joosung had never been the most adept at using work breaks when they came. to the level of making sure she wouldn’t, well, pass out from dehydration, she could keep up with that. the first activity she took on in a break was taking a drink of water, maybe pulling up a bite to eat if the situation had called for it, but once her baseline needs had been taken care of, she found herself wondering what else there was to do. music show green rooms were the worst for that -not enough room to properly practice, and so much waiting time.
during the crowned rehearsals, at least, the breaks were short enough that joosung could easily make the decision to spend her time looking for other idols to speak with. she’d have a, probably, nice conversation, and the cameras would catch more footage to potentially mix in. win win.
when sung spotted suji, she quickened her steps to a skip. “hi.” a grin spread across her face. “how are you feeling about your song and all that? i was just thinking, um, i really like yours. i feel like you guys are gonna do so well. it’s like equinox suits all concepts and genres, you know?”
it always felt a bit funny being back at music bank, truth be told. especially when he knew that suji was around too. the two had been mcs for a year together and truth be told, it felt like just yesterday duri was going mainly weekly for a whole year to be an mc on the show. the two had even had three different special mc stages that they did together, and it was a really great time. but, it always felt almost out of place that he still wasn’t mcing, even if that was something that had ultimately happened long ago now. perhaps, even sometimes he missed getting to host a music show. but, it’s probably something he wouldn’t do again.
nonetheless, he had moved through the backstage area of music bank during the half year song festival, his eyes looking out for the equinox member. truthfully, he thought it would be a lot of fun to interact with his fellow former mc in the place that was their old stomping grounds. so, he had decided to take his peak around.
it didn’t take long, however, for duri to find suji, and with a soft giggle, he went running up to her. “suji! are you ready to go back up on stage and start mcing? come on, we have to go!” he joked, a giggle leaving his lips once again. “ah, it’s so odd being in the music bank building at the same time and we’re not going on stage to mc, right?”
points available: up to 11 for muses on the album / 3 for muses not on the album
deadline: november 21, 2021, at 11:59pm est / november 22, 2021, at 1:59pm kst
now that base has contacted and gotten confirmation and from the idols who will be involved in base christmas: the magic of the season, the idols will begin to prepare the album this month.
idols not involved in the album will also have the opportunity to film a short video talking about the season or the end of the year to participate in a teaser for the album release during this period.
all prompt completions for this period should be tagged #famedbasemagic1.
in-’verse info
during this three week period, all songs on the album will be recorded. songs 1 through 5 on the track list will be recorded some time between november 1 and november 14 with dates depending on when the artists of the song are available. “all i want” will be recorded throughout the week of november 15 to november 21. all recording will take place in a large studio space rented out by the team in charge of the album instead of at any of the companies.
everyone recording on the same song will generally be asked to be present all at the same time for at least one recording session day so that the production team can get behind the scenes footage for everyone on that day. some idols may be called back in on additional days to put down more vocals for songs. at this time, idols may briefly cross paths with other idols as their scheduled recording times run into one another.
all of the idols on the album will also participate in a reality show that will be uploaded to the base youtube channel in ten minute clips to give a more personal look at the “magic team”. this show will involve all of the idols coming together to learn and do various activities related to the holiday season. on november 15, all idols on the album will be scheduled to show up at a large kitchen around 8am, where they’ll all learn from one of seoul’s top pastry chefs and make christmas-themed treats such as designed cut out cookies, gourmet chocolates, bûche de noël, and homemade candy canes. that night around 6pm, the idols will meet back together at a warehouse, where they’ll talk to a man who helps design large christmas tree displays throughout the city (example). they’ll then be sorted in small groups of three or four and be instructed to come up with a christmas tree decoration design of their own. as this is all being filmed, this will be made into a competition with the promise that the best design will be used on a real public christmas tree display.
base is also seeking idols, whether they are involved in the album or not, to film a personal video on thoughts and feelings related to either winter or the end of the year to include in a teaser video for the project. idols participating in the video who are not otherwise involved in the album will be encouraged to do so by management who will have the request passed along to them.
these short clips will be included in the magic of the season video base will be uploaded to their youtube channel to tease the release of the album. in order to be included, the idol must submit a video discussing one (or multiple) of the following topics:
what is your favorite winter or winter holiday (christmas, new year’s, seollal, etc.) memory?
what is your favorite winter activity?
what is your favorite part of winter / christmas / new year’s?
what are your wishes for your fans, friends, and family as 2021 comes to an end and 2022 begins?
what moment from 2021 are you most grateful for?
idols will be filmed against a blank wall like in these video examples.
mun info
though it is now past the deadline listed on the original post, muses may still be submitted to participate in the project, but you may not join in on writing for the schedules until your muse has been added to the original post.
the “album teaser clip self-para” listed down below in the points roundup refers to the prompt at the end of the in-’verse info section with the questions the muse must discuss at least one of. this should not be written in interview format since it will not be conducted like an interview. the muse will be provided a number of ideas for what they can discuss (the questions listed) and then are asked to briefly talk on camera about it/them without being directly asked any questions.
any further questions should be directed to the main’s ask box!
points roundup
total available points for muses involved in the album: 11 points (none of the prompts count toward monthly limits.)
+2 points each: up to two album recording threads of at least six posts by the deadline (for up to four points total)
+2 points each: up to two baking or christmas tree threads of at least six posts by the deadline (for up to four points total)
+3 points: album teaser clip self-para of at least 400 words
total available points for muses not involved in the album: 3 points (does not count toward monthly limits.)
+3 points: album teaser clip self-para of at least 400 words
👀 as a company, do you think dimensions is the right fit for you? if not, which other company would you have preferred to debut under? 👀 is there anything else you'd like to try out in the industry that you haven't had the chance to do yet? 👀 is there any song or concept you'd want to steal from another group for unity?
Send me a “👀 + a question” and my muse has to answer honestly!
👀 as a company, do you think dimensions is the right fit for you? if not, which other company would you have preferred to debut under?
“I know that other people’s experiences with Dimensions weren’t as good as mine, but I think I have it... decently fine? A lot of it comes from not really relying on the company for things other than my career, I guess. As in, I have money, that was never an issue for me. They tried to be accommodating of my autism even if it was because of my parents’ money and although they fuck up sometimes, I’m not really expecting them not to. So, I’m okay having debuted in Dimensions.”
👀 is there anything else you'd like to try out in the industry that you haven't had the chance to do yet?
“I’d love to do a cooking show! I found out mcing is actually fun for me, but I’d like to do that in a show under my own terms.”
👀 is there any song or concept you'd want to steal from another group for unity?
“Not really? I think everything we do fits us very well and everything else would be dissonant. Maybe Impulse sunbaenim’s You Calling My Name? Definitely way too different from everything we’ve done, but I really like that song.”
👀 if you could drop chroma and debut as a soloist, would you? if so, what kind of concept would you want to go for? 👀 who would you want to collaborate with in the future?
👀 if you could drop chroma and debut as a soloist, would you? if so, what kind of concept would you want to go for?
“oh, i would. no offense to the chroma girls, but let’s be real - who would really choose to debut in a group instead of by themselves? damn sure not me. concept wise, i would love to do something that falls along the same vein as chungha or sunmi. i enjoy their music very much. hyolyn as well!”
👀 who would you want to collaborate with in the future?
“oh, i have a whole list. when you’ve been training for as long as me, it’s hard not to think about stuff like this - ahem. @durifmd, @fmdtaeyong, @fmdhyeju, @fmdaidynn, @fmddaisuke, @fmdjaewon, @fmdxmax, @fmdkiana, @fmdxsuji. they’re all great at what they do, and i feel like there’s a lot we could do with one another music wise. or even just a dance cover for the dancers on here.”
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.
𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: a gold star studio || 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: nov 16 || 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇: @fmdxsuji
to say joohwan’s schedule was tight was an understatement. between the rehearsals for origin’s tour and assorted origin schedules as well as his own personal schedules related ot his comeback, hwan was barely making it home lately. just two nights before he hadn’t gone home at all, choosing to sleep over at the studio in gold star’s building as he finished up the melody for the song he was hoping to show suji. the man had known that if he went home he’d end up slacking off and there was not a single free space in his schedule for him to do that. so he had chosen to sacrifice a comfortable night sleeping next to his boyfriend with their pets around in order to get work done. and hwan felt weirdly pleased about that – our songs had brought back the desire to work in music that he had long since lost due to origin’s strenuous routine.
that afternoon was the only free time he could find in his schedule. sadly, the two of them would have to get as much stuff done as possible. worst case scenario, he’d suggest the two of them record their vocals separately and he’d send them to the arranger and the producer who’d tied everything up together. the cameras were already set up and hwan was adjusting the guitar line by the time suji arrived. “oh, hello,” he bowed his head at her. “i’m in a bit of a tight schedule so i can’t be all that pleasant so just pull a chair and i can show you what i have so far.”
on a cruise ship, filled to the brim, the... deck?, with idols and staff, it had been difficult to find anyone, not on a free day. while sung’s suitcase had been getting lighter after giving out the majority of his christmas presents, it was being refilled with trinkets he’d found, or gifts from others. he huffed every time he looked at his suitcase again.
thankfully, another gift could be crossed off, since it was suji’s actual birthday. early in the day, he’d gone on a hunt for her, and yet it still took three stops and over half an hour to see the girl by the window in the observatory. better late than never. sung’s breath relaxed into a smile, and his step took a leisure his feet hadn’t known for a good while.
pulling out the chair across from suji, he sat down, green wrapped box clutched against his chest. it didn’t stay long, however, as he slid the box onto the table. “happy birthday, suji. i’m not sure if it’s alright to have gotten you this, um, i’m not even sure it’s something you’d use, but, i thought it was fit to you. so, i hope you like it.”
