Limelight

Chapter Nine

~~Connections~~

"Aaliyah, do you want to take a break?" Malcolm asked.

          Aaliyah's head snapped up quickly at that, and she shook her head firmly, her fingers wrapping tightly around the mic stand. "I'm sorry, I know this is incredibly exhausting, but I swear I can get it," She insisted pulling down her headphones meeting Malcolm's empathetic gaze through the soundproof glass, "Just one more try. It's only one note."

          "It's a falsetto, Lia," Xavier grumbled, standing over the sound engineer, Lucas, sitting in his usual seat. He seemed to be in a bad mood since he got here, well more so than usual. Aaliyah guessed she could understand, he was usually pretty in control of the soundboard when they worked together, but Madison suggested they get a professional in, and Malcolm agreed. In Aaliyah's opinion, she thought that Xavier was pretty good with the soundboard, she had heard little bits of what he had come up with. But Madison insisted, saying that they were going to need real experience to help enhance Aaliyah's voice. She had gotten used to Madison's low-key snark over the last three weeks, but she couldn't help but be frustrated by that, "That's from your normal mezzo up to a falsetto then back to mezzo in the same breath. Lia, you're not going to get it in a night."

          "But I've been working with Mrs. Brodeur for weeks now, I'm almost getting it, just one more try," She pleaded. She hated the idea of begging Xavier of all people, but she had been working for hours here, she was exhausted. She wanted tonight to mean something.

          "Maybe we should consider autotuning?" Madison suggested glancing up at her manager, Oliver Pearson, a tall slim man with a swoop of dark hair, dark eyes, and an unmoving grimace. Aaliyah couldn't help but feel awkward whenever she met his gaze. "I mean, it'll make her voice sound higher, and we'll meet the deadline."

          "No," Aaliyah snapped, trying not to glare at Madison, who looked at her with surprise. Everyone in the room looked to Aaliyah with surprise at the sharpness of her tone. Aaliyah flushed and shook her head, "I don't need autotune. I will get it."

          Malcolm nodded gravely. "Aaliyah is right," He said, "We still have a week, and if we don't get it, we'll push the deadline back, we have another month before Madison's album release."

          Madison made a face, standing by her manager with a scowl with her arms crossed. "But, I've been promoting my single release for over a month," Madison insisted, "I said it was coming out next week. I can't go back on my word just because Aaliyah can't hit one note. Can't we change it or something, why does she have to sing a falsetto?" She demanded.

          "That means changing the track to suit the change," Xavier said, with his arm crossed, "And that can take a lot longer than a week, Madison." He tossed her a bored look, to which Madison replied with stony silence.

          Aaliyah sighed, sagging her shoulders. Aaliyah didn't want Madison's deadline to be pushed back because of her, but she would never agree to autotune. She was just going to make sure she got that note. "I can hit the note. Can we just try one more time?"

          A silence passed and everyone in the room exchanged looks except for Jacks who was sitting on the sofa in the back. She met his gentle look with a helpless one of her own before he shrugged flashing a supportive smile before Malcolm spoke again. "Okay one more time, and then we're calling it. Aaliyah, you've been here for hours, you need to rest your voice." Aaliyah nodded furiously, before pulling her headphones up above her head again. Malcolm turned off the mic in their room and she saw him gesture to Lucas to turn the music back on.