Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Seventy-Eight

    Dinner had a pleasant flow. There was a lot of good conversation, wise words, a lot of sharing of experiences. A few patrons approached the table to ask both couples for autographs and photos.

    "I probably had shit in my teeth and everything," Jay muttered, using the front-facing camera on his cell phone to inspect his teeth.

    "You look fine, baby," Beyonce assured him. "If you had food in your teeth, I would have told you."

    He continued to survey the image projected back to him on his cell phone screen. Satisfied that he didn't have food in his teeth, he turned off his cell phone screen and set his phone down on the table. Then he picked up his cloth napkin and wiped his mouth with it. "Something that I get but don't get is today's young stars whining and complaining about fans coming up to them. I get that sometimes fans get a little out of control or do a little too much with it. Like, coming up to me when I'm chewing my food or coming to me while I'm in the bathroom or some shit. But overall, these young cats need to look at the big picture. Without the fans, we wouldn't be here. You understand what I'm saying?"

    Mia nodded.

    "You and I have had this conversation before," Drake remarked. "And I agree. That's why I try to take out the time to sign autographs when I can. If I'm not worried about paparazzi hounding me, I'll even take photos. But there are times when I'm trying to stay low key, trying to keep the photographers from finding out which city I'm in or which hotel I'm staying at. I rarely have issues with fans - it's usually the paparazzi that aggravate me."

    "Even that factors into the bigger picture, though," Jay explained. "The public is eager to see you. This is the age of Instant gratification. Fans don't want to have to wait for a music video or tour appearance before they can see you. They want to see your image on a day-to-day basis. They want to see what you do in your downtime, what you wear when you're just headed to the store. It's a crazy time. Paparazzi are the middle man to satisfying that need in today's fans. Granted, paparazzi can be rude and invasive. They even endanger lives when driving crazy just to get a picture, and shit like that shouldn't be tolerated. Other than that, celebrities need to suck it up. It's the nature of the business. If it's something that they can't handle, they need to reconsider their goals of being a megastar. If they decide to be a part of this industry, they need to find subtle ways to make all of that overexposure work for them. Instead of complaining about what is inevitable, find a way to make it work in their best interests."

    "I counter some of it by making sure my fanpage is staying up to date with the photos and videos getting posted," Drake said, picking up his champagne glass. "If all of my fans are going to the fanpage to see all of this information, they have less reason to turn to gossip rags or tabloids."

    Jay nodded. "Smart. There are other ways to benefit from pap photos, such as making sure you're wearing clothes from your clothing line whenever you head out. With Mia coming into her own as a solo artist, you can find ways to play her up to the media. Use them for marketing. As annoying as they are, that's essentially what they're good for: free advertising."

    She shook her head. "I don't want to have to play up for the cameras," she told him. "I just want to...be myself. I want to be real."

    Jay and Beyonce exchanged glances and laughed. Then Beyonce reached across the table and covered Mia's hand with her own. "You are adorable," she said in her husky Houston accent, "but a reality of this business is that at some point you will have to play up to the cameras, if you haven't already. I had to learn that early on, because I was like you. Just wanted to be myself. But then I learned that if you give too much of yourself to the paparazzi, they find a way to exploit it. Being yourself is giving a piece of yourself to them, and to be bluntly honest, they don't deserve that. That's a part of my whole Sasha Fierce thing. That is what I call my entertainer persona. The bold woman that bursts out of me when I'm onstage, or dancing for a music video, or any other public appearance. It's a persona that I always carry with me, a personality that I tap into whenever a camera is on me."