Sanditon Melodies

Chapter 10: It's all coming together

Nearly as soon as Sidney got back into work on Monday, any thoughts and plans for Charlotte were very quickly put out of his mind and replaced with something far more bothersome... Georgiana Lambe and the chaos that seemed to follow her. She seemed determined to make Sidney's job as difficult as possible and several times over the past few months he'd been hauled in front of the executives to explain why her upcoming third album release was to be delayed again. Originally they had planned for an Easter release and a summer tour, but this had to be pushed back to September – and the label was now adamant that there would be no further delays because the tour dates were almost fully booked.

In Sidney's mind, all the delays with the album release and accompanying tour were solely attributable to Georgiana herself. Nothing was ever good enough for her. She was now on her third producer for her album – the other two finding it impossible to work with her for she was so opinionated about what she wanted and would not let them have any creative license. Similarly, the musicians were getting fed up with her interruptions as she kept wanting to change elements of the accompaniment, a note or a chord here or there, but the repercussions for everything else meant further delays. Sidney could understand Georgiana wanting to have control of things – she had written the songs after all, but they weren't just her songs. The label owned the copyright too and she would have to learn to compromise otherwise there could be serious ramifications.

Another issue was that of a support act(s) for the tour. Sidney had suggested several possibilities, but Georgiana didn't like any of them. There were still a few more acts to show her, but he was going to have to put his foot down sooner or later as they were fast running out of time - he needed to know who the final acts were so he could liaise with the venues, managers etc. about equipment and the like. The whole thing was just one big headache that was not going to go away anytime soon.

Whilst it was true that Georgiana was a nightmare to work with sometimes, Sidney couldn't deny that her music was impressive. She'd been the first artist he'd managed since he got promoted to Label Manager so he felt a sense of responsibility towards her. Their relationship was fractious for both of them were stubborn and determined – not to mention opinionated, but there was at least always honesty and (most of the time) respect between them, so that's why the partnership worked, albeit, up until now anyway... Sidney couldn't help but feel that this time, things were worse than they had ever been between them and he didn't know quite how to fix it... or even if he wanted to. Perhaps after this album, it was time for someone else to manage her.

Sidney had a meeting with Georgiana this morning and he was dreading it. She walked into his glass fronted office at 11am and he could tell immediately that she was ready for a confrontation.

"Georgiana. How are you?" Sidney asked, grimacing slightly and staying seated for they were not on very friendly terms. He braced himself for her reply.

She sat down in the chair opposite him. "I am not happy Sidney." She said quietly, but her voice was laced with anger.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He replied, which he was because it meant more of a headache for him. "What's happened?" this time he added in his head.

"Rob's ruining my song."

Sidney sighed. "Georgiana, we have spoken about this countless times. We simply do not have the time to re-record everything again. Rob is one of the best producer's in the country. Please try and have a little faith in him."

"I am trying, but it just doesn't feel... right." She replied.

"Neither did the other two versions." Sidney said curtly.

Georgiana narrowed her eyes at him. "I am sorry that I want my album to sound good."

"That is what we all want Georgiana, but there was nothing wrong with those versions musically at all." Sidney said. "And I don't see that there is anything wrong with this one either."