Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“The song is good.”

Jackson smiled, listening to the rhythm that was coming through the speakers. It was the first time Aiden was showing the whole completed song.

Cameron nodded his head at his comment while Emily smiled brightly, just feeling excited by being here.

They were gathered in the recording studio owned by Abraham. Almost all the equipment required to make a good song was here.

On the wall behind Aiden, there were even some autographed albums of famous singers and bands attached to the wall in a mirror casing.

Just by that, Aiden could guess how big of a fan Abraham was of music.

“You took your time with it, but it came out good.” Jackson said, looking up at Aiden.

“Yeah, it did. Probably my best song till now.”

“Well, you followed the rules to make a good rock song, so it had to come out good.” Cameron suddenly said as the guide track came to an end.

“There’s a rule?” Aiden raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, the rule my grandfather always talked about — K.I.S.S.”

Both Emily and Aiden looked strangely at Cameron, wondering what he was talking about. It was only Jackson who dared to ask.

“Kiss who?”

“K.I.S.S — Keep it simple, stupid.” Cameron said. “Rock songs don’t need to be over complicated. They just need to have good strength in them and a melody that could make people excited just by listening to it. My grandfather even used to say that lyrics don’t have to be anything but simple and this song has all that.”

Aiden smiled hearing that. Cameron wasn’t the type to compliment anyone, so a praise coming from him seemed a bit weird.

But he could clearly tell that a lot had changed with Cameron over the last few months, so he didn’t think a lot about it._.

After talking a bit more about the song, they started talking about the band arrangement. 

The reason Aiden gathered the three of them was because of their performance in X-Star and because of the fact that he was already experienced in working with them.

At that time, he had taken the role of the leader, so he did the same this time naturally.

“For the instruments, I think everyone already knows which one they would play.” Aiden said and everyone nodded.

Just like the band round in X-Star, Jackson was going to be on the drums while Emily will take care of the keyboard. Cameron was going to handle the bass and Aiden the electric guitar.

Unlike the previous time they were collaborating, none of them had the pressure to do well to pass the round. They all just wanted to make a good song.

Though, before that, there was one thing that Aiden needed to clear.

“Actually, I want to be the main vocalist this time.” He said, surprising Cameron who had expected to take that position.

“I thought we were going with the same arrangements as before. From what I remember, I was the vocalist then.”

“I know.” Aiden said, then quickly explained himself. “Unlike the song we did in X-Star, ‘Revolution’ requires a lot of use of bass to give power to the song and only you among us could play it.”

Aiden checked up on Cameron’s status and saw that the bass level was now Level 5, just enough for the song.

“Though, I still want you to sing some parts as your voice will suit it more.” He looked at Cameron who seemed to be in some sort of thought.

‘Is he going to argue?’

From what he knew of Cameron’s personality, he was someone who wanted to be the centre of the group. Playing more of a supporting figure wasn’t something that suited him.

So, Aiden expected him to argue about it and he was even prepared for it. Even Jackson and Emily thought that he was going to argue.

That was the kind of person Cameron was.

But unlike his expectations, Cameron just nodded his head.

“Okay, I’m fine with it. Just make sure the parts that I will sing are the good ones. Otherwise—” He stopped speaking as he saw the three people in front of him giving strange looks. “What?”

“Nothing, I didn’t expect you to agree so quickly.” Aiden said the words that were also in Jackson and Emily’s mind.

“There’s no point in arguing with the composer of the song. They know the best, so I’m just following what you said. I won’t mind until we have a song that beats others.”

Saying that, he stood up and pointed at the recording booth.

“Let’s start the recording now.”

***

“Aiden, are you ready?”

Emily asked as she looked at Aiden in the recording booth. She was acting the part of the sound engineer in the recording, as she had experience in it. 

Because of her, they didn’t need to pay money for a sound engineer.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s start now.”

He gave the signal and she nodded before starting the recording. 

The strong rhythm started playing in his ears. The song started with strings of a guitar, making a sound like that makes you anticipate something big.

At that moment, Aiden closed his eyes, thinking of the soul of the song – The meaning of it that he had imagined. He wanted it to represent the cry for freedom but more than that, he wanted it to tell the struggles of a warrior.

He had gone with this because for him, [Attack for Freedom] was more of the story of a guy becoming a warrior to fight for the right thing.

The first verse started as Aiden opened his eyes.

For the first time in his life, he needed to use more of a growling and husky voice rather than his normally sweet one. So, he needed to practice hard to bring out the power and feeling he wanted.

🎶🎙🎵

“I am standing at the end of the line.”

“Waiting for the right time.”

“I have been bruised! I have been scraped! fire is burning in my veins!”

“My legs binded by chains as atrocity reigns.”

🎶🎙🎵

As the first verse ended, he felt something shaking inside of him and in the next second, silver light burst forth, like it was just waiting for it.

This time, it was also a pretty strong silver light.

Aiden smiled seeing that and couldn’t help but feel a bit excited, seeing the response. It felt like an acknowledgement like he was going in the right direction.

🎶🎙🎵

“Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall.”

“No matter how tall are the walls.”

“No, I’m not the chosen one, I just have a dream to keep runnin’.”

“I know I will fall, but I will move until I turn to nothin’.”

🎶🎙🎵

The sound of drums started ringing in his ear as the verse finished, giving a slight shockwave to the already present silver light.

It seemed like Aiden was seeing silver bolts of energy in front of him.

Aiden’s strong and husky voice made the lyrics sound very powerful and the music was just pushing it. Outside the recording booth, the three people couldn’t help but feel surprised.

“Aiden has improved… a hell lot.”

Jackson muttered, like he wasn’t expecting this much improvement in such a short time. Emily, next to him, also nodded her head.

She had thought that Aiden was not too versatile and romantic and sweet songs suited him well but now in front of him, he was singing a rock song in a slightly husky voice, completely different than anything she had seen him done before.

Though, she didn’t know that Aiden was aided by his system. As he was the composer of the song, it was easier for him to increase the proficiency of it.

Moreover, it was true that his vocal chords had changed a bit after he had reached Intermediate Grade.

‘He has changed.’

Cameron thought, staring at Aiden with a fixed gaze.

He had always thought of him as a more efficient composer than a singer, especially after he had heard of him being in a movie.

He had thought that he would not focus on singing a lot but here in front of him, it was clear to see that Aiden had improved a lot.

‘Like this, it won’t take him a long time to surpass even me.’

Cameron thought and after a long time, a desire seemed to be in his eyes, like he wanted to compete with someone.

As a person with a lot of pride, he hated losing. That’s why his loss against Rachel affected him so much but now, it seemed like he would lose against Aiden too.

“Aiden, can we do the second verse again? I feel like I could make it better.”

Cameron came out of his thoughts as Emily stopped the music and asked Aiden to repeat the second verse.

“Should I sing it differently?” He asked.

“No, just continue it. I will add some effects on it to see how it turns out. I have a feeling it will sound better.”

“Okay.”

He said from the booth and started singing the second verse again.

In a recording, he needed to do one verse many times until the sound engineer thought it couldn’t be better.

In the modern age, recording was very easy as in the 70s and 80s, singers needed to sing one verse many times until they improved it to the best level. There were no effects or autotune either.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden started the second verse.

🎶🎙🎵

“Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall.”

“No matter how tall are the walls…”

🎶🎙🎵