Rising Stars

XXIII - What Was Lost

"One decision changed my entire life."

- Son Jaemin

February 6th, 2021

The first few days of being signed into a label were more hectic than I expected. I thought it was just going to be a few hours of paperwork, of contract negotiations, and all of the legal details. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I had to meet with everyone that worked in SHINE Entertainment, from owners, to the owners' owners, to the producers, and to the other signed artists.

Meeting Sarah Fortune was a breeze, I'd already met up with her once and had a conversation with her on more than one occasion. She was a determined woman, with a passion for music and creation as fiery as her hair.

Taric Lightshield was an interesting man. And a perfect compliment to Sarah's personality. Where Sarah was brusque and brash, Taric was balanced and eloquent. But more than that, there was a cunning to him that I struggled to place. I guess it made sense, considering he was the CEO.

SHINE Entertainment was a subsidiary of Capitol Records, and meeting the people that managed Capitol Records wasn't exactly a dream come true for me. They were the people that were deciding how much I was worth, and whether or not I was even worth an investment of their own time and money. But I did my best to give a good first impression, which I think I succeeded on. Especially considering the fact that they didn't boot me from the label in an instant.

The one thing that was a dream come true, however, was meeting Pentakill.

While I wasn't the biggest fan of their genre, I greatly respected them as artists and musicians that all sought to expand the horizons of their genre, to push the boundaries of music and evolve music as a whole. Unfortunately, because of how busy they were, there was hardly any time for me to meet them. It was nothing more than a quick introduction and short talk about myself as a person.

The company also had more than a few producers signed to them, and while I was certain that they were all talented in their own right, I didn't take too well with having other producers touch my songs. They were personal, and I was of the opinion that someone would have to get close to me before they could work with me on any song.

It was a good thing that both Sarah and Taric shared my sentiment.

"So," Taric began, his voice crackling over the speakers. "Let's finally get to the most important stuff: your music."

I bobbed my head. "Right."

"I suppose I'll just cut straight to the chase." Taric cleared his throat. "The goal is for you to have a completed album by summer."

"A summer album?"

"The release date won't dictate the sonics of your album," Sarah clarified. "Write what you want. Produce what you want. Like I said earlier: SHINE is a company that's artist-first, which is what separates us from Capitol Records. The only thing that we ask of our artists is to meet their deadlines."

"In regards to the content of the album itself, it'll be on an approval-basis," Taric explained. "You'll send Sarah and I a demo of the lead single for your EP, and we'll judge whether or not it meets the standard."

"The standard?" I repeated.

Sarah winked. "It's not a hard one to beat. Once you figure it out, then it'll be as clear as day why it's the one standard we have with our artists."

"Oh..." I rubbed the back of my neck, already wondering what it was. "Okay. That sounds reasonable."

"Good." Taric smiled. "Alright, all your paperwork is in the final stages of being squared away. By tomorrow, you'll be the newest artist of SHINE."