Record labels are stressful. No, that's not what I meant; I loved it, creating music, being able to pour my heart and soul into lyrics and chords and have someone listen and love it just as much as I did. That being said, nothing about it was easy. I was lucky to not be fighting my label; apparently, according to Emma, labels could be extremely controlling with smaller, newer artists, making up a bunch of rules that told them what they could and couldn't do and even limiting their creative ability. Sure, I still had rules I had to follow, but they were more like 'don't break the law or do stupid things that could negatively affect your career in the future' rules. Creatively, I was pretty free. The stress was purely from starting a new job and trying to balance everything. So maybe I shouldn't have started with 'record labels are stressful', because really it was more of a 'record labels plus modeling contracts plus writing music plus balancing my life plus finding time to spend with my boyfriend equals stress'. See, it was really more of an equation than anything.
With everything that was going on in my life, things really sped up. Months went by with me barely noticing, memories made that I almost forgot making. There were lots of great things that happened: seeing my face on a billboard for the first time, recording my first song, writing in the studio for the first time, meeting new people, staying up late while watching documentaries with Connor, falling asleep cuddled to his chest, having 'cleaning days' turn into 'dance wildly around the house with a broom', early morning coffee dates... The list went on and on. But for every few good things that happened, there was, of course, one bad: getting lost in the middle of the city completely alone, being lost on public transportation and completely breaking down, having my phone die in the middle of the day, petty fights, Connor going out of town for a short business trip as I struggle through five days alone, stress breakdowns, and panic attacks. Even then, the good far outweighed the bad, and though the bad was not forgotten, it was flooded with happiness and joy and pushed to the back of my mind, Socially, things only got better the longer I stayed off the streets; my friendships with Hannah, Ingrid, Joey, Ricky, and Emma grew stronger even when I spent little to no time with them because of my busy schedule. Through my job, I made a bunch of new friends, too: Alex Hope, Blessing, and Kayla, plus dozens of other acquaintances. On my bad days, they were what pulled me through, especially when I couldn't or wouldn't call Connor and talk to him about whatever was wrong. If having lunch with Connor was completely impossible one day, I wouldn't panic or eat alone; I could call them up and have lunch with some random mixture of the three of them, or sometimes Emma if she happened to be in the studio at the right time. Mentally, things were getting better, too. Breakdowns were few and far between, and I was glad to watch them leave. My relationship with Connor was damn near perfect, and our friends teasingly called us 'the perfect couple', or '#relationshipgoals!' if they were feeling particularly silly or slightly drunk (though I thought Hannah and Ingrid were putting up a pretty good fight for both of those titles). Work, too, was great. The songs I had written before my record deal were perfected and recorded within three months, and shortly after released as my debut EP: TRXYE. It didn't exactly break records or get tons of press, but it sold pretty well for me being a new artist. With a bit of pushing from my label, I started a YouTube channel to connect with my fans and began posting videos: mostly covers, but occasionally I threw in a short original that hadn't quite made the album cut, funny songs I had written to be silly and, as time went on, a few vlog-style and skit videos. It was a lot of fun, and with that, promotion for TRXYE, and the constant of writing new music, the next six months flew by.
"How early can I leave the studio today?" I asked Emma suddenly. We had just gotten out of a meeting about my plans for the future and the release of my next EP and album; today was supposed to be a planning day for all of the album artwork and other little things to prepare for its release.
"What?" She asked, surprised. "Um, I donno. Why? You could probably get out pretty soon, like in an hour or two."
"Perfect," I muttered to myself as I picked up my pace and started typing into my phone.
YOU ARE READING
All Because of You
FanfictionTroye Sivan is used to the streets. That's where he was found when he was three; the streets of Sydney, Australia, an orphan all alone in the rain. But when he was adopted, he thought the streets would never become his lifestyle again. He had a home...
