Within an apartment in La Crosse Heights, a young woman, maybe 20 years old, slept soundly. Her golden brown skin, loose-fitting clothes, dishevelled hair, and facial features embellished by a birthmark on her chin looked so beautiful and alluring that she could be mistaken for a sculpture chiselled by the Gupta artisans themselves.
The lady was none other than Melissa Keys, woken up by the rude ringing of her landline.
Her face scrunched up like a momo, and a hint of annoyance could be seen in her beautiful deep ocean black eyes.
She got up, her legs casting a beautiful shadow as she walked and picked up the call.
"Herrro," she said, yawning right after.
Only a few seconds after listening to the person on the other side, her eyes widened, and all the lethargy disappeared.
"I'm coming."
Putting the phone down, she immediately ran into the bathroom, only to come back running as she had forgotten her towel.
Half an hour later, she had worn a slim-fitting grey skirt, a floral white shirt, and got in a car, driving straight to her manager's house.
Veronica instructed her on the route, and she honestly followed it the entire way through.
Finally, they were at the Pioneers Studio.
Melissa got down from her car and looked at the dirty signboard with some hesitation.
"Are you sure this is it?" she asked.
Veronica was not as surprised as Melissa after seeing the condition of the studio. "Jay is producing the song himself, so he is renting the studio. Most private studios are just like this, but don't worry, usually the equipment is professional."
"Anyway, let's go."
Melissa hesitantly nodded and followed behind.
Within the studio, she immediately found Jay tinkering with the mixing console, adjusting the sound and doing all sorts of things. In her eyes, it all looked like wizardry.
Ajay heard the footsteps from behind, so he immediately turned around and, looking at who it was, he smiled happily.
"Welcome," he said, gesturing toward a chair. After they sat down, he looked at the professional businesswoman and asked directly, "So, I take it you, or BMG, have no problem working with me?"
Veronica nodded readily. "Melissa really likes your song, so naturally we're very happy to cooperate."
Ajay felt reassured, but he didn't let himself get excited too quickly. He knew it was Bertelsmann Music Group's opinion that mattered most. If they didn't want their artist collaborating with an independent songwriter, there was nothing he could do except look for an alternative.
"As for BMG, they have no objections either."
Ajay heaved a sigh of relief, but continued listening.
"Melissa is a new artist. Her contract with BMG is only for a year. If BMG cannot support her in producing a song, she's contractually allowed to collaborate with any songwriter, as long as she has the ability."
"The only request that I have is that the release should be through Bertelsmann Music Group. This cannot be negotiated."
Ajay took on a thoughtful look, and he immediately figured out the ins and outs of the request. "You mean her contract doesn't allow her to publish the music anywhere apart from Bertelsmann Music Group?"
Veronica nodded. "Yes."
"How is the offline operation handled then? Does BMG have exclusive rights for that as well?"
"No." Veronica shook her head and explained, "Most artists do have this exclusive clause where the company will be responsible for deciding where the artist performs, but for novice artists signed only for a year, this is usually not included."
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Ajay smiled. "Then we can agree to this condition. The song will be released by Bertelsmann Music Group."
"However, the operation might be handled by someone else."
Veronica's brows furrowed. "Can I know who it is?"
"It's Tjay Promotions, Lil Tjay's personal company."
Veronica felt that it was not a good choice, but in the end, feeling that Ajay wouldn't change his decision, she ultimately nodded.
Ajay clapped his hands in satisfaction and immediately called over Harish Patel, the lawyer he had temporarily hired. He asked him to handle the drafting of the contract, then invited Melissa into the studio to record the demo.
The metronome started to kick in, and Melissa began to sing.
Only a few seconds later, Ajay paused the sound of the metronome and spoke to Melissa through the microphone.
"Melissa, lower an octave."
Melissa nodded and started once again; this time, the tone and the style felt much closer to the original.
By the time the studio demo was recorded, the contract was negotiated, and a draft was prepared. Ajay gave it one last look and signed it without hesitation.
The next day,
"Welcome, Mr Alfonso. It's a pleasure to have you," Ajay cordially greeted a short, stubble-bearded, middle-aged Spanish man.
Alfonso nodded with a smile and entered the studio, giving it a once-over and directly sitting at the piano.
His fingers immediately began to dance, and before long, Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major filled the room.
Witnessing the performance from the side, Ajay was filled with awe and enthusiasm. After spending months studying theory, he had essentially mastered the basics of music theory. He now understood the progression of a song, the chord structures it used, whether it was building up or breaking down, and he could also identify the various effects that could be applied or corrected in sound, including delay, pitch, gain, reverb, grain, distortion, and more.
However, he still did not know how to fully operate the mixing table. Because of that, instead of relying on sampling or MPCs, he decided to record the song entirely with live instruments, with each instrument forming its own separate track. In the end, he would combine everything and mix the sounds individually.
One of the reasons Ajay chose "A Thousand Years" as his next song was precisely this. It was a song that did not rely on a synthesised sound, making it much easier for him to produce with the skills he currently had.
For that, when he reached out to Tjay promotions manager, Shakeel, he was introduced to Alphonso, a piano teacher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Ajay was initially a little resistant to employing Alfonso since the man directly asked for $2,000 for the track, but looking at him perform now, he knew it was worth it.
The moment the final E-flat major chord resolved into silence, the piece came to an end, and Ajay, without hesitation, clapped his hands and praised, "Bravo, bravo!"
"It was an amazing performance, Mr Alfonso."
"Thank you, Jay." He took a small bow and pointed at the music notation on the stand. "Shall we start?"
Ajay came back to his senses and immediately nodded. "Please." He hit record, and Alfonso immediately started to play. It was not the metronome that was playing in his ears, but the demo vocals of Melissa.
With the demo vocals in his ear and the musical notation right in front of him, Alfonso was extremely precise.
Alphonso was someone who could perform pieces like Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 1, Chopin's Scherzo No. 2, and Chopin's Ballade No. 1, so in comparison, the backing piano track for "A Thousand Years" felt a little too simple.
So in just two days, the entire piano track was recorded.
Ajay happily paid the remaining balance without any complaints and directly arranged for the string player and the drummer to perform next.
Bringing everyone together and recording the entire instrumental would have been arguably faster, but it would also be costly, since they would have to be in the studio on his time, not when they were free. He would have had to pay extra, but now the cost was lower since he was only asking them to perform in their free time.
Thankfully, despite cutting some places due to budget, thanks to being in Los Angeles, the media capital of the world, there was no shortage of amazing and extraordinary musicians, and the quality had not taken a hit.
If anything, after layering all the stems together, he even felt like the organic quality of the song might even be better than "A Thousand Years" from his last life.
However, just when Ajay was preparing to record the choir section using a church singing group, Tjay had run into trouble in the Mid-Atlantic.
Philadelphia, Mid-Atlantic, the United States
Tjay's expression was gloomy. Bryce was no different. "What do we do?" Tjay asked, his eyes radiating intense anger.
Reggie, hearing the question, looked at Tjay and responded without an emotion on his face. "You know the answer already, don't you?"
Of course, he knew, Tjay knew it all too well, and that was the reason the more he looked at Reggie, the angrier he got. "Couldn't you keep the sons of bitches under you under control?"
"We could have made the green and gotten the fuck out of here, n*gga! Motherfuckers messed everything up."
Reggie got angry. "N*gga, shut the fuck up."
"Everyone knew you grew up in Burbank with those coons. Your crew might ignore the disrespect, but my guys? nah, they're actual gang bangers."
"They're gonna take no disrespect, Motherfucker, we crip's up in this bitch."
Tjay became silent, his anger disappearing as if it were doused by water. He was once again reminded that his people, who come from the projects and tough situations, have a completely different thought process, one which he could not simply understand.
So, knowing that he would only make things worse if he argued, he became quiet and simply took out a Colt and stashed it in his waist.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, n*gga. That's right. We crip's up in this bitch. Crips, motherfucker."