"need your hands all over my body-" "there!"
the singer cues for the music to be stopped and the engineer does so.
y/n, confused, looks back up at ariana through the glass, "uhm?....did you not like that? you sounded good?"
ariana shakes her head immediately. "not good enough. i don't feel it."
"okay..." y/n turns to the engineer, absolutely astonished at the sheer perfectionism in ariana's decisions and opinions. "let's punch in again."
they punched in. and then again. then another time. and maybe 10 more times before y/n decided that this was insanity and would not let it play out any longer.
"alright- come in here."
ariana huffs, taking her headphones off and setting them on a stool in the booth before coming into the control room.
"yo- full transparency, you are insane." a laugh escapes y/n before she even thinks to choke it back, making her newfound friend and collaborator laugh as well.
"well yes, i am. but why do you think so?"
"because! you just sang 14 takes flawlessly back to back and you're still unsatisfied!"
their chuckling hardens. "i can't help it! it's just not good enough to me i don't know." she shrugs, calming down. "i don't feel it."
"yeah you said that..." her eyes narrow. ariana shrugs again. "what do you mean exactly?"
"when i sing it, it doesn't sound like i'm resonating with it really. the way it comes out isn't convincing me and i'm the bitch who wrote it." she huffs.
y/n giggles but continues, "well then let's make it sound convincing." and she stands from her rolling chair. "who's this about?" she paces.
ariana clears her throat, "ummm-"
"actually, the who doesn't even matter. in this song you're clearly obsessed with somebody, right?"
"you've got the right idea. but it's not about anybody in particular. it's just a feeling that happens to me often. i'm like a serial lover honestly. i'm not even really in a rush to put this out, it can come out whenever because of how often i go through the motions." she rants but stops herself at the end.
y/n is amused by her sentiment and smiles. "okay okay... don't take offense to what i'm about to say."
ariana smiles back at her, tilting her head, "okay?"
"there's a certain desperation that comes with being obsessed with somebody- there's nothing wrong with that!" she quickly follows up. "but you don't sound desperate enough...maybe if we try a different approach with your delivery. make the cadence more fluid, a little sensual. here- ricki i'm gonna go in there and record something real quick."
"you got it." the engineer replies.
ariana's eyes follow y/n and she sits back in her chair.
"alright, punch in like 2 bars back. that should be enough time." y/n exhales.
ricki follows her lead and ariana observes her friend, shoulders turned to liquid and head leaned back as she crooned into the mic. y/n's delivery was smooth and sensual as she suggested a second ago, ariana loved it. the songwriter continued to surprise and impress her, she just couldn't understand why the girl doesn't make music of her own. she's positive it would be life changing.
