Chapitre 681: Chapter 682: I Was Forced Into This
[Chapter 682: I Was Forced Into This]
The girl looked surprised and regretful as she heard Christina's words, saying, "Goodbye, what's going on?"
Christina glanced at Eric and replied, "The Mickey Mouse Club ended, and my mom plans to take me back to Pennsylvania for high school."
"Oh, that's such a bummer," the girl hugged Christina again, then released her and grabbed her little hand, saying, "You can always come visit me in Los Angeles. Hmm, it's getting late; I'll have Natasha drive you home."
Christina froze. She had been waiting outside the girl's house for several days, and just when she finally saw her, she hadn't managed to say what she truly wanted to say before being given the boot. Watching one of the identical twins jump into the car after Drew's comment made Christina feel even more flustered. Her eyes scanned around nervously, and she cast a pitiful glance at Eric.
Since merging with ABC, Firefly had been making adjustments to its television operations. Small things, like canceling low-rated shows, typically ended up filed in the assistant's office unless Eric specifically requested them. After all, the television business under Firefly saw dozens of new shows getting axed each year. Had it not been for suddenly seeing Christina, Eric wouldn't have cared much about these issues.
Seeing the girl about to be unceremoniously sent off made Eric shake his head helplessly. While it might seem a little cold-hearted, he understood it was the girl's way of standing her ground. However, he didn't think some situations needed to be approached so cautiously. He reached out and gently tapped the girl on the forehead, smiling as he said, "No joking around now; let's keep Christina here for dinner."
"Wow, all right, all right," the girl pouted with irritation, rubbing her forehead before climbing into the car and instructing the twins to open the big door to drive in.
Eric didn't get back in the car. Instead, he waved at the somewhat bewildered Christina and walked her toward the large mansion.
...
After the Michael Jackson scandal erupted two years earlier, Christina had felt Drew's attitude toward them shift to coldness. Before that, Drew often invited them over to play and occasionally took them to some really interesting parties. But after that incident, all of that came to a sudden halt; Drew hadn't contacted them once. Christina occasionally visited Drew's house with Britney, but Drew's attitude was never as warm as before. As for Eric, the one Christina had wanted to meet for so long, she hadn't seen him even once since that scandal.
Initially, Christina had given up on maintaining that connection with Drew, but the unexpected disbandment of the Mickey Mouse Club forced her to seek help from Drew. Drew's whereabouts had been somewhat elusive, and Christina had been waiting outside Drew's mansion in Trousdale for over a week. Luckily, she had finally caught a break, and more importantly... she ended up bumping into Eric.
Walking beside Eric and stealing glances at him, Christina didn't know what to say. Instead, she carefully surveyed the mansion she hadn't been inside for a long time, once again imagining when she might have a beautiful house like this.
"Do you want to stay in Los Angeles?"
The sudden voice surprised Christina, but she quickly regained her composure. Looking up at Eric, she nodded earnestly, saying, "Yeah, I... I don't want to go back to Pennsylvania for high school. I like singing."
Eric gazed at her hopeful little face and said, "But you're too young. You're not even fifteen yet, right?"
A hint of disappointment flashed in Christina's eyes. She knew her age was her biggest limitation. Nevertheless, she argued, "Mr. Williams, I could sing Mariah Carey's 'Vision of Love' when I was ten. They said I sang just as well as her."
Eric knew that Mariah Carey was famous for her difficult whistle notes. Still, he also recognized that this young girl's skills were on par with Mariah's.
"Christina, having talent doesn't change the fact that you're a minor. No record company will sign you."
Christina's expression instantly dimmed. She couldn't help but wish that the Mickey Mouse Club could have lasted another two years. That way, by the time she turned sixteen, it might be easier to sign a contract with a record company. Turning to Eric, she held back her words. She understood that saying anything wouldn't be of any use.
When they reached the front door of the villa, Eric pushed the door open for Christina, who stepped inside. The twins were already busy in the kitchen, and the girl's coat was on the hanger -- it looked like she had gone to take a shower.
Eric took a juice box out of the fridge and handed it to Christina, who sat down on the sofa. He asked, "Justin and Britney, are they still in Los Angeles?"
Christina shook her head, "I'm not sure. The boys and girls in the Mickey Mouse Club were always divided into separate groups. The relationships between the girls weren't that great either. After filming stopped, everyone lost contact."
Eric sat down on the sofa and murmured while contemplatively considering the situation.
Although the pop music scene in the U.S. had always been vibrant, different genres tended to shine during different periods. From the mid-90s to the early 2000s, the hottest type of music was undoubtedly Teen-Pop, with key representatives being the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Christina, who was just starting her career, was also on the Teen-Pop route, while Justin Timberlake had initially joined a boy band in that genre.
Currently, Firefly had just completed the integration of its musical resources and had formed Firefly Records. However, with the arrival of the internet age and the decline of the record industry due to online music streaming, Firefly Records could never reach the heights that Warner, Universal, or Columbia Records once enjoyed. In such context, it seemed impractical for Firefly to invest extensive resources into each music genre as traditional industry giants had once done. The best course of action was to focus primarily on developing and nurturing a particular type of artist.
In the last decade before the recording industry's decline, the most popular music genre was undeniably Teen-Pop.
In his memory, Disney's record label had always fluctuated between success and failure. Artists like Britney, Christina, Justin Timberlake, and even future stars like Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez were widely recruited by the major record labels -- a significant loss for Disney. After all, their rapid rise to fame was closely associated with nurturing from the Disney Channel.
Not wanting to interrupt Eric lost in thought, Christina took small sips of her juice.
After a while, Eric looked up at Christina and said, "How about this, Christina? You can stay in Los Angeles for now, and someone will reach out to you."
Christina looked at Eric with excitement, "Mr. Williams, are you saying I... can keep singing?"
Eric smiled and nodded, "Of course, but you won't be able to release any records for the next few years. I'll arrange for you to have some movie or TV appearances to maintain your popularity."
Christina didn't catch that Eric had referred the you to the plural form, thinking it was a personal privilege he was giving her. Elated, she bit her lip and cautiously looked around, gathering the courage to approach Eric. Blushing, she quietly said, "Mr. Williams, I... I can stay tonight as long as I call my mom to tell her I'm staying at Drew's."
Eric raised an eyebrow and laughed, "What do you plan to stay for?"
Christina's cheeks reddened even more as she mustered her courage and boldly looked at Eric, saying, "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it."
Eric chuckled and lightly pinched the girl's cheek, saying, "Don't get any funny ideas. I'm not interested in a little kid like you."
Christina instinctively flinched, saying, "You're lying. You clearly like it."
"Oh?"
"You and Drew were together when she's younger than me!"
Eric pointed his chin behind Christina while laughing, saying, "You've got it wrong; I was forced into it back then."
Christina blinked in confusion, realizing something as she quickly turned her head and saw the girl in a bathrobe smiling at her.
After dinner, Eric instructed Natasha to drive Christina home.
...
As the car drove out of the mansion gates, the girl beside Eric picked up the demo tapes Christina had handed him when she left, weighing them in her hands and saying, "Eric, you better be careful. The Chandler family extorted over $20 million from Jackson, and now they live in a mansion in Manhattan, New York; they'll never have to work again. I think if someone extorted you just once, their family could live off that forever."
"My money isn't so easy to extort. Besides, there are so many of these things happening in the industry, and how many actually come out? Over these years, only Jackson's case has really blown up, and he was wronged," Eric chuckled, though his expression held a hint of sarcasm.
Christina originally wanted Drew to help pass her demo tapes to some record executives. After hearing Eric's promise, she still left some tapes behind when she left.
Back inside the villa, Eric casually tossed one of the tapes into the player, and Christina's powerful rendition of 'FU' filled the room. Compared to his memory of the original and the version from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the girl's vocal delivery was even more impactful.
Cuddling a pillow, the girl came over to Eric, who was tapping on his laptop. "Christina really does sing well, but I think it'll be hard for her to find her niche. She's better suited for the development route of vocalists like Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, but she's just too short," she said with a chuckle.
She seemed to be speaking casually, but it inadvertently hit a critical point.
In Eric's memory, although height wasn't a factor, Christina had indeed never found a suitable musical direction. While her first album sold over ten million copies, the rise of Britney overshadowed her as she released a string of unsuccessful Teen-Pop albums and was forced to pivot but never found her true position again.
Still, Eric pointed at the player where 'FU' was playing, saying, "Isn't this Christina's music direction?"
Eric had already decided to keep Britney and Christina on the original Teen-Pop path. However, rather than go for Britney's sweet, girl-next-door image, Christina could develop a slightly more rebellious, independent girl persona. If boy bands could coexist in all sorts of corners, he reasoned that by distinguishing the positioning, keeping two different styles of Teen-Pop queens wouldn't be a problem.
After spending several hours organizing his thoughts and memories on Teen-Pop, he sent them to the work email of his assistant and requested Kelly to include it in the meeting topics for the next day. Then he shut down his laptop and took the sleeping girl beside him to rest.
...
During the executive meeting the next day, after once again discussing plans to gradually scale down Firefly's film production over the coming years, Eric raised the issue of the future direction for Firefly Records. After integrating the music resources of the former ABC and Disney, Firefly Records was at a critical stage of development. Eric took advantage of the recent remarkable success of certain songs released during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show to encourage the management team to accept his proposal to prioritize packaging a batch of Teen-Pop artists.
The meeting ultimately confirmed two crucial plans for the future of Firefly Records: one was to recall the Mickey Mouse Club kids for potential assessment and development; the other was to initiate a buyout offer to a small subsidiary of Sony Records, JIVE Records. Strictly speaking, JIVE was considered a subsidiary of RCA, which in turn was part of Sony BMG. At that moment, JIVE seemed relatively inconspicuous within the vast Sony Records system, but Eric knew that in the coming decade, the most successful Teen-Pop acts like the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake would emerge from JIVE. This didn't mean JIVE possessed any magical power; rather, the management team there excelled at packaging teenage idol singers, and their unofficial company motto was "Take Idolism to the Next Level."
*****
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