"Broken"

Twenty Five

Shawn's POV:

The next morning I got up, got ready, and grabbed a quick breakfast before leaving the house at around 8:30ish.

I got to the studio with seven minutes to spare. The moment I walked in I was greeted by Andrew who looked all too relieved to see me. I followed him into the room in which we would be recording the ep.

I was introduced to all of the songwriters, producers, vocal coaches, marketers, and tech/recording people who would be making this ep possible. To be honest, I didn't know it took this many people to release an ep with four songs, but I wasn't complaining.

Almost instantly I was sat down by the songwriters in order to review the lyrics I had written. After going over everything, and making slight grammatical and poetic changes to certain lyrics, the vocal coaches wanted to meet with me. I sang each song to them, and they advised me on which parts I should lower my voice, and which parts would sound better with high notes. Next, I gave my sheet music to the band, and showed them how to play the songs for the backtrack.

After about an hour, it was finally time to begin recording. We recorded 'Life of the Party, Show You, One of Those Nights, and The Weight. I probably sang each song about three or four times before we got the perfect one for each track. After we were done recording, I thanked everybody in the room before Andrew took me to a separate room in that same building. There were two people standing there when we walked in.

Andrew: "Shawn, this is Nicole and Marco"

Shawn: "nice to meet you" I shook both of their hands before Andrew spoke again.

Andrew: "we will now do a photoshoot for the ep cover. Nicole will do your styling, and Marco will be taking the photos."

I nodded before I was told to follow Nicole to a separate corner of the room where she had a rack of clothes and a hair + makeup setup. I went with her while Andrew and Marco began discussing details.

After trying on several clothing options, lots of hairspray, and some concealer, we were finally ready to begin taking photos. For about thirty minutes I did everything Marco told me to do. Every pose, every facial expression, and from every angle. Around halfway through the shoot I saw Andrew leave the room.

When Marco told me we were done, I thanked him and Nicole before leaving the room to go find Andrew. Almost right away he came out of the room that we recorded in with a huge smile plastered on his face. His smile somehow became even bigger when he saw me.

Andrew: "okay Shawn..." he began "don't freak out because we don't want to cause a scene, but turns out there was a representative from Island Records in the room while you were recording!"

My heart stopped. I had met with Island Records when Andrew flew me out to New York a few months ago. They were considering signing me, but wanted to hear in the studio with something original first.

Shawn: "and?"

Andrew: "they want to sign you! They loved you!"

My entire face lit up and I hugged Andrew. This is happening. This is really happening. I followed him to that same recording room, I met the representative, and was officially signed to Island Records. Before I left the room, the rep told we one last thing.

Representative: "we also think it would be best to release a single before the ep drops, and we at Island Records, along with our marketing team have decided on 'Life Of The Party' to be your first single. Are you okay with that Shawn?"

Shawn: "yes, yes of course! When will it be released?"

Representative: "next week, on June 26. The ep will then be released a month later on July 28th. You may tell your close family right now, but not your followers. Not yet. We will formally release these dates tomorrow via the island records social media, then you may post and talk about it all you want."

I felt like I was about to explode from happiness. My dreams were all starting to come true, and all I wanted to do was jump for joy, but I did my best to remain calm in front of the rep.

Shawn: "thank you so much! You won't regret this!"

Representative: "we better not" she said with a smile before leaving the room.

***
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading chapter 25!
If you want to follow me on my socials, my Instagram is @1d.mendes_updates
and my Twitter is @OneDirecShawn98
Love you guys! -ShawnsDirectionxx
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