Collaboration || Dan Smith

Seven.

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙
- 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀

~ August 9th 2018 ~

   "So..." - Kyle's voice creepily trails off - "how was the romantic getaway then?" Kyle immaturely nudges me on my arm with a weird smile on his face.

   "Great." I mumble under my breath while I hold my head in my hand looking at the terms and conditions of this new contract. A lot of things have changed...which is shit for Bastille. This includes new collaboration rules, thankfully both me and Maze are in Virgin Records.

   "Did you two...get freaky?" Seriously Kyle? I swear to god it's all that man can fucking think about - literally! "Yeah, me and my girlfriend had sex. Shocking. Did you get quotation mark-freaky-quotation mark?" Kyle shy's away before smiling...of course he fucking got 'freaky' it's Kyle. Ladies man of the century and what not. "Who got freaky and who with?" Mark Crew decides to pay a visit.

   Oh my god I'm trying to work.

   "Do you mind?" I turn my head around to see him standing at the door holding a cup of tea. "Yes I mind. I'm not talking to you anyway, I'm talking about you." While he takes a sip of the tea, Mark then nods his head towards Kyle who immediately points at me. "Our man is proper in love." Wait. They didn't think that me and Maze fucked before Italy? What a nice bunch they are...not that it's any of their business anyway.

   "About-fucking-time." Mark laughs while I shake my head whilst reading the new conditions.

   Apparently we're not allowed to have random days off. The new rules make it seem like we have to live in the studio for twenty-four-seven. I don't know how me or Maisie is going to coupe. Especially Maisie...she likes being out there in the world with nature. She got all in a tiff because of paparazzi...now slaving the rest of her days in a studio with me because of new terms and conditions. She's going to be in absolute hell.

   "I really can't believe that they want us to log every single thing we do." Mark scrunches up his nose and shakes his head. "Beau called the other day when these arrived. I was going proper out of my head, we've already worked so hard this year. But he said that these rules only reply to band who have formed within the past month, we got given it because of Best Laid Plans." Oh...so these rules aren't for Bastille but for the new artists that we employ under our record label 'Best Laid Plans'.

   What a relief.

   "That's great news. Me and Maisie have wrote and recorded the rest of the song. All we need to do is wait until...someone...passes it." I think me and Maisie have got a hit on our hands. She sounds so different to her 'Barbie Boy' EP she put out a month ago. "Is it that single? Flower-something?" I crack up laughing. Obviously it isn't a Bastille song. Well it is, since I co-wrote it and featuring on the track. But Maisie can promote Bastille better than we ever can...so we choose for it to be her song.

"When do you think it'll be due out?" I shrug back my shoulders. "Probably next month by the sounds of things - which is ridiculously exciting." I'm nervous because this feels like the best bit of work that I've ever done. I think they guys feel the same way about it.

Flowerbed is different from our other songs, but it still captures the essence of Bad Blood. While Maisie enchantingly sings in her pretty voice - my voice overlaps her's at the chorus. It's a bit like Dreams, a collab we did with Gabriella a while back. Sad lyrics - happy song. I guess we had to add sad lyrics for the last verse, it's the truth that nothing good ever lasts.

"Good luck on that one mate." Mark pats me on the back. He only produced the first half of the song - Maisie wanting a totally different sounding song. The first half is pretty music. 'The Dance of The Sugarplum Fairy' kind of sound. While the second half has this eerie kind of Halloween feel. Maisie produced that Halloween kind of music on her own as soon as we got back from our trip.

   Oddly enough none of the remaining lyrics was inspired by Italy. I wanted to add something about the bench but Maisie doesn't want to sing about our romance...she was it to be a surprise for our fans. But by the rate we're going...I guess we're never going to go public.

   Maybe I need to hold my horses and just enjoy the ride of having an girlfriend. I guess I could be in worst position - like being single again. "Cheers" I smile ditching the paper work as I go to the main studio area to talk to Woody about redoing a few things for the upcoming Other People's Heartache mixtape. I'm not 100 percent happy with it. I guess it was my fault because I wasn't specific enough.

   Since this new song is coming out...we dinner have to worry about rushing this mixtape anymore. That can wait until Christmas...hopefully if any of our fans still care about us by then.