great, which wasn’t surprising at all. she hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse of the members just yet, so she’s chatting it out with a staff member instead when she finally sees a familiar face.
the last time she had a conversation with gyujeong, he was drunk out of his mind, and she’s not sure how much of it he remembers. but hyojung’s a polite labelmate, and he deserves some kind of congratulations (even if he doesn’t want it). “congrats. the concert was really nice,” she states as he passes by.
each room shuffles into a new cacophony of different notes smashed together, and the jarred contradiction of melodies that bleed through the speaker. everyone’s a casualty, and he’s the perpetrator when each mix comes from the depths of his hard drive.
that doesn’t alleviate his duties, though.
responsibilities a dozen, or at least, that’s what his manager berates when he’s finished the final touches of his own group’s mixing, swooping up his almost-melted americano sitting pretty on his desk. he grabs his beanie from the table, grabs his phone before shoving it down his pockets and making it past the door into the next lit room.
equinox on duty, and he finds home in the worn-out chair sitting by the desk. taking another sip of his coffee, he’s walked in mid-break. “hey.” he swivels his chair around, tipping his chin up. doesn’t know why, nor does he know if their relatively foreign dynamic warrants any conversations — but yet, he buys into passing time any way he can. “recordings for feel my rhythm going well? i’ve been focused on platinum’s shit i haven’t had time to listen to the different cuts of your groups.”
irony is when she sheds one practice room filled with the melodies of old music buried under years of dust into the next one that’s filled with equinox preparations in the low-blow to bach’s cult classic notes. the only getaway from any of the back and forth comes at the hands of the choreography teacher in charge, snaps of fingers in line with another thirty minute break.
(they’ve sweat the majority of their makeup off. pretended enough to exude enough grace and elegance inside faux ballet-play to contradict the sight).
it’s easy to keep her body busy when her mind’s running its own pace — distant memories of a blurry night, and the resurrection of past playing resume. a game she no longer holds the cards to, and the only surrender comes at the hands of caffeine, and maybe if she’s lucky enough, her mind will run faster than her heart can keep up.
doesn’t matter, though. not when the sight of a known company mate’s right in front of her. behave, at least that’s what her mind says. formalities first, something she hears in the tune of her father’s voice. yet, pettiness takes the first step before restraint when she taps hyojung’s shoulder, eyes wide open. “hi, lucky you.” she says quietly, a show of cordial hellos when her mouth curls. “i’m taking a survey for a research project — don’t know when i’ll compile all the pieces. nevertheless, i’d like your opinions on a few things, do you have time?”
now that she found more time on her hands, suji had been determined to start writing more music for both equinox and other groups. she feels like she’s been restricting herself too much by only sticking to her albums. of course, she did that because she believed she knew her own music style the best, but she knows it’s because she was slightly afraid of being torn apart when suggesting songs for other groups.
that’s why she’s barged into the in-company studio to work on a song for equinox’s album. it was first on her list of things to do, and she wanted to wrap it up before moving onto the other songs that were drafted. she had been humming the same melody for a while, deciding whether it fit or not when she heard the handle of the door open. assuming it was the original owner of the room, she was ready to whine. she’s glad she took a look before she did, however, because it wasn’t who she expected.
a friendly face, nevertheless, so she gave him a friendly wave. “don’t tell me he rented out this room forgetting that i was in here,” she says with a scrunch of her nose. the he being the in-house producer who promised that she could use the room today. “i’m just kidding. did you have something you had to work on as well?”
an overview of group schedules for the first quarter of 2023 can be found below the cut.
the beginning of a new year and recent news around some of the big idol companies, such as gold star media’s tax evasion investigation and the announcement of a new ceo for dimensions entertainment have idols and their companies in the news more than ever. as eager as companies are to stake a claim to 2023 for their idols, certain media companies are eager to report on what’s going on under the veil, especially exclusive now that their loyalties are called into question with at least one of today seoul’s major stories seemingly having merit. each muse may claim one free exclusive publicity or scandal article during either the first or second quarter of the year. denote ‘schedule free article’ in the discounts portion of the form when claiming. note: please remember scandals must be approved by the admin before submitting a scandal article claim.
the beginning of a new year means planning departments in the company also want to be able to have an idea of what their acts will be looking like by the end of the year, and outside companies look to see what idols will suit their campaigns and projects for the year. as offers for the year rush in, each muse gets a twenty-three point voucher to use on any item(s) in the points shop by the end of the quarter, as long as the claim releases/begins within the span of 2023. denote ‘2023 voucher’ in the discounts portion of the form when claiming. note: only one voucher can be used on a purchase. i.e. this voucher and the specialty voucher cannot be used on the same item.
during this quarter, all idols will begin to prepare for the CROWNED WORLD TOUR, something teased by base by not officially announced until some point this quarter, so everyone will be in practice rooms preparing for the stages. rehearsals will take place mainly in company practice rooms this quarter. (admin note: more information about this will become available at a later time!)
the bulk of AWARDS SHOWS wraps up in the first half of the quarter. many idol groups will be preparing for more awards shows taking place in january and february. all idols will be preparing for the first ever base awards. the following artists will attend the following shows:
titan’s ANNIVERSARY is january 6. the base culture complex will be hosting special events from january 6 to january 8, including a special edition selection of titan-themed treats and drinks and, on january 6, a special music video marathon in the theater for fans lucky enough to get tickets. the titan members will make a special appearance at the end of the music video marathon to greet and thank fans. on the spot, they’ll do a special a capella performance of “universe” at fan request that gains some minor attention on social media for their widely acknowledged vocal skills.
in january, the members will do filming for a YOUTUBE VARIETY CONTENT where each member is tasked to give a powerpoint presentation to the other members on the story of their lives and they will be graded by the other members (example). this will be released on january 24, right after the lunar new year.
titan are the first-up artists for the homebase x base music FM202.3 PROJECT. they’re informed of the details of the project and given their single for it in early january so that they can record it by mid-january. they will learn the choreography to the demo so that they have time to prepare it for the “drink it” music video filming in late january.
with a JAPANESE RELEASE approaching in march, titan will spend the quarter in preparation mode. they’ll attend a meeting to hear the demos and go over the album concept for their japanese comeback for the first time in early january, followed by studio time to record the tracks over the final two weeks of january. choreography and other visual elements, such as photo shoots and fittings will take place in february for breaking dawn, leading up to filming the music video at the end of the month. they’ll promote “breaking dawn” on tv asahi break out on march 22, but the performance will be filmed in seoul.
a KOREAN COMEBACK is also internally confirmed for may, so the titan members will go into COMEBACK PREPARATIONS for that as soon as they’re finished with their japanese release preparations. meetings with the agency regarding album plans will be scattered throughout the first week of march and they will go back into the studio to record for the maverick single album in the final week of march.
buzz: ▲
reputation: —
lily will have PROMOTIONS for their eung eung comeback starting january 2nd. bc has officially dubbed lily the originators of their own ‘lily crush’ concept that is a response to the turn in trend away from the more pure and innocent sound lily debuted with while still keeping the group’s signature charms. the comeback is generally received well by music critics and earns a handful of music show wins, but it underperforms a bit based on the company’s expectations commercially, despite an early year “empty house”. they’re still well-loved by the public, increasingly so as a legacy act, though, and online communities seem to be the only ones really caught up on the comeback’s chart performance.
about a week after wrapping music show stages with a final performance on mcountdown on february 2nd, the members of lily will be headed to the airport to fly out to tokyo for the japanese dates of their pink collection: red & white CONCERT, held on february 11th and february 12th.
in march, the members will serve as bc entertainment’s representatives for the test run rollout of the homebase app’s new livestreaming and video-on-demand features. for this test run, each member of lily will create their own thirty minute to an hour weekly individual LIVESTREAM SHOW based on a certain subject (ex. painting, make-up, eating, etc.), which they will pitch to lily’s team with a plan for at least two instances of the livestream by the end of february. this live shows will begin on the homebase app in march.
additionally, lily is also the second group slated to release a song through homebase x base music’s FM202.3 PROJECT, at the beginning of the next quarter. their song, which will be recorded in february, is more of a throwback to years of lily past in sound and the music video, to be filmed in mid-march, and lyrics are catered to thanking and celebrating their loyal fans.
buzz: —
reputation: —
cloud’s new contract with bc entertainment officially begins at the beginning of this year, with all contracts re-signed by the end of last year.
most of cloud’s activities for the quarter revolve around their ongoing WORLD TOUR, which will require them to miss most award shows that go into the new year, save for the golden disc awards and the base awards. their tour dates this quarter cover their north american, southeast asian, and european legs and are as follows:
jan. 13: newark, usa
jan. 15: chicago, usa
jan. 17: dallas, usa
jan. 18: houston, usa
jan. 20: mexico city, mexico
jan. 22: los angeles, usa
jan. 24: san jose, usa
jan. 26: seattle, usa
feb. 11: pasay, philippines
mar. 4: kuala lumpur, malaysia
mar. 11: taipei, taiwan
mar. 14: madrid, spain
mar. 16: paris, france
mar. 19: london, england
mar. 21: berlin, germany
during their time off of tour in february, the members of cloud will be hard at work on their new JAPANESE SINGLE, “fallin’ flower”. they’ll prepare almost everything for the single, from recording to choreography to album jacket photos in february, and once they return from the end of their tour at the tail end of march, they’ll film the music video.
in late february, they’ll also have meetings to mark the beginning COMEBACK PREPARATIONS for their next comeback in june. at this time, they’ll receive demos to learn, but their return from the end of their tour in mid-march is when they’ll start to record songs.
buzz: —
reputation: —
with the members all in their twenties now and in the latter halves of their first contract with bc, bc entertainment has been planning an image evolution for them with a gradual transition from the colorpop candy-sweetness they’ve risen to prominence for to a more high teen earcandy image and sound. the waters have already been tested, particularly with styling, but 2023 holds a number of key steps for the image evolution that will be outlined to candy in an early january meeting.
at the same meeting, they will go over concepts and demos for their spring comeback. COMEBACK PREPARATIONS commence following the meeting. studio recording is to be finished by early february, and from there, performance and visual elements such as choreography and album jacket and teaser photo shoots become the focus for the rest of the quarter. “fancy”’s music video will be filmed in late march.
in january, candy will also film a series of VIDEO CONTENTS called “candy signal” where the members are paired up and tested on how well they know and can predict the other member. (note: muns may choose partners.) the videos will be released in february around valentine’s day to show off member chemistry to fans.
to lineup contents for their brand ambassador roles, candy will film COMMERCIALS for pocari sweat and estee lauder in january and february respectively. they’ll do a SHOOT for the cover of allure korea’s may issue in late march.
candy will embark on a tour following their comeback next quarter, so in february and march, they will have some CONCERT FITTINGS for potential stage outfits and vcr outfits to attend.
buzz: ▲
reputation: ▲
having earned a GRAMMY nomination in the best pop/duo performance category, polaris will fly out to los angeles via private jet right after the base awards after party in order to perform the song at the ceremony on february 5. though they don’t take home the win, the nomination and performance themselves keep polaris in the media headlines throughout the quarter.
upon their return to seoul, the group is met with the news of a confirmed comeback song for may in “butter”. it’s another english song, but dimensions is still sorting through songs for a korean-language comeback later in the year. COMEBACK PREPARATIONS begin with practicing the choreography and their performance to the demo until they record the final version of the song in early march.
overlapping preparations for their korean comeback will be JAPANESE SINGLE PREPARATIONS. “film out” will be recorded in early february and the music video will be filmed mid-march.
the new year also means new ads and brand ambassador duties continue, namely with filming COMMERCIALS. in january, the group will film commercials for four different fila campaigns. in march for bodyfriend, hyundai, and also for kloud beer, which they’ve been signed on as ambassadors for starting this year. the vocal line (main vocal and both lead vocals) will record a cover of x ambassador’s “jungle” in january to be used as the soundtrack to a coca-cola commercial. the full group will record a cf song for hyundai the same month, which will also get a ‘music video’ starring the members filmed around the same time.
buzz: ▲
reputation: —
quantumphase will start off the year with a meeting regarding their march release of a JAPANESE ALBUM. the album features two original japanese songs and japanese versions of many of their recently released songs. these tracks will all need to be recorded in january so that the album can be ready for release on march 22. the album will be released without any major overseas promotions in its first few weeks so that they can focus on activities in korea.
with their next korean mini-album recorded in its entirety as of the end of last year, quantumphase moves immediately into long practice hours of their performances for the comeback to live up to their reputation as great performers. the single’s music video and other visual materials will be shot in early february. in addition to the single’s mv, a special video will also be filmed for staged b-side “celebrate”. they will hold their COMEBACK press showcase on february 27, the mini-album’s release day. in addition to music show stages, promotions for the album will include a video recording for studio choom’s be original series.
buzz: —
reputation: —
arcadia wraps a busy awards season where they’ve found themselves the most in-demand of their careers. they’re given some time in february for a vacation as a congratulations on a job well done in 2022.
as soon as they’re back in march, they’re back to schedules, namely filming for new commercials for new brand deals. commercials for both LOTTE TAMS ZERO and two commercials for MLB KOREA will be shot in the month of march.
though it hasn’t been announced yet, the members also get the news that they’ll be performing a special stage at the second weekend of coachella in april. as such, they will be in rehearsals for THEIR PERFORMANCE throughout march. they will premiere a new song, an all-english track called “LIFE’S TOO SHORT” at coachella as well, so they will need to have the song recorded by the end of the march.
at the very end of march, arcadia will have a mini-album comeback confirmed for july and they will be given the track list demos to prepare to record the rest of the songs next month.
buzz: ▲
reputation: —
to celebrate the new year and the end of “windflower” promotions, the members of selene will come together on january 2 to film a TIPSY LIVE for their youtube channel. the members will eat, talk, and drink, and at the end they’ll sing “windflower”. it’s a type of video they’ve done a few times before, and fans always love it, so their team decided it was time for another.
their next japanese, their windflower single album releases in february 8, but preparations for it were fully completed last year, so further work for the release isn’t needed.
the end of their 4 seasons, 4 colors project quickly approaches with the end of winter, so they’ll meet to go over the album at the very beginning of january, as soon as windflower promotions come to a close, and will be doing studio recordings of songs from mid-january to late january. that will give them the month of february and early march to practice their stages and complete visual shoots, including their music video shoot in late february. they make their COMEBACK on march 16. promotions will include music shows as always, as well as a dance video with 1 million dance studio, due to the greater emphasis on dance for this comeback track compared to the prior ones.
selene will hold the seoul dates of their 4seasons f/w concert at the beginning of next quarter, so the members will be undergoing CONCERT PREPARATIONS as well. in addition to the full group songs on the set list, each member will get a fifteen to twenty-five minute solo performance segment. (admin note: each member must perform their solo song from the 4 seasons, 4 colors series during this segment, but outside of that, muns may choose whether they want to reflect the real life segment or choose different songs.)
buzz: —
reputation: —
platinum holds their platinum live space seoul CONCERTS and their platinum four nights in the us TOUR in february, so january is spent on final preparations for that. their concert dates are as follows:
feb. 11: seoul
feb. 12: seoul
feb. 18: seoul
feb. 19: seoul
feb. 22: new york, usa
feb. 24: chicago, usa
feb. 26: san francisco, usa
feb. 27: los angeles, usa
platinum are set to make their next comeback in april, so much of the quarter that isn’t spent on their concerts will be spent on COMEBACK PREPARATIONS for a new single album. the single album consists of two dual singles, which means that mid-january studio time is shorter than it would be for a longer album, but performance and visual preparations have to be completed in full for two songs after that. as most of february is spent touring, they’ll only begin to focus on those aspects once they touch back down in seoul in late february. the music videos for each song will be shot in mid-march.
studio recordings for the JAPANESE SINGLE ALBUM version of their upcoming comeback will be done around the same time as the korean versions in preparation for the japanese release shortly after the korean.
buzz: —
reputation: —
at the very start of the year, equinox are met with the unexpected news of both a korean comeback this quarter and a japanese album release at the very beginning of the next. plans for a comeback had seemed to still be a quarter or two out until this point, but they’re given a rundown of the concepts, scheduled activities, and the chosen tracks, and are expected to show their almost decade of professional experience by getting to work and cranking out a mini-album and five new japanese tracks in about ten weeks, without any advance notice. track vocal recording will take place in mid- to late january, leaving february and early march for all further COMEBACK PREPARATIONS, including preparing choreography, shooting album jacket photos, and filming music videos. the music video for “feel the rhythm” will be shot in late february, while the video for japanese single “wildside” will be shot in early march.
as they were awarded as their prize for winning crowned, equinox will hold a special global COMEBACK SHOW BROADCAST for their comeback. this only adds more to their plate, as they’ll do performances of “feel my rhythm”, “bamboleo”, “in my dreams”, in addition to “queendom”, “red flavor”, “psycho”, and “dazzle dazzle”.
in february, the equinox members will shoot a YOUTUBE VIDEO for a channel targetted toward an overseas audience, where they’ll be challenged to sing their crowned finale song “dazzle dazzle” in different languages.
buzz: —
reputation: —
catalyst has a busy year ahead of them with non-stop music releases and touring. their JAPANESE SINGLE ALBUM spotlight / shine forever releases on february 1. the music video for “spotlight” will be filmed in early january. a catalyst collaboration cafe will open at shinjuku box in tokyo where fans can buy group merch and meals picked by each member from january 20 to february 19 to promote their japanese release. catalyst will fly to tokyo a few days before it opens to film a youtube video of them visiting the cafe and checking out the merch and menu to promote the event.
catalyst will also record new japanese songs for their japanese album pieces that is slated for release early in the next quarter.
they will also be undergoing COMEBACK PREPARATIONS for their next korean comeback from the very beginning of the quarter. the concepts and contents of the comeback will be introduced to them in very early january and they’ll record the songs after returning from their brief trip to tokyo. preparations for the release will continue through february and early march, with the music video for “jealousy” being shot in early march.
in addition to the album tracks, the members will also record an additional ‘mixtape’ song, “mixtape: on track” for release the week before the mini-album. the music video will be filmed in late february.
buzz: —
reputation: —
the month of january is spent on final preparations for their special one-night only concert in seoul, THE SHOW. the concert will be livestreamed around the world for paying fans and immortalized forever, so the production teams wants it to be particularly perfect. each member will get a solo stage of their choice (after consulting with the production team) as well.
though they will get time off in february and early march following the concert, femme fatale will go into early meetings about THEIR NEXT COMEBACK at the end of the quarter.
admin note:
you may complete for points:
up to three solo paras of 400+ words based on their quarterly schedule (does not count toward your monthly limit). (three points each)
up to three threads of eight posts (four per participant, including the starter) based on the monthly schedule. (three points each)
tag schedule posts with #famedscheduleq123.
schedule posts for the first quarter must posted by march 31 at 10:59am edt / 11:59pm kst for points.
being busy with this and that and preparing for a comeback has proven to be a hard task. not that hyojung wasn’t aware of this fact herself, but something about the choreography for this upcoming title track was simply not registering to her body. yes, she’s had to miss some group practices because of her filming schedules, but the last thing she wanted was to bring the whole group down. she wasn’t the strongest dancer, but she doesn’t think she’s ever stood out awkwardly on stage, and she wants to keep that track record.
it’s why she tracked down minhee despite his much busier schedule and asked for some help. who else to get lessons from but the original choreographer? “can you go from count 1 again?” running a hand through her hair, she’s finding herself frustrating for not being able to memorize the choreo. it wasn’t even all that difficult, especially compared to some of the ones they’ve had before, but her body simply doesn’t seem to want to follow along.
“sorry. i’m sure you don’t even have lots of time in korea these days,” she comments as she drops her head apologetically. hyojung didn’t want to be wasting her time, but she also wasn’t going to pretend like she had this choreography down. pride meant nothing if it meant ruining a group comeback.
date: february 5, 2023.
word count: 456 words.
summary: polaris goes to the grammys.
notes: -
content warnings: -
there’s no expectation they’ll win. not from ash and not, he assumes, from the media or the others in attendance or the industry bigwigs that make the decision. the only ones that seem to have any hope such a mediocre song will win one of the highest prizes in music are diehard fans who would feel the same way about any song put out under polaris’s name.
the absence of expectation serves to alleviate some of the nerves, but there’s still that tense feeling running a straight line from his throat down to his navel that comes with situations he’s not entirely comfortable with. he’s never been here before and he’s running on about an hour of sleep on the private jet on the way to los angeles. he doesn’t know most of the people here, and those he does, he knows only in the superficiality of brief greetings and photo ops backstage at other awards show, or in the case of an even smaller few, a flimsy bond forged only by shared nights and mornings of blackout drunkenness and contact-hardened highs.
it doesn’t help that he’s had to prepare something to say just in case the world starts turning backwards and they do win. since he can speak english, it lands on his shoulders to say at least part of their acceptance speech, something he usually does all he can to avoid when they’re back home in seoul. it’s something half-empty and cliche, written more by polaris’s team than by him, but that makes it all the harder to remember on a lack of sleep and a few nerve-settling pre-show shots.
they’re seated not far from the stage and the night goes by in flashes of standing to applaud, sitting down, standing to applaud for the winners of the pop duo/group performance, sitting down with only a twinge of disappointment he knows he shouldn’t even feel, leaving to get ready to perform, performing, sitting down, standing up to applaud, and on and on ad nauseum. the loss barely even registers and he feels the flood of relief that he won’t have to get up on stage and say anything pretending dynamite is a song he can be proud of more than he feels the weight of disappointment.
he’s not a grammy-winner singer, but does he even want to be for work he’s so unsatisfied with? he’s already a multi-daesang winner for work he’d rather his name never go down in the books to.
it’s all politics anyway; politics artists more successful than he is have disregarded and left behind.
but still, it would have been nice to achieve a childhood dream, to go back home and have a golden gramophone to use as a paperweight.
summary — really really creation. life is all about balance and fairness
warnings — none
wc — 409
he’s gotten one free pass.
when he tries to use again, he sounds like a broken record relaying the same old excuses over and over. the time limitations might have put a halt, but it serves at no excuse when time is of the essence and gold star knows far too well, he’s relatively free. this all feels like deja vu, except he’s the star of his own inception movie and each wake up turns into another carefully crafted line of to-do’s set at his table.
if he’s drowning, he’ll drag his members along with him.
of course, they’ve never done anything to spite him. a mutual understanding cements their dynamic, enough that he never extends beyond a ‘do you have a spare cup ramen’ in the middle of tour. but that doesn’t mean he lets them off the hook so easily when he’s sitting there inside the studio, fiddling around with the same keys over and over.
it’s all fucking repetition at this point.
the annoying verse to the chorus that renders him a broken robot who mutters ‘really really? am i having to write this song? really really? this fucking sucks’ bobbing his head, side to side then back and forth. he’s trying to drown out any trace of creativity here because quite frankly, he’s at wits end with how many songs are getting stripped straight from his hard drive.
it’s the caffeine in his bones, another new years resolution he’s broken. he’s pushing cup number four, jumping up and down the room like he’s man gone mad — one of those artistic types who’ve finally pushed the limits of creative insanity.
except, really, there’s no creativity inside any of this song.
he proves his own point when he manages to sling back into his seat, pop open his notes app. scroll past the sad boy blues of drowning away sorrows in half-written love songs into a fresh new blank slate of ‘really really’ scrawled across the top. cheesy public doll (he envisions the main vocal when he’s writing through the choke-worthy lyrics of a pick me meme.) maybe, that’s how he comes to the conclusion to spend away half the song on the vocals, carving out himself a verse and leaving the rest to the leader.
life’s all about balance.
and if he’s balancing his night slaving away to a song guaranteed to be forgotten in years time, then he’ll play god. be fair, give his members the stage.
