Keep On Dreaming.

Nine Lives

I took a deep breath and waited on the dark stage, as they played the video clip recapping my progress for the week. This week's challenge was bringing a Rock n' Roll flavor to a modern pop song, which was pretty damn easy for me.

The song I chose for the week was Fire's Highway, by Japandroid.

As the band began to play the music, I took another deep breath and began to sing as the lights on the stage, flicked on.

"A northern soul in southern lands

Will always find his way to southern hands

So kiss away my gypsy fears

And turn some restless nights to restless years"

I smiled at Steven, and quickly regained my confidence, considering I was performing infront of almost 1,000 people, or more. 

"Hearts from Hell collide 

On Fire's Highway tonight

We dreamed it, now we know

Ohhhh

A soul of fire and eyes a flame

Tend to overwhelm her tender frame

When raw winds blew us down her city's streets

She warmed my body with her spirit's heat.

Some empty bottles, the cold sweat blues

Howling like outlaws from her rented room

No rising sun confession, dear

Only a restless night I'll nurse for years."

I walked to the edge of the stage and looked out into the crowd,  seeing a familiar face. I wasn't sure who it was though, so I shook it off, and continued the song. I finished it off by singing the final chorus, an octave higher, and holding out the last note as long as I possibly could without over doing it. The audience cheered and gave me a standing ovation, which brought tears to my eyes.

"WOW." Jennifer Lopez said. "Wow. You make me smile, you know that? You bring tears to my eyes, and give me goosbumps every time I see you. I loved it. I thought it was perfect." 

I raised the microphone to my lips to thank her, but I was in such a state of shock, that I couldn't speak. 

"Dawg. That's was awesome. Honestly. Okay, so this week's challenge was to bring a Rock n' Roll flare to a pop song, right? You did that, and more, dawg. You are just so Rock n' Roll, and bad ass and cool, like it's so easy for you. You look so confortable up on that stage it's crazy." Randy sighed "No.. You know what this is? I feel like I'm watching Steven Tyler reincarnated, up on stage, as a woman. You are just so much like him, and that can carry you very far in your career. I loved it. Congrats, dawg." Randy clapped a little for me.

"Baby.." Steven started, but all the females in the crowd were cheering so loudly that he needed to pause. He was grinning and chuckling the whole time, until they calmed down. "Mia, remember what I told you about going an octave higher? How your voice gets this sexy rasp in it? I love that rasp, I do. But it didn't work for me, with this song. It's too 'pop' for that rasp to work. For me, it would've sounded better with one of my songs, or a Stones song. Because It's so Rock n' Roll, it would've worked, and I loved how you really tried to bring that to this and infuse it with this great pop song, but it just wasn't working for me."

I smiled and nodded, and then walked off the stage.

When I got to the little room back stage, I felt a shiver run down my spine, and I knew there was someone here I didn't want to see at all.