Those involved in the main cast of Our Songs this month may earn up to 10 points total for writing, by the end of November 5 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
Up to two solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 5 & 6. (2 points each, up to 4 points total).
A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another muse in the main cast based on the Our Songs episodes 5 and 6 schedule. This must be with a different muse than the thread you collected points for last month. (2 points)
A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with the guest muse your muse is writing for for this round based on the Our Songs episodes 4 and 5 schedule. (2 points). **Note: This should be the first priority and points may only be collected for the exact requirement listed. That said, should you have trouble completing this by the deadline with the guest muse, this requirement also be passed only for the sake of elimination consideration (not points) if you complete a second thread with another muse from the main cast by the deadline.
Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into eliminations during blocks with eliminations.
Those guesting on Our Songs this month may earn up to 6 points total for writing, by the end of November 5 KST:
Completions of these interviews. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
A solo para of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 5 & 6. (2 points).
A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with the muse your muse is paired with for Our Songs episodes 5 and 6 schedule. (2 points)
These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos3.
IN-’VERSE INFO
Following the performances on October 8, the competitors will go backstage to their dressing rooms for a little under an hour while the audience is instructed to vote for two songwriters whose performances they liked the best. These votes will be calculated and combined with online track votes based on a weighted formula, and then the competitors are brought back out. They are first told the cast members that got the most votes in the live voting and the online voting as follows:
- Live audience vote: Youngjoo
- Online vote: Taeyong
The final rankings are announced as follows to announce the safe competitors from fifth place to second:
5. Suji
4. Taeyong
3. Joohwan
2. Sun
Choi Jihoon congratulates the four safe competitors and dismisses them from the stage to bring the four remaining on stage (Youngjoo, Kami, Eunah, and Jaewon). The competitors currently on stage represent first place, sixth place, and the two competitors who will be eliminated and he reminds everyone of that. After building suspense, he announces Youngjoo as this round’s winner and announces she’s won a prize: she’ll be invited to perform a solo set on one night of the Topaz Music Festival, a popular music festival held at the venue they performed at this round that will take place in November. The festival is normally for non-idol singer-songwriter types, and this will be the first time an idol has been invited to perform. (admin note: If the mun would like to officially confirm this claim as a prize, please submit this form to the points shop blog to have it added to her career page! The mun may decide the exact date for the festival around their muse’s schedule). She’s individually congratulated and then dismissed from the stage.
This leaves three competitors (Kami, Eunah, and Jaewon) and only one will be safe. After building the tension, it is announced that Jaewon has placed sixth and will be safe to go onto the next episode. This means Kami and Eunah have unfortunately been eliminated from the competition and the final overall ranking for the latest round is ultimately as follows:
On October 10, the idols will once again return to the “recording studio” set they first met at on their first day of filming. Competitors will once again be seated based on their rank (first place in seat one, second place in seat two, etc.). Basic pleasantries will be gone through on camera recounting the last round and reminding everyone of the rules and structure of the show before host Choi Jihoon will inform them of their third songwriting mission:
“After the first and second round, you should all have an idea of who you yourself are as a songwriter and who the rest of the cast are as songwriters. You’ve seen their versatility and the areas they excel in the most, both as a performer and songwriter, but a truly gifted songwriter can work for others as well as they can work for themselves, For this round, you will all be asked to write for another idol who will be performing a song you wrote. No one will be able to get through on an established image or popularity alone this round, as the songwriter behind each song will be kept anonymous until everyone has cast their final vote at the live performances. There will be no additional requirements this round, so put your all into shaping a song fitting of the artist who will be performing your song this round.”
The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before they are dismissed from the main set to their green rooms. In their individual green rooms, they’re once again approached by a camera crew and given a form provided by production with basic information on the idol they’ll be writing for, although the exact identity of the idol is not revealed yet (admin note: please keep in mind muses shouldn’t really be able to narrow down exactly who they’re paired with from information on the forms since the form will be re-typed to remove the element of handwriting recognition and they are not informed the idols are limited to the three in-’verse companies). They’ll react to the information and be expected to talk about their first thoughts. After this, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:
How are you feeling about the ranking you received last round? How do you feel about it in comparison to your rank for the first round?
What are your thoughts on the song you’ll write this round based on the information you’ve been given about the idol you’ll be writing for?
How will you approach writing a song for someone else differently than you’ve approached writing songs for yourself for the first two rounds?
What are your thoughts on your other competitors at this point in the competition?
From October 10 to October 17, all competitors are given time to begin to work on a song or potential songs based on the information they’ve been given. They will be filmed both through the stationary cameras installed in the studio in their company buildings and will also be instructed to continue to use their self-cam to record their creative process as well.
The guest cast members will be made aware at this time of their role in the show: having a song written for them by an assigned cast member to record and perform. They will not yet be made aware of which main cast member they are partnered with and are asked not to discuss their guesting with anyone.
On October 18, all pairs will meet through either a filmed meeting at a coffee shop or through a filmed video call depending on what schedules allow. This meeting will be the reveal of their partner’s identity and during this meeting, the main cast member should be prepared to show the song they’ve been working on and discuss together with their partner about the song and any changes that may need to be made to fit the idol’s voice, style, or preferences. It is up to the main cast member how much they change to accommodate their partner, although they will not be allowed to completely redo the song at this point.
The main cast member will have from October 18 through October 27 to finalize the song and get vocals recorded from the other idol on the track. The pairs may meet up over the course of this time as they wish to work on recording and finalizing, although each meeting should be filmed.
There will be no “demo” presentation for this episode in front of the other competitors due to the nature of the task. Final mastered versions of all songs are due to the production team by the end of October 27.
On November 1, the final version of each competitor’s song will be released onto the base TV website and voting will open for online audiences. They will be uploaded onto streaming sites a week later so as not to reveal the writers’ identities.
On November 7, all competitors and all of the special guests will go to the regular building with the performance set from first episode, where their songs will be performed and voted on. As with last episode, minor set and prop elements are permitted, but they should be easy for the staff to get on and off the stage. The respective companies will be responsible for the styling and performance preparation of the performer.
Once filming begins, the competitors will be informed they will be performing in a randomly generated order in order to maintain anonymity of the writers. The audience is asked to vote more on how well-written a song is for the idol than how amazing the performance is since the songwriters are the ones being evaluated. The performing order is revealed to be:
Wei - “Pit-a-pet” (written by Jaewon)
Huiseon - “Baby Baby” (written by Sun)
Aera - “Diver” (written by Joohwan)
Duri - “Heaven” (written by Youngjoo)
Charlie - “Iljido” (written by Suji)
Minjung - “Girl, Interrupted” (written by Taeyong)
As each guest idol is performing, the six songwriters and all five other guest performers will sit backstage in their individual dressing rooms while their reactions are filmed. Since they are in private, songwriters may react appropriately to the song they wrote. At the conclusion of each stage, each competitor will be given time to talk about their thoughts on the performance and song. In the final airing of the episode, only some competitors’ comments will be aired per song.
During the break following all six song performances, each competitor will film another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):
Talk about the song you wrote for this task. How do you feel it compares to the first two songs you wrote for the show?
How do you feel the idol you wrote for did in performing your song? In what ways do you feel the song benefited from not being performed by you?
Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?
Which song do you expect got the most votes online and from the audience?
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
As usual, the rankings for the second round were determined by random generation for spots among who completed the most tasks. In this case, spots one through six were generated by those who had all tasks completed in the #fmdos2 tag on their muse’s blog by the deadline. Two muses did not complete all of the tasks, so they took the eliminated spots. The only exception here is that the admin’s muse will not be eligible for the overall first place ranking unless they are the only muse who completes the most number of tasks. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here (note: admin is in EDT, while the deadline was in KST, so the names were drawn after the deadline).
The winners for separate live voting and online voting were determined using weighted selection based on the randomly generated overall rankings. Rank one got eight submissions into the generator, rank two got seven, rank three got six, etc. and the two eliminated muses got one submission each, and then names were drawn. Proof shots of the name picker for the live audience vote and online vote winners can be found here. A proof shot of the randomizer for performance order this round can be found here. Pairs were made simply by pairing the order of the main cast by seniority directly with the guest cast submissions by order of submission from earliest to latest. Only one switch was made to ensure all muses would be writing for a muse with a skill set or song availability significantly different from their own.
For this task block you will need to submit the following information: the song you would like to claim for your muse to create for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available and agreed upon with the performing muse) and the creative claims on it. Please note that the song choice should ultimately be the decision of the mun of the main cast member. Muns may discuss what the performing muse is comfortable with, but the song choice should be based on what the muse would write with the information presented to them and not what the performing muse would necessarily want written for them.
The form link will be uploaded here at 12AM KST October 10/11AM EDT October 9, twenty-four hours after this post goes up. The form link can be found here. A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song is released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.
Songs Claimed:
Heaven - Gaho
Iljido - Moonbyul
Girl, Interrupted - Miso (prod. 2xxx!)
Pit-a-pet - Yukika
Baby Baby - Suran
Diver - YooA
SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS
The simplified theme for this round is “Written By, Not For”. Please read the prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on what this means.
For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.
For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:
The song must be solo. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.
The song must be performed by the muse assigned by the show and the muse performing cannot have creative claims on a song.
In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.
In real life, the song cannot have charted higher than a rank of 75 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.
You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.
On-Set Filming Dates: July 28, (July 31,) August 18, September 5
Deadline: August 27, 11:59PM KST (note: the audition deadline was in EDT by error—deadlines for Our Songs, as with all base schedules and monthly schedules, going forth will be in KST)
Those involved in Our Songs this month may earn up to 8 points total for writing, by the end of August 27 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
Up to two solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 1 & 2. (2 points each, up to 4 points total).
A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another competing muse based on the Our Songs episode 1 and 2 schedule. (2 points)
These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos1. Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into eliminations during blocks with eliminations.
There are not tasks available for muses outside of the main cast for this task block.
IN-’VERSE INFO
The following idols are informed they’ve been chosen on July 25 and will be sent a contract to sign: @fmdjoosung, @eunahfmd, @fmdjoohwan, @fmdjaewon, @fmdxsuji, @fmdtaeyong, @fmdxyoungjoo. @fmdkami. They will be told not to share the news of their casting with anyone yet and sharing the news with anyone outside of their management before they’ve been officially announced will result in them being removed from the cast and replaced.
The first day of filming takes place on July 28. Each cast member will arrive at the building that the show’s set is in in a separate van at separate times so that the identities of the other cast members are kept secret. They will be filmed arriving at the building. They will then go through hair and makeup off-camera and will each be assigned a waiting room of their own.
Once filming begins, the cast will be brought out and walked into a set resembling a recording studio with nine chairs (one for each competitor and one in the center for the host) in the following order: Youngjoo → Suji → Taeyong → Jaewon → Joohwan → Eunah → Sun → Kami. They will be able to pick their own seat, though they aren’t told any significance to this yet. Once every competitor is in the room, the host arrives — a well-known senior singer-songwriter named Choi Jihoon (born 1987, debuted in 2005). All competitors are then invited to give a short introduction of themselves in the order of seat they chose, beginning with the seat to the right hand of the host.
They will then be introduced to how the winners and losers of each round will be determined: a mix of online votes based on the track alone and in-person audience votes based on a live performance of the track. Choi Jihoon explains a songwriter who performs their own songs should be able to capture an audience through both their ears alone as well as affect their hearts with a powerful live performance.
Choi Jihoon then informs the competitors of the prize the winner will receive: ₩10,000,000 and all expenses covered for a special promotion period and official single release for a song they create in the final round of the competition. The competitors are given time to react, and then Choi Jihoon continues. He asks rhetorically if they’re surprised by the cast and questions whether they feel impressed or intimidated. Attention is then grabbed by a screen behind the window of the “recording booth” flickering to life. A compilation video begins to play with brief clips of those who named other members of the cast as songwriters they look up to in their audition videos, with the camera team making sure to get reaction shots of those who are shown and named, and then the audition cover video of the seniormost idol in the cast, begins to play. Clips of each competitor’s audition cover video are played in succession from most senior to most junior (Youngjoo (”Aloha” cover) → Kami (”No” cover) → Taeyong (”Needed Me” cover) → Joohwan (”Zombie” cover) → Suji (”Love Shot” cover) → Eunah (”Irony” cover) → Jaewon (”Q” cover) → Sun (”Artist” cover)) before the screen flickers back to black with white text: “Who will win?” and the lights go back up.
Choi Jihoon has the spotlight again, and he uses it to give everyone a reminder: all of the competitors have their own skill set and each of them can only get to the end of the competition by working hard and winning over the love of audiences, so it’s time to announce their first task. The host reads from a “theme card” as follows:
“Some of you have made a name for yourselves with the public already, while some of you are still working hard to earn recognition as songwriters. No matter how famous you get or how talented you are, nothing is more important to earning the love of the public than having a unique identity as a songwriter and performer. For your first task, you will be asked to create a song that introduces yourself to both the audiences that will decide your fate and your fellow competitors. If you had to make a song to convince everyone to listen to the rest of the music you’ve created, what would it be? What is the song that speaks to who you are as a person and a songwriter? What do you have as a songwriter that makes you stand out from the competition? Answering those questions is your very first songwriting mission. Those who fail to win over the audiences may be eliminated and, if they are, will not be able to move forth in the competition.”
The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before the first filming ends. Before leaving the building, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:
What are your opinions of all of the other competitors? What did you think of what you got to see of their audition cover videos?
Now that you’ve met your competitors, who are you most afraid to compete against?
What strength do you have that will make you stand out from your competitors?
What are your immediate thoughts on how you plan to approach your first task?
From July 29 to August 17, all competitors are given time to work on their songs. Staff from the show will come and install cameras in the studio they will be working in at their respective company buildings and will also give each competitor a camera to self-film with and are instructed to record their creative process and their thoughts as they create. They are allowed to work on their songs at home, if they have a studio there, but stationary cameras will not be installed in their homes.
On July 31, all of the competitors will be scheduled for individual photo sessions and a group photo session to shoot their profile images for the show (reference). Each competitor will work with the stylist on set to pick from the available wardrobe to pick a casual look that represents them.
On August 18, all competitors will return to the recording studio set. Choi Jihoon will remind everyone of the aim of the show and the tasks and briefly ask everyone to discuss how their songwriting went among each other as a group conversation. Each competitor will then be asked to go back into the recording booth part of the set and give a live “recording” performance of the demo version of their song in front of the rest of the cast (reference). They will go in order of seniority again (reminder: Youngjoo → Kami → Taeyong → Joohwan → Suji → Eunah → Jaewon → Sun). The rest of the cast will be filmed reacting to the performance and will be allowed to comment and give constructive criticism or praise following the end of each demo performance.
Final mastered versions of all songs are due to the production team by August 23.
On August 30, the final version of each competitor’s song will be released onto streaming sites and voting will open for online audiences.
On September 5, all competitors will come back to the same building again—this time on a different set, which is the stage where they’ll perform their song for the live audiences (reference 1, reference 2). Minor set and prop elements are permitted, but they should be easy for the staff to get on and off the stage. The idols’ respective companies will be responsible for the styling and performance preparation of the idol.
Once filming begins, the competitors will be informed they will be performing in order of the seat they chose on the first day of filming. In case anyone has forgotten, the host will remind everyone what this order is, and performances will proceed.
As each competitor is performing, the other seven songwriters will sit in raised chairs to the back/side of the stage and their reactions will be filmed. At the conclusion of each stage, the host will ask each competitor the thoughts on the song that was just performed. In the final airing of the episode, only one to three competitors’ comments will be aired per song.
During the break following all eight song performances, each competitor will be pulled into a room for another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):
Talk about your song. How does it match the theme of “Introduction / Identity”?
How do you feel you did with your performance? What regrets do you have?
Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?
Who do you think got the most votes from the online audience based on the track and who do you think got the most votes from the offline audience based on the performance?
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
As stated in the audition post, since the number of submitted muses who completed all necessary steps exceeded eight, the final cast was decided by random name generator. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here.
For the eight muns with muses in the show, congratulations and welcome to this event! For each episode block, you will need to choose at least one song for your muse to write, and there will often be other information you must submit, so a form will be put up for each filming block that you must submit to. For this task block you will need to submit the following information: which seat your muse chose on the first day of filming, the song you would like to claim for them to create for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available), and the creative claims on it.
The form link will be uploaded here at 12AM KST July 25/11AM EDT July 24, twelve hours after this post goes up. The form link can be found here. A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song is released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.
Seats (note: Seat One is the seat to the right hand of the host. from there, all odd numbers are next to each other and all even numbers are next to each other):
Seat One: Sun
Seat Two: Joohwan
Seat Three: Youngjoo
Seat Four: Kami
Seat Five: Suji
Seat Six: Eunah
Seat Seven: Jaewon
Seat Eight: Taeyong
Songs Claimed:
E.T (Heize)
Little Wildflower (Suzy)
Noid (WOODZ)
Alarm (Mino)
That’s Not Me (The Black Skirts)
Swim Away (Sejeong)
Smile (Nafla)
Crazy Diamond (Cheetah)
SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS
The simplified theme for this round is “Introduction / Identity”. Please read the prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on what this means.
For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.
For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:
The song must be solo. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.
In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.
In real life, the song cannot have charted within the top 100 of Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.
You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. Choreography will only be performed during the final stage with the live audience, not the demo performance for the cast. As usual, songs with more emphasis on choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.
Limitations: Not open to muns with a muse participating in Our Songs already.
Deadline: October 7, 11:59PM KST
At the end of September, a handful of idols under all three companies are informed about a special casting opportunity to appear on two upcoming episodes of Our Songs. They aren’t told much about what the guesting will entail except that, if cast, they will be expected to participate in recording music and giving a live performance. They are also asked not to discuss this casting opportunity with anyone who is currently competing on the show.
If an idol is interested, they may submit a cast form for the program.
IN ‘VERSE INFO
If an idol choose to submit a casting form, they are asked to fill out the following form and pass it on to their manager to submit to the casting team by October 1 in-’verse:
Legal name:
Stage name (if applicable):
Position (ex. main vocal, main rapper, vocal soloist):
Solo music release history (leave blank if none):
What are your favorite genres of music?:
What are themes you are interesting singing/rapping about in your music?:
How would you describe your voice (tone, abilities, strengths, weaknesses)?:
What singers/rappers do you look up to (does not have to be Korean)?:
What is your current favorite song?:
Casting will be confirmed at a later date.
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
This is a special casting opportunity for muses to make a guest appearance in episodes 5 and 6 of Our Songs. If cast, muses will participate in the block and be given a task or two to write during the month-long block for points. The guesting will be added to their career page and they will ultimately have a song released to their name as a performer.
This casting opportunity is not open to the muses of muns who already have a muse in the main cast of Our Songs. All other muns may have their muse apply for casting and a mun may submit multiple muses if they wish and feel they would be able to participate if cast on multiple muses, although it is unlikely more than one muse from the same mun will be cast unless fewer than six unique muns submit a muse for consideration.
Muses for the guesting do not have to have any experience or interest in songwriting or producing.
If you’re interested in having your muse participate in this opportunity, please fill out the above form in-character and post it in the #fmdoscasting tag by Wednesday, October 7 at 11:59PM KST.
Muses may collect one point for doing this. Completing the form will enter your muse into consideration for casting, so please do not fill out the form for the point if you do not want your muse considered.
GUIDELINES
CASTING:
Six muses will be cast for this special opportunity. Casting will be semi-random. Submissions will not be judged on quantity or quality of writing as long as all sections are filled out, but certain types of muses may be needed in a larger quantity than others (ex. more male rappers may be needed than female vocals or vice-versa, a diversity of answers between cast muses may be wanted, etc.)
ELIMINATIONS:
As this is a short-term casting opportunity, the guests themselves will not be up for elimination at any point, but please be aware your muse may participate in parts of the competition that are judged for the ranking and elimination of main cast members.
CASTING WILL RESULT IN:
- Points opportunities for the task block.
- A two-episode guesting on Our Songs.
- Involvement as a performer in a song release (more details will be given upon casting).
Limitations: Open to muses with at least one released points-claimed lyric claim who are not cast in Secret Sibling.
Deadline: July 21, 11:59PM EDT
At the beginning of July, songwriter idols under all three companies are informed about casting for a new show: Our Songs. The concept of the show is to have idol songwriters compete against each other to crown the ultimate idol songwriter. Those cast on the show will get the chance to release a handful of original songs throughout the course of the show that will be evaluated and voted on by in-person and online audiences.
If an idol is interested, they may submit an audition for the program.
IN ‘VERSE INFO
In the first week of July, select songwriter idols under the three companies are informed of the opportunity presented by this new show as described above. They will only receive as much information as given above to decide if they’d like to send in an audition.
If they choose to send in an audition, they are asked to send the following two videos by the end of July 21 in-’verse.
1) A self-cam video answering the following questions:
What inspires you to write songs?
What is your favorite song you’ve written?
Are there any songwriters you look up to? If so, whom?
What are your goals as a songwriter?
What do you hope to achieve by being on this show?
2) A cover of an existing song in their own musical style (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; admin note: please avoid canonically claimable covers here, but anything else is free game and an audio reference is not required!). They should note that, if cast, this video will be released online as a teaser for the show.
Casting will be confirmed at a later date.
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
This is the first Base event opportunity that is limited to idols with a specific background, position, or career direction. There will be more of these in the future, although I will make sure to make events with different limitations so that hopefully all muses with be able to eventually participate in one or two if they want to. There will also be plenty of Base events that are open to all muses, such as the COLLA3ORATE project and shows like Shared Home and Secret Sibling in the future.
Please be aware that if you sign up to have your muse considered to be a part of the main cast for Our Songs, you are expected to be able and willing to try to fulfill monthly prompts and plan on being active for the majority of the run of the show. Failure to participate may result in a muse being eliminated from the show. Since there is a small, limited cast for this event, it’s very important to have active members participating in it so that it can stay exciting and interactive. If you’re anticipating an extended period of low activity sometime in the next three to four months, it may be best to sit this one out!
Muns having muses in the main cast of the event should also be willing to do research to find songs to claim. The set up of the show will have different topics or challenges for the muses to write songs about and there will be certain limitations on what songs can be claimed to keep a lot of high-demand songs from being snatched up (these rules will vary depending on the task, but may include limited songs to songs not listed as title tracks on Melon, songs that did not chart on Gaon, and/or songs without a music video).
If you’re interested in having your muse participate in this opportunity, there are two steps.
STEP ONE: If you are interested in your muse being part of the main cast, please fill out this survey here out of character. This will be your official expression of interest for the event but step two must also be completed in addition to step one order to officially enter your muse into consideration for being cast as a main cast member!
You may only submit one muse per mun for consideration to be cast in this Base event, so choose the muse wisely.
No more than two idols from the same group will be allowed to participate as main cast at the same time. Consider this if you have multiple muses and are deciding which one to submit.
STEP TWO: Complete the casting video prompt in the in-character information above with a character count of at least 400 words and tag it with #fmdosaudition. You will have until Tuesday, July 21, at 11:59PM EDT to complete this step. You may not earn additional points for this, but you may count it as one of your two-point monthly self-paras if you have not yet reached the limit.
Any further questions should be directed to the main’s ask box!
GUIDELINES
CREATIVE CLAIMS:
Throughout the show, a muse will only be able to claim creative claims of the type they already have another points claim outside of the show for. Other creative claims will go to NPCs they work with.
For instance, if your muse has only ever had full lyric claims and partial composition claims released, that is as much as they will be able to claim on a song for the show. If their first full composition credit gets released in August, for example, from September onward, they may claim full composition on songs for the show.
CASTING:
Tentatively, up to eight muses will be able to be initially cast on the show. If the interested muses who complete both steps by the designated date exceeds the cast limit, the cast will be decided by random generator for fairness.
Additional casting opportunities for later in the show (wild card cast additions, cameos, etc.) may draw from muses who completed their audition but were not cast by random generator (if applicable) if the mun is interested.
ELIMINATIONS:
If you have a muse participate in this show, please also note this is a competition show, meaning there will be eliminations. These will be determined either by who did not complete the writing prompt(s) for the month, or, if everyone did, by random generator. There will be no subjective judging of quality of writing for eliminations to keep everything fair.
Please be willing to accept the possibility of elimination/losing for your muse if they are a part of the show. Though the show will, in-’verse, claim to be to determine the best idol songwriter, the results are no way meant to godmod character skill level or canonically state who is more “talented” than any other.
Those involved in the main cast of Our Songs this month may earn up to 13 points total for writing, by the end of December 10 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point for the first interview & 2 points for the second, up to 3 points total)
Up to three solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 5 & 6. (2 points each, up to 6 points total).
Up to two threads of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another muse in the main cast based on the Our Songs episodes 7 and 8 schedule. (2 points each, up to 4 points total)
Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into the final rankings. These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos4.
All muses in the roleplay (excluding remaining main cast of the show) this month may earn up to 4 points total for writing, by the end of December 10 KST (please read the information in this post for context!):
Completions of the two celebrity audience interviews filmed during the finale included here. (4 points total; both must be completed)
All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos4.
IN-’VERSE INFO
Following the performances on November 7, everyone will have a little under an hour off-camera while the audience is instructed to vote for one song they liked the best. These votes will be calculated and combined with online track votes based on a weighted formula, and then the competitors are brought back out. They are first told the cast members that got the most votes in the live voting and the online voting as follows:
The final rankings are then announced as follows to announce the safe competitors from third place to first:
3. Taeyong
2. Jaewon
1. Joohwan
Choi Jihoon congratulates the three safe competitors and dismisses them from the stage to bring the three remaining competitors on stage (Suji, Youngjoo, and Sun). The competitors currently on stage represent fourth place that will go onto the finale and the two competitors who will be eliminated and he reminds everyone of that. After building suspense, he announces that Suji has placed fourth and will be safe to go onto the next episode. This means Youngjoo and Sun have unfortunately been eliminated from the competition and the final overall ranking for the latest round is ultimately as follows:
1. Joohwan
2. Jaewon
3. Taeyong
4. Suji
On November 9, the remaining four idols will once again return to the “recording studio” set they first met at on their first day of filming. Competitors will once again be seated based on their rank (first place in seat one, second place in seat two, etc.). Basic pleasantries will be gone through on camera recounting the last round and reminding everyone of the rules and structure of the show before host Choi Jihoon will inform them of their third songwriting mission:
“The four of you sitting here with me represent the final four of the competition. You’ve been through three rounds of this now, showing your abilities to write to represent your own identity, to fit an assigned concept, and for someone else. For the final round, you’re free to write what you want to share with the world. There’s only one catch. You’ll be writing two songs for this round: one paired up with a fellow competitor and one solo song.”
Choi Jihoon then announces that first place and fourth place from last round must write and perform a duet together and the middle places must do the same. This means Joohwan and Suji have been partnered up, as have Jaewon and Taeyong.
Choi Jihoon then adds, “For your duet, you’re expected to embody both of your unique colors while finding a way to compromise and find a middle ground. For your solo song, you are expected to show whatever you want your final statement to the audience to be. For the first, and only, time during the run of the show, you’ll be releasing a music video for your solo song. Think about how you want the song to be represented, as you’ll be expected to talk with the directors and production team about how your song would best be expressed.”
The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before they are dismissed from the set. After this, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:
You’ve made the final four of the competition. Looking back on the competition so far and your performance, how do you feel about making it to the last round?
You’re required to work on a duet with one of the other competitors this round. What are your thoughts on who you’ve been paired with and how you think you’ll work together?
What are you current thoughts on what you want to do for your final solo song?
Which one of the other competitors do you see as your biggest competition for winner of the whole show?
From November 10 to November 23, all competitors are given time to work with their assigned partner on their duet song. They will be asked to do most of the work in one of the two competitors’ company studios so that they can be filmed on the stationary cameras set up, but both competitors will keep their self-cams as well. By November 24, the song should be fully produced, recorded, and mastered and submitted to the show’s production team.
On November 29, the final version of the duet songs will be released onto streaming sites and voting will open for online audiences.
From November 10 to November 30, all competitors are also given time to work on their solo song. As has been the case for the rest of the competition, there will be stationary cameras in their company studio and they’ll also be provided with a self-cam. All competitors will receive a visit from the host Choi Jihoon some time during the period of working on their solo song and he’ll talk to them one on one about their journey on the show, where they hope to go after it ends, what they’ve learned, and about their song. (admin note: This can be written out and muns are given permission to write Choi Jihoon’s actions and words as long as they are not major changes or departures from his established professional character. He should generally remain professional but personable as a normal competition show host. Things like deliberate rudeness, outbursts, or favoritism by him should be avoided, please! If you’re unsure whether something oversteps, please ask the admin.) A mostly complete draft of the song must be finished by November 23, as they will film the music video for their song as their schedule allows from November 24 to November 30. They are allowed to continue to fine tune the song during this time as the final mastered version is only due on December 1, but they won’t be allowed to make major changes that will clash with the music video.
All competitors will meet with a director some time before the filming of their music video to discuss the message, themes, and story line of their song in relation to a music video. While they will not be able to contribute extensively enough for any kind of credited production role on the project, such as coming up with the whole concept, creating a storyboard, contributing to filming or directing the MV, doing all of the styling, etc, they will get to discuss how they want to convey the song and will have power to veto the production crew’s ideas.
On December 6, the final version of the solo songs will be released onto streaming sites and the music videos will be uploaded to Youtube. Voting will open for online audiences.
On December 12, all competitors will go to same building as last round with with the same performance set, where their songs will be performed and voted on.
For the finale, each competitor will be given a certain number of tickets that will allow them to invite their group mates and celebrity friends to watch during the finale. Each company will also be given a certain number of tickets to allow additional artists in their rosters to attend for potential screen time. Idols attending as guests in the audience will not be given live audience voting privileges, but will be asked for their opinion on the performances in talking head interviews before and after the filming and possibly from the audience during the show.
The competitors will first perform their duets:
Joohwan & Suji - “Heart Stop”
Jaewon & Taeyong - “City Lights”
As each duo is performing, the other duo will be seated on stage watching. After one duo’s performance, the other will be asked to comment on the performance. Some members of the celebrity audience may also be asked for their opinions.
After the two performances, competitors will be given time to change and prepare for their solo stages as necessary. During this time, the audience will be asked to vote for with duet they preferred. After about an hour to an hour and a half, the solo performances will begin, which will be done in order by ranking from the last round:
Joohwan - “Love Me Harder”
Jaewon - “Jasmine”
Taeyong - “Nowhere”
Suji - “I Go”
For the solo performance round, the three competitors not currently performing will sit in the audience in the celebrity guest section instead of onstage. After each performance, the other three competitors will be asked for their thoughts, as will some of the celebrity guests in the audience.
Another break will be taken following the conclusion of all solo performances where each competitor will film another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):
What was it like working with your partner on your duet? Do you feel you successfully showed both of your colors as performers and songwriters?
How does your solo song embody the final statement you decided you wanted to make as a competitor?
Do you have any regrets about either of your performances tonight? Do you have any regrets about your performance on the show as a whole?
How do you feel you’ve grown during your time competing on Our Songs?
Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?
How will you feel if you win? How will you feel if you don’t?
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
As with past rounds, the rankings for the third round were determined by random generation for spots among who completed the most tasks. All main cast muses had completed all tasks for the third block, so the rankings were decided entirely by random picker. The only exception here is that the admin’s muse is not be eligible for the overall first place ranking. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here.
The winners for separate live voting and online voting were determined using weighted selection based on the randomly generated overall rankings. Rank one got six submissions into the generator, rank two got five, rank three got four, rank four got three, and the two eliminated muses got one submission each, and then names were drawn. Proof shots of the name picker for the live audience vote and online vote winners can be found at the link above.
For this task block you will need to submit two different forms, one for the duet and one for the solo. Please note that only one person from the duet has to submit a form, but everyone has to submit a form for their solo.
The following information will be requested for the duet: the song you would like to claim for your muses to create and perform for this round’s task as agreed upon between partners (and a performance reference if one is available) and the creative claims on it.
The following information will be requested for the solo: the song you would like to claim for your muses to create and perform for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available), the creative claims on it, and a link to the MV.
The form links will be uploaded here at 12AM KST November 14/10AM EDT November 13, twenty-four hours after this post goes up. The form for the duet song is here and the solo song form is here.
A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song has been released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.
Songs Claimed:
WOODZ - Love Me Harder
Kei - I Go
Taemin - Heart Stop ft. Seulgi
DPR Live - Jasmine
TVXQ - City Lights ft. Taeyong (U-Know Yunho Solo)
Jung Jinwoo - Nowhere
SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS
There is no specified theme for this round other than to create a song in a pair and a final solo song. Please read the above prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on this round.
For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.
For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:
Duet song
The song must involve two performing artists. The original song can have two artists equally credited, a solo with a feature, or a duo act, but it must have two performing artists.
In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.
In real life, the song cannot have charted higher than a rank of 50 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.
You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.
Both muses must have some kind of creative claims on the song.
Solo song
This song must be a solo song. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.
In real life, the song may be a title track according to Melon, but it doesn’t have to be. It must have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos do not count and the release of any different M/V versions beyond the main video will require the song to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.
In real life, the song cannot have charted with the top 100 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.
You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.
On-Set Filming Dates: September 5, September 6, September 24, October 8
Deadline: October 1, 11:59PM KST
Those involved in Our Songs this month may earn up to 9 points total for writing, by the end of October 1 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
Up to two solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 3 & 4. (2 points each, up to 4 points total).
A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another competing muse based on the Our Songs episode 4 and 5 schedule. This must be with a different muse than the thread you collected points for last month, if applicable. (2 points)
An aesthetic of the color assigned to the muse representing its tie in to the song they wrote. This should include a description. (1 point)
These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos2. Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into eliminations during blocks with eliminations.
There are not tasks available for muses outside of the main cast for this task block.
IN-’VERSE INFO
Following the performances on September 5, the competitors will go backstage to their dressing rooms for a little under an hour while the audience is instructed to vote for two songwriters each. These votes will be calculated and combined with online track votes based on a weighted formula, and then the competitors are brought back out. They are first told the cast members that got the most votes in the live voting and the online as follows:
- Live audience vote: Kami
- Online vote: Jaewon
The overall rankings with both voting combined and ranked are then announced from eighth place to first place as follows:
It is then announced that no one will be eliminated this episode, as the votes were surprisingly close between all competitors, but two competitors will be eliminated following the next round.
On September 6, the idols will once again return to the “recording studio” set they first met at on their first day of filming. Competitors will be seated based on their rank (first place in seat one, second place in seat two, etc.). Basic pleasantries will be gone through recounting the last round and reminding everyone of the rules and structure of the show before their attention is drawn to a table in the middle of the room with a box on it. One by one, each idol will go up in order of their ranking (first place first, second place second...) to the table. They will pull out a small, colored sheet of paper without explanation yet as to what this means. The colors drawn will be as follows:
Jaewon: White
Youngjoo: Red
Taeyong: Green
Kami: Blue
Suji: Black
Sun: Purple
Eunah: Gold
Joohwan: Pink
After all competitors have drawn, they will return to their seats with their colored paper and Choi Jihoon will inform them of their second songwriting mission:
“As songwriters, you won’t always get the chance to write around around a theme as specific and personal as your own identity. A good songwriter should be able to take a simple concept and shape it into something memorable. They should also be versatile. For this task, you’ll be asked to write a song based on the color of the card you have pulled out of the box. How you interpret the color is up to you and you may take it as literally or as figuratively as you’d like. There’s only one catch: the song you write must contrast with the song you wrote for the first round in some way. This could be in genre, mood, themes, lyrics, or anything else you feel represents a strong contrast from your introduction.”
The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before the filming ends. Before leaving the building, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:
You’ve had some time since you found out your ranking in the last round. How do you feel about your ranking and what pressure do you feel it puts on you this round?
What are the first thoughts that come to mind when you think of the color you drew from the box?
Do you already have an idea in mind for what you’ll do for your song this round?
After seeing everyone compete in the first round and knowing the task for this round, has your view on your biggest competition changed? Who do you expect to do the best this round?
From September 6 to September 23, all competitors are given time to work on their songs and they will be filmed both through the stationary cameras installed in the studio in their company buildings and will also be instructed to continue to use their self-cam to record their creative process.
On September 24, all competitors will return to the recording studio set. The process for this filming will again be very similar to the last episode, with Choi Jihoon reminding everyone of the task and offering time for all of the competitors to discuss how their songwriting went among each other as a group conversation. Each competitor will then be asked to go back into the recording booth part of the set and give a live “recording” performance of the demo version of their song in front of the rest of the cast. This time, they will go in order of ranking from the last episode, from first to eighth (Jaewon → Youngjoo → Taeyong → Kami → Suji → Sun → Eunah → Joohwan). The rest of the cast will be filmed reacting to the performance and will be allowed to comment and give constructive criticism or praise following the end of each demo performance.
Final mastered versions of all songs are due to the production team by September 27.
On October 4, the final version of each competitor’s song for round two will be released onto streaming sites and voting will open for online audiences.
On October 8, all competitors will arrive to a venue in Mapo-gu, different from the one they performed at for the last episode. The venue is a real indoor concert venue and not just a set, and it has an intimate capacity made for live performances. The venue is frequented more by mid-tier singer-songwriter types than idols. The competitors won’t be aware they’re performing in a different setting until they arrive. The process here is the same, though: they will perform their songs to be voted on by a live audience. Minor prop elements are permitted, but they should be small and easy to store when the performer is not on stage. The respective companies will be responsible for the styling and performance preparation of their idols.
Once filming begins, the competitors will be informed they will be performing in order of their ranking from the latest episode. In case anyone has forgotten, the host will remind everyone what this order is. As everyone expects the show to proceed without anymore changes, Choi Jihoon reveals one last twist to the contestants: the show did not open online applications to draw a live audience by lottery like they did for the last episode, but, instead drew an audience entirely by having production assistants pass out flyers on the street for a concert by mystery artists. The audience is composed this time by passer-byers on the street who were interested in a secret concert and were willing to sign a release form for filming for broadcast television. The context of the concert was only revealed to the audience after they had all entered the venue. This is intended to give them an audience representative of the general public and the real music lovers of today and not only a crowd of eager fans. After this news, the performances will proceed as follows:
Jaewon - “Reply” (performance reference)
Youngjoo - "RUNNIN’ BACK” (performance reference)
Taeyong - “21″ (performance reference)
Kami - "Superwoman” (performance reference)
Suji - “Arari”
Sun - “Dystopia”
Eunah - “Count You Out”
Joohwan - "Whistle”
As each competitor is performing, the other seven songwriters will sit backstage together in a large dressing room while their reactions are filmed to a large monitor of the performance happening onstage. At the conclusion of each stage, each competitor will be given time to talk about their thoughts on the song that was just performed before the competitor who just performed returns to the room and is switched out for the next performer. In the final airing of the episode, only some competitors’ comments will be aired per song.
During the break following all eight song performances, each competitor will be pulled into a room for another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):
Talk about your song. How does it contrast the song you wrote for the last round “Introduction / Identity”?
Did the different venue and audience atmosphere impact your performance in any way?
Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?
Which song do you expect got the most votes?
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
As will be done with all rounds, the overall rankings for the first round were determined by random generation in groupings of the number of tasks completed. In this case, spots one through six were generated by those who had five completed tasks in the #fmdos1 tag on their muse’s blog by the deadline and spots seven and eight were randomly generated between the muses who had four completed tasks in the #fmdos1 tag on their blog by the deadline. (Posts must be in the appropriate tag on the muse’s blog before the deadline to count, but if there has been a mistake, please contact the admin, and if this is the case, the ranking will be fixed accordingly.) The only exception here is that the admin’s muse will not be eligible for the first place ranking unless they are the only muse who completes the most number of tasks. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here (note: admin is in EDT, while the deadline was in KST, so the names were drawn after the deadline for round one).
The winners for separate live voting and online voting were determined using weighted selection based on the randomly generated overall rankings. Rank one got eight submissions into the generator, rank two got seven, rank three got six, etc., and then names were drawn. Proof shots of the name picker results for this can be found here.
For this task block you will need to submit the following information: the song you would like to claim for your muse to create for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available) and the creative claims on it.
The form link will be uploaded here at 12AM KST September 5/11AM EDT September 4, twenty-four hours after this post goes up. The form link can be found here. A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song is released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.
Songs Claimed:
Han Seungwoo - Reply
zai.ro - Whistle
Minzy - Superwoman
Leebada - RUNNIN’ BACK
Dean - 21
Lucia - Arari
Zico - Dystopia
Jimin Park - Count You Out
SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS
The simplified theme for this round is “Color / Contrast”. Please read the prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on what this means.
For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.
For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:
The song must be solo. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.
In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, choreography videos, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.
In real life, the song cannot have charted higher than a tank of 75 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.
You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. Choreography will only be performed during the final stage with the live audience, not the demo performance for the cast. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.
