Should Have Known (Camren)

Chapter 23

We quickly became acquainted to life in LA and got accustomed to the time zone after five days of jet lag. Everything was just as it had been during our X Factor days- we spent all day long together, talking about our music and our plans for the year until we all separated into our rooms at night. Nothing was too stressful, but we remained busy.

Four days after our arrival we were set to begin writing our first song at Epic Records in Beverly Hills. We sat anxiously in the shuttle as we pulled up outside the studio. Lauren gripped my hand as we got out and made our way onto the sidewalk.

"Do we just...go in?" Dinah wondered.

"Well we're never going to make any progress if we stand out here all day," Lauren decided, pushing past the group and through the front doors.

We met the receptionist at the desk and she showed us to the back of the building where the actual studio was located.

"Girls! So nice to see you again," L.A. greeted as the receptionist shut the door behind us. "Welcome to Epic."

I looked around at the dimly lit studio- the black walls, the padded booth, the array of different records and instruments. It was a whole new world.

"So...as you already know, you will never get anywhere as a musical group without music," L.A. started, clapping his hands together in front of him and leading us through the studio. "We need to get to work on a song, but before we can write a song, we have to have a basic idea. Any thoughts?"

"What about a love song?" Normani suggested.

"Too cliche," Lauren argued, shaking her head and attempting to think of a concept of her own.

"What about, like, a girl empowerment song?" she continued. "I mean...that's what we're trying to embody, right? We want to inspire girls to believe in themselves. I think our first song should show who we are."

L.A. narrowed his eyes and studied Lauren, thinking about the idea while he scratched his chin with his pointer finger.

"I like it," he agreed finally. "But now that we have a basic idea, we need to get down to the details. What's the background, the plot line?"

"What about a song about moving on?" I thought aloud. "It could be about a breakup or any kind of hardship that a girl's going through, and she can listen to it and know to stay strong and believe in herself no matter what."

All of the girls nodded in agreement and L.A. took out his phone.

"I'm going to give the producers and writers a call and we'll get to work," he informed us.

"That's it?" Ally asked. "We're just jumping right into it?"

L.A. stepped outside before he could fully hear Ally's question and left us in the studio, dumbfounded by his quick acceptance to our ideas.

He came back in moments later, flanked by two younger men who both carried laptops.

"Let's get to work," he said.

...

We wrote for hours, thinking of the best lyrics that we could and revising them even after we were sure we had written a hit. We worked together as a group, but I could tell something was wrong with Lauren. She glanced down at her phone every once in a while, evidentially frustrated about something, but she easily put it behind her and immediately got back to work. Four hours after our arrival, we hadn't even finished the first half of the song, but we were making progress. It was tedious but it was worth it. Lauren pulled me aside as we were leaving the building, watching the other girls walk ahead until we were out of earshot.