4th November 1994
A few days later, Ajay finally decided to resume production of "A Thousand Years." After all, he couldn't postpone his schedule forever. There was still a lot of money riding on the song, and life had to move on.
Since Vincent was back at work, Ajay didn't have to concern himself with the routine logistics.
Thankfully, by the time he arrived at Pioneer Studio, Melissa was already there alongside her agent, Veronica.
Ajay greeted them with a faint smile before stepping into the studio.
He had stored the master tape of the instrumentals he had recorded so far in a bank vault, bringing only duplicate copies with him. Once the copies were loaded onto the tape, recording began without delay.
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
Ajay immediately stopped Melissa and instructed, "Don't add that little vibrato at the end. This needs to be a song anyone can sing, not just professional singers. Also, you're slightly off key on the second line. Let's try that again."
Melissa nodded and restarted.
Ajay carefully listened to the sound and compared it with the original he had in his mind in real time. No imperfection could escape his ear, and he was able to pinpoint the errors every time.
Melissa was annoyed by how strict Ajay was, but to her surprise, despite stopping again and again, the progress was unusually quick.
She was confused about this. She was scouted by Veronica because her single "Blizzard" sold around a thousand CDs in her hometown, and even for that, she had to spend an entire week to complete the song.
Usually, singers themselves don't know how they want to sing a certain song. It is usually a process of figuring it out, understanding what works and what doesn't. Usually, there are multiple versions of the same song, but with Ajay, it seemed to be different, completely different. He was a producer who knew exactly what he wanted.
Melissa was not very experienced, so she assumed maybe some producers worked like Ajay. However, after chatting with Veronica over lunch the next day, she learned that there were only a handful of producers like him. Most of them had not made it far in the industry because artists generally disliked working with them. Most artists preferred adding their own unique flair to a song, and more often than not, a producer with such a rigid vision ended up creating music that was rejected by the audience.
Surprised by this fact, Melissa looked at Veronica in disbelief.
"Then why did you let me collaborate with him?" she asked.
Veronica smiled before answering. "You didn't really have a choice, Melissa. The company hasn't found a suitable song for you yet. Established songwriters with strong reputations rarely work with newcomers."
Melissa's expression turned sour.
"Your options were pretty simple." Veronica looked down, scooping an ice cube out of her drink with a spoon.
"You could take this opportunity and work with a songwriter who's admittedly unorthodox and is making a huge leap into a completely different genre, something that has every chance of failing, but he also happens to be a songwriter whose very first song went platinum."
Veronica glanced at Melissa, a sly glint flickering in her eyes.
"At the very least, even if 'A Thousand Years' doesn't perform well, you'll still be able to say you worked with a platinum songwriter. That alone will open more doors for you in the future."
"In the end, it was either take this opportunity or do nothing and keep trying your luck as an independent artist."
She set her cup down and spread her hands.
"What do you think? Was it not the right choice?"
Veronica was right, so Melissa didn't think about the matter anymore and strictly followed every intention and idea of Ajay.
At the end of the second day of recording, Ajay's mood had improved considerably. Not only because "A Thousand Years" is a feel-good ballad, which did improve his spirit and soothe his restless emotions, but also because the recording was about to come to an end.
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Only the final verse remained, after which he could officially start mixing and adding the final touches.
Ajay was preparing the tape for the final verse, and Vincent came into the studio.
"Jay, Brad Grey from BMG wants to speak with you."
Ajay was a little curious as to why Brad would call him now. His only contact with BMG was through Tjay, but now that Tjay was no more, there should have been no reason for him to be contacted.
Still, since the guy was on the line, Ajay didn't want to be rude and heard what he had to say. Apparently, it was an invitation to attend a memorial that BMG was holding in memory of Tjay.
Ajay didn't think anything of it, and, confirming that his work would have been finished by the end of the week, he agreed to attend.
He finished recording the last verse the next day and bid farewell to Melissa Keys with a hug.
Looking at her receding back, Ajay was lost in thought.
Ajay originally didn't invite Melissa to be the singer of the song just because he was attracted to her. Although he was indeed attracted to her beauty, the main reason why he invited her was to test his theory as to whether a person who looked like Alicia Keys from his last life would sound as brilliant as her.
It was a decision he made to confirm whether gathering artists from his last life, if they were unknown in this one, was feasible, and the answer was right in front of him.
He just wanted to hear Melissa's demo to confirm his theory, and she ended up becoming the main singer of the song. Although her vocals were a little raw and underdeveloped, not as rich as Alicia Keys' in "Empire State of Mind". The tone was the same, and the power in the lungs, that foundation to hit the highest notes, was still the same.
Shaking his head, he dived into his work, sound mixing.
Ajay had a lot of trouble with this aspect, not because he didn't know what effects to add, but simply because he didn't know which knob to turn and which wire to connect in order to put a certain effect.
He had read a lot of instruction manuals for the sound mixer and read a lot of theoretical books, but the reality seemed to be completely different from what was in the books.
Ajay immediately thought about employing a professional sound engineer, but his money had almost run out. What was remaining could not be used to employ anyone. In the end, with no other choice, he actually solved the problem by contacting Philip and taking guidance from him over the phone.
He was slightly panicking during this phase because the studio time was coming to an end. Thankfully, he managed to pull it off at the last moment.
"I should collaborate with more artists as a beat maker," he thought to himself, as he was now clear that he needed a lot of practical training to be actually good in production. He was able to save himself with this song because it only had a few stem tracks, and the effects that needed to be added were simple. If he wanted to bring out all those brilliant songs in his mind, he needed to be on his best game.
Ajay locked the final master tape and all its copies in a bank locker and finally took a few days off. He did miss the parties Tjay was throwing, but in the end, he shook his head and went to meet Bryce, who was just released from the hospital.
Apparently, Reggie, although critically injured with a bullet piercing his lungs, would get to live. And Shaquille, who joined them soon after, informed that Miss Mercy Nwafor, Tjay's mother, decided to sell all the companies her son had built and move back to Ghana.
Ajay was a little taken aback because Tjay held a 20% stake in his Jay Studios. He immediately went to meet Ms Mercy Nwafor and asked what she'd like to do with the stake.
"I came to America to give my son a better life, but now he is no longer here. I'm thinking of going back home. I heard things are much better now than when I left."
Miss Mercy Nwafor said with a look of nostalgia on her face.
"I'm sorry, son. I cannot stay here to look after these things he had built, so I will sell the 20% stake as well."
Ajay was a little disappointed by the decision, but he could understand, so he nodded and didn't try to pressure the heartbroken woman.
"Tjay invested $4,000 for 20% of the company. He invested believing in my talent, so if you want to sell it, not a lot of people would be interested since it doesn't have anything apart from me and another worker."
"So how about this, aunty? I'll buy back the 15% stake at the same price Tjay had invested, and you keep the 5%."
The woman struggled. She didn't want to deal with things in America anymore, but looking at the young boy's sincere eyes, she let out a deep breath and nodded.
"All right, son. It's good luck that little Emmanuel had a person like you beside him."
Ajay shook his head. "No, aunty, it is actually I who was lucky to meet a person like Tjay."
Ajay actually didn't have the money to pay back. In fact, due to Tjay's passing, he had actually overspent all the money for the production delays, and he had to dig into his reserves to fill the gap. He was currently a little tight, even to buy the books and VCDs he needed to study, so he directly went to a bank and took a loan of $10,000.
He didn't have anything to mortgage, but thankfully, he still had the mechanical royalties that he received from the Bertelsmann Music Group as a songwriter. If he were not wrong, he would get at least $20,000 at the end of the financial year, which he used as collateral and got the loan.
He paid Miss Mercy Nwafor what he promised and set the rest aside for himself.
Finally, it was the day of the memorial. Ajay attended, and he was immediately furious.
That's right, furious.
Because this was not a memorial at all. It was a glorified publicity campaign.
People from BMG were laughing as they organised the stage as if nothing had happened. There were media personnel with their own seats, lining up with cameras and mics. There were managers from within BMG, dressed in black suits, standing before the mic, acting all sad and sombre, but turning cheerful as soon as they were out of the spotlight.
He realised that this was an event to take advantage of Tjay's death to increase the sales of "Thrift Shop." Although, as its songwriter, Ajay would profit from the increase in sales, he simply felt disgusted by it. So he just left, not giving the statement he originally agreed to give.
He now understood how merciless and heartless these big companies could be.