From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 328: Producer (7)

Why did his team sound like a mess?

Simply put, it was Ari’s fault.

Because he was afflicted with a mild sense of perfectionism, had complete creative control, and truly wanted this song to be as perfect as he could make it because this was the last time he could come in first place before the final episode, Ari had spent days going back and forth, adding, removing, and constantly tweaking little details.

He still wasn’t satisfied, but after spending 6 days on it with only 8 days left to get the performance together, he agreed to stop tweaking it and showed it to the team for feedback so they could start practicing.

And naturally, because his team had less than half a day of practice to memorize lyrics and parts of the vocally heavy song that demanded expert vocal layering, choir-like vocals, harmonies, and so on, it sounded like a garbled mess.

This would eventually be smoothed out over time, but unfortunately, that was the one thing they were lacking, and Ari had already used up the time-dilation candle.

So the scolding toward him was well deserved.

The other things, though....

Ari glanced at the paper Larry Jackson was holding in his hand, which was the in-depth color-coded storyboarding document that Levi had drawn up detailing every moment from them walking on stage to the position of the pyrotechnics and the angle of the lighting for the staff to memorize for their team’s performance.

He supposed it did look like a kid coloring book page, but if the judge took the time to read it, it would be clear that it wasn’t.

1.5 semesters of film school had gone into that storyboard!

"As I said, please explain to me Ah-ri-el why you decided to become a comic book artist instead of preparing your team for the performance."

"I take full blame and accountability. It’s my fault. I spent too long making the song and didn’t finish until yesterday, so my teammates didn’t have enough time to practice. That’s why our performance was the way it was. And those aren’t comics, that’s our storyboard for the stage." Ari explained calmly.

"Well, for something you spent 6 days making, the instrumental is not that impressive. It just sounds like you threw some piano, organ sounds, and drumbeats together to create something from a horror movie. It sounds so empty." Larry Jackson continued complaining since he didn’t like the laid-back way Ari responded to him.

That lackadaisical attitude was very annoying, especially when he turned to look at Jelissa after he finished talking to Larry.

It was as if he wasn’t taking him seriously, making Larry want to pick on him a little.

It wasn’t that he was upset that two of the three producing contestants hadn’t bothered to come to him for advice or help.

Not at all.

He just had high expectations due to the way Jelissa had been raving about the song that Ariel had created.

But it had just been bad.

The instrumental was empty, the live singing was all over the place, with the backing vocals done by other contestants overpowering the main vocals, and there was no choreography being done, so the contestants just stood in a line and gave a lackluster performance.

When compared to the great upbeat song created by Jamie and the gladiator performance done by his team, it was disappointing all around.

At Larry Jackson’s childish complaint, it took everything in Ari’s power not to roll his eyes.

Wasn’t that how everybody made a song?

Add drum. Add other instruments.

Voilà. A song.

Since that was more or less what he did with a few other things sprinkled in, Ari just shrugged while staring at Larry, waiting for whatever complaints he had next.

Now that the song-creation portion was more or less done, he wasn’t particularly worried, since they would be practicing and perfecting everything this week.

And since the song he and Jamie were working on for the show that had contacted him was done and had been submitted for their review before they recorded the final copy, his entire time and attention would be devoted to his team’s performance, and the mistakes shown today would be completely ironed out.

"Did you hear what I said, Ah-ri-el?"

"That the instrumental sound empty? I suppose it does, but that’s because we want to have as live of a performance as possible. We’ll be covering those empty spots with our live vocals and instrument playing." Ari explained.

"You’re making a lot of big claims that I don’t know that you can back up. Given the same amount of time, the other team is miles ahead of you. But he-"

"Actually, Larry, I was the one who worked with Ariel, and while his instrumental does sound a bit empty, that was intentional on his part. The entire song that he worked on is quite the masterpiece, and I’m sure they haven’t neglected your other concerns. After all, every performance that Ari has done has been quite good. Ari, would you like to play the entire song so the others can hear it?" Jelissa asked with sparkling eyes.

To say that she was pleased with the current version would be an understatement, and she had thoroughly enjoyed the week of repeated discussions and watching Ari fiddle around until things sat where he wanted.

"I don’t mind, but it only has the guide vocals since we haven’t recorded the final copy of the song."

"Don’t bother playing it. We don’t have time to waste. Go sit down. William, it’s time for your team to come up, and I hope your performance is better than what I just watched."

"Naturally."

With a smug smile directed at Ariel, William and his nine other teammates walked forward to take center stage.

When they arranged themselves in their chosen formation, Jelissa frowned because it looked like 3 groups of backup dancers with William at the front and center.

And when the song started playing, the expression on her face got even worse as she recognized some of the chords that were clearly sampled from another song and a few that she thought were the signature of another producer in the industry.

Not saying anything, she waited for the performance to finish before turning to Larry Jackson.

"You helped him make that song?"

"More or less," Larry answered evasively, even though he hadn’t really done much.

William had done everything himself, and when he played the final copy, he thought it sounded great.

It was a song that could be released right now and would end up on the Billboard 100; that’s how nice and professional-sounding it was.

"You realize that this is a direct sample of another song, right? And it sounds like a song Jack Jack would make. It even has his signature riff hidden inside."

"He said he was inspired by that producer and really admired him. Plus, it’s really more of a vague interpolation than anything. He said he had it covered with the production team."

"Is that so?" Not saying anything else, Jelissa just let it go with cold eyes.

To her, this wasn’t an interpolation; it was a clear sample rip-off or had been made with the assistance of that producer or a producer stealing his signature style.

Since she had no faith whatsoever in William’s composing ability, she had no doubt that her assumptions were correct.

Vowing to message Jack Jack later and ask, she turned to the boys standing in front of her.

"Song aside, before I start giving my feedback, does any of you have anything to say to me? About the direction your performance is going. The choreography, formation, ideal."

She expected somebody to speak up, because to her, this wasn’t a team performance; it looked like a William performance with 9 other background dancers and singers.

William had the most parts, both singing and rapping.

William was always in the center, being highlighted.

While others moved around in the back, the central focus of the performance was William.

Those other contestants might as well not be there.

If she were on their team, she would absolutely revolt because it was doing a disservice to the other contestants who had worked so hard to get to this point in the competition.

Seeing the contestants avoid her eyes and not say anything, Jelissa sighed.

"Then I’ll start. I think this formation is unacceptable. Actually, I think the whole direction of the performance is unacceptable. This is a team effort, not a William and the extras effort. You all need to go back and redistribute things to make it more even, so everyone has a chance to shine on stage."

Before she could even finish her feedback, William raised his hand and began talking.

"I appreciate your thoughts, but this is a performance that is supposed to represent the producer’s dream and vision, my dream and vision. After a team discussion, we allocated parts based on who was the most skilled and could do those parts well. It just so happened to be me. I hope you won’t meddle too much in our performance details because, at the end of the day, it has to follow the path set by me, the producer, not you, the judge. And if my teammates have a complaint, as their team leader, they know that I’ll listen and make changes for what’s best for the team."

"Is that right? You all agree?"

As she looked over them, nobody said anything, so Jelissa snapped her mouth shut.

If she continued speaking, she would be overstepping her boundaries, and if none of the team members had the guts to speak up, then there was nothing she could do.

"Fine. Continue practicing. You’ll all be doing your first day of proper rehearsals at the location in 5 days, so I hope you all continue to work hard. And at least consider my words in moving things around. In a team, everyone needs to shine."

"And even within a team, there’s somebody who shines the brightest. It just so happens that it’s me." William replied smugly.

Not saying anything else, Jelissa dismissed the teams and went to speak with the PD.

And each team returned to their practice room to continue their work.

Ari walked behind the other contestants, deep in thought, while absentmindedly listening to them discuss watching the next episode.

Some people were excited because the ranking would be released, while others were nervous.

He was indifferent because he could guess how people would react online, especially to his rank, so there was no point in viewing it.

Rather than wasting time watching the episode, it was better to dance a little longer since they had to properly rest their voices for the intense singing that they would be doing.

Standing at the front of the practice room, he gave his teammates a gentle smile. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"I heard some of you want to watch the episode? That’s fine, but let’s get through practice first, okay? You heard the judges. We have a lot to work on."

And if you still had enough energy to watch TV instead of sleeping, then he would just increase the practice time for an extra hour.

As Ari slid the door shut, trapping his teammates in the practice room, on another continent, Grace and her two friends shut her bedroom door as they prepared to watch this week’s episode of Pop Star Academy.

It was the first episode since the performance and incident, and they were quite excited to see not only the preparation for the performance but also the contestants’ rankings.

The TV was on, three laptops were open, and Grace had her tablet propped up on one side, and her phone in one hand.

And with slightly nervous eyes, the three of them sat and watched as the signal song began playing.