Fireworks 3 and 4

Fireworks: Forever Chapter Two

    A low murmur started in the audience. Michael moved to the side of the stage and handed off the microphone to an executive who appeared to be about ten years his junior.

    The sandy-haired executive laughed low into the mic. "A little heavy for a Tuesday morning, huh?" he joked, moving to center stage.

    "What the fuck is this?" Billie Eilish demanded to know.

    Beside her, her brother Finneas shrugged while shaking his head. "Bullshit," he replied.

    Bad Bunny sat on the far right side of the auditorium. Earbuds filled his ears with music. Since he wouldn't be able to understand most of what the presenters were saying, he knew he'd just have someone summarize all of this later. The general uneasiness of the crowd, the moving in their seats, muttering under their breaths, and shifting of their eyes caught his attention. Furrowing his brows, he removed the earbuds from his ears and focused on what the presenter was saying.

    "I'm Daniel Kushner, but everyone calls me Kush. No...no particular reason for that." He ruffled the back of his hair and threw Michael a nervous glance.

    Michael shrugged at him. "It's legalized, who gives a shit?"

    "Gotta love this industry, man," Daniel said, starting to pace on the stage. "Picking up where Mike left off, we know that all of the artists in this room have attempted to keep attention and focus where it needs to be. You've managed to come up with your own real life soap operas and have lived them out to keep the fans going. Keep them invested. That is truly the name of the game. We're execs. Managers. Numbers-crunchers. Report-runners. The reports we're currently running are showing a decrease in pop star interest. A decrease in interest for new artists signed to labels. There is a shift happening right now in the industry, one that you'd be smart to follow. What we are all doing to keep listeners engaged isn't working. Not fully. The reason we brought you all here in person to discuss this, is because we need for everyone in this room to turn the drama up a notch."

    Doja arched a barely-there eyebrow. Stunning with close-cropped blonde hair, she leaned in close to friend and occasional collaborator SZA. "This is bullshit."

    "Of the highest degree," SZA returned, shaking her head of fluffy curls.

    "What does this mean for each one of you exactly?" Daniel asked, gazing out over the crowd. "This means that you no longer have to be left to your own devices. Storylines have been created for each of you, and you'll be provided with a script to follow. We've had our PR and marketing teams work extensively on this project. They've included everything from paparazzi photo ideas to social media posts. For some of you, this will mostly involve drama between you and other people, or one specific person."

    Travis and Taylor exchanged worried looks.

    "For others, this will also include an image change," Daniel added.

    Doja's mouth straightened into a firm line and her eyes hardened.

    "For some of you who currently have that naive, innocent vibe going on, it'll be time to sexy it up a bit. Find your inner sexy and showcase it. The reports continue to show that skin sells. Sex sells. Drama sells and provides free promo. It also keeps you at the forefront of the consumers' minds. Drama dominates the African-American blogs. Despite everyone wanting to take credit away from urban and African-American blogs, they are often at the helm of trendsetting. The general public may take away credit from where it's due, but we don't. We know the importance of those blogs which is why we've been feeding information to some of those blogs. Get a little drama goin' and the urban blogs will post you multiple times per day."