"Bruh, are you interested in that chick for real?" Tjay asked with a knowing smile, playfully punching Ajay's shoulder. Mildly embarrassed, Ajay said nothing, which only made Tjay laugh even harder.
"All right, forget it." Tjay's playful smile faded. "I've sent your song to the people I know. Britney Swartz didn't get back to me, but Taylor Carpenter said she'll record a demo in a few weeks. I'll have it mailed directly to you."
"As for the others, they haven't replied yet. I'll have Bryce contact you when they do."
Ajay nodded and sincerely expressed his gratitude. "Thanks, Tjay."
Tjay casually shrugged, "20% in Jay Studio is mine, remember? I'm helping myself."
"By the way, are you really sure? You ain't coming?"
Ajay knew that Tjay was talking about his second tour, so after a slight hesitation, he shook his head.
"I have to prepare for the second single, bro. I don't have the time."
Tjay could understand this as well, so he wasn't expecting Ajay to agree, not to mention he was still looking forward to the kind of song he would create.
"Well, it's a pity. Anyway, take care, Jay. If you need anything, contact Shakeel."
A kind-looking elderly man immediately came to Ajay's mind, and he nodded in understanding.
Looking at Tjay's receding back, Ajay couldn't help but think, 'He'll make at least half a million dollars on this tour, right?'
During the first tour, Tjay made over $150,000, but "Thrift Shop" was no longer the same record it had been back then. It had already surpassed 800,000 sales and was well on its way to going platinum. Instead of performing one or two concerts while spending the rest of the tour playing clubs and small record stores, he was now selling out stadiums and dedicated concert arenas.
He was no longer the opening act either. In many cities, Tjay had become the main attraction, with local artists opening for him instead.
On Tjay's last tour, he had to travel across multiple states and perform in dozens of cities just to earn $100,000. But according to the rumours Ajay had heard, California and New York alone had sold over $200,000 worth of tickets.
"Thrift Shop" had become so big that even Reggie, who usually didn't leave the West Coast, agreed to join the tour.
If Ajay said that he was not tempted, then he would be lying. He could have made over twenty thousand or more in two months, alleviating the fund issues completely, but Ajay didn't want to give up a watermelon for a sesame seed.
If the next single he wrote, and the first one he was producing entirely, was a hit, it would be like strapping a rocket to his career, setting him on a journey to the moon.
Putting all the unnecessary thoughts aside, he began to focus on his work of polishing the track and learning the necessary knowledge he would need to produce the track.
28th October 1994
A month had passed in the blink of an eye. Tjay's tour was making waves across America, and the record sales had finally broken through a million, becoming one of the handful of platinum records of 1994.
Lil Tjay had entered the A-listers' club with a single song, and Reggie E, thanks to his appearance in "Thrift Shop," began receiving offers to appear in commercials, something that had never happened before because of his gang affiliation and public persona. He even received offers for roles in Hollywood, and the merchandise surrounding "Thrift Shop" also began to sell like crazy.
Taken from NovelPhoenix, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Amidst this hustle and bustle, Ajay was in his home/office, reviewing the several demos he had gotten.
Maybe it was because the song he wrote became a platinum single. The top artists finally took his song seriously and sent their demos.
After listening to all the demos, he supported his chin with his hand and leaned back onto his chair, falling into deep contemplation.
'Mariah's voice isn't sweet enough. Taylor's voice is good, but she doesn't seem to take the song very seriously. Maybe her agent or manager forced her to give it a try. Melissa is good. She is very dedicated. The emotion comes through, but her voice is a little high-pitched. Maybe that could be corrected. And Brittany, what could he even say? Her voice was too raspy for the song.' There were other artists who sent him the demos through various channels, but he didn't think that they fit. Either their voice wasn't right, or how they interpreted the song was completely different from the original he had in his mind.
Ajay was in a dilemma, unsure who to choose, whether to go with an already established artist with a huge fan following like Taylor or the one whose voice was closest to the original. As the song that would serve as his foundation, choosing an established singer should have been the obvious decision. Yet, for some reason, Ajay felt it was not the right choice.
"A Thousand Years" is a simple song. Its lyrics are simple, its melody is simple. Everything in the song that could be pointed out is simple, but since it worked despite being simple in his last life, there should have been something that people felt attracted to when all these simple things came together in a chemical reaction, forming the ginormous hit it became.
So a question arose in his mind: If he let an artist interpret the song like they wanted, would the song still be the same? Will the chemical reaction go awry and give a different output? For top artists and divas like Britney, Taylor, and Mariah, he couldn't ask them to sing exactly like he needed. So, if the resulting song didn't work out, was it worth it?
It was essentially a question of whether he placed more attention on the song being immediately commercially viable, potentially carrying a risk of becoming a mediocre song, or whether he wanted to risk the commercial aspect of the song while the actual song remained true to the original.
He leaned back, took a sip of whiskey, and gently swirled the glass.
Ajay could tell that the decision he would make would have far-reaching consequences. It would determine his relationship with the music industry or the Hollywood entertainment industry as a whole.
So, he wasn't too hasty in making the decision. Instead, he first asked himself a question.
Why did he choose the entertainment industry? Why not business? He could have gone to the IT industry. In his last life, he was a pretty good programmer, and he had some basic knowledge about electronic components and IC design. Given the backwardness of the technology right now, he would have been a pioneer, making a name for himself in a very short span of time, but he chose Hollywood instead.
Why did he do that?
Honestly, he had never asked himself that question before. It was long overdue, and disappointingly, he couldn't come up with an answer for a long time.
Until, finally, it clicked.
'Because I want to be free.' His eyes lit up, and he understood. In his last life, he lived entirely according to the frameworks set up by his family: go to school, take PCMC, join an engineering college, become an engineer, get a job, and get married. There wasn't a decision that was his own. Although he couldn't blame his parents, since there wasn't a ladder for success if a person was not in a certain field or had certain connections, it was not the same in this country.
People can be whatever they want. For all its flaws, America did show him a way completely different from his last life.
So maybe, unconsciously, he felt that the dreams he could never have achieved in his previous life could be fulfilled in this one. That was why, despite having just as much knowledge of the internet and electronics industries as he did of Hollywood, he had dived into this industry like a moth to a flame, without hesitation or a second thought.
'Never knew I was an artistic youth.' He couldn't help but let out a wry smile, one filled with a sense of relief. Bathed in the golden radiance of the evening sun, his smile appeared all the more radiant and ethereal.
After figuring out his purpose for being in Hollywood, making the decision became much simpler.
He downed the remaining whisky in one gulp and, "Vincent," he called out.
The door soon opened, and Vincent peeked his head in.
"Inform Melissa's agent that I would like to make a song with her artist."
Vincent's eyes lit up, and he immediately closed the door and left to make a call.
P.S. I felt like the reasoning behind the protagonist's entry into Hollywood in the earlier chapters was a little weak, so I am writing it again here now that I have the opportunity to do so.