Iris slept for a long time after completing the reports and sending them to Jin Liwei. She woke up a few minutes after noon in time for brunch.
As they ate, Dom informed her that JJ's people finally called in the morning while she was still sleeping and asked for a meeting to negotiate contract terms.
For the next few days, Iris together with Dom and her lawyer were busy meeting with JJ's team. Finally, they signed a contract that satisfied both parties. JJ's record label didn't make any public announcements that she signed under them as an artist as per her request.
Next order of business was to sign under a talent management company. JJ recommended Bright Summit Entertainment Company, which was one of the top in the industry and also had the best relationship with his record label.
Although JJ worked with a lot of talented musicians from different talent companies, he liked working with artists under Bright Summit because they were the least troublesome. A big part of this was because Bright Summit protected its artists very well. Unless an artist did something unsalvageable, the company would use its full might and glory to ensure the artist's career.
When Iris went into coma after the accident, her father spent a huge amount of money to dissolve her outstanding contracts with her previous talent agency, record label and endorsements when she failed to wake up after three months.
JJ went the extra mile to contact someone he trusted from Bright Summit. After a few days of negotiations, Iris was already signing a contract with them. She was also given a new manager. Like before, this was not publicly announced as per her request.
The next few weeks were extremely busy. Iris worked personally with JJ and his team of experts at JJ's own studio to record all the songs she composed for her comeback album.
The other people working with them learned to cope (a.k.a. sit there quietly like statues) whenever Iris and JJ clashed like two evil dragons.
"Listen, Iris brat! I'm an award-winning music producer. I'm always right when it comes to music! I say we should change this part of the song to a faster tempo, so we should do it!"
"No, Mr. JJ. You're wrong. That's so stupid. Are you planning to make this into a disco song? Or maybe a dance song?"
"What did you say, you brat?!"
Another one….
"Mr. JJ, this song doesn't need electric and bass guitars. The symphony orchestra is already more than enough."
"Hai! You don't understand. The guitars add another dimension to the song!"
"What another dimension? Mr. JJ, they're just annoying background noise."
"What did you say, you brat?!"
And yet another one…
"Mr. JJ, I want an acoustic guitar as accompaniment for this song."
"Brat, it's better to keep this song as raw as possible and focus on the emotional impact of your vocals instead. No need for other accompaniment. Just the piano is enough."
"Hmm…fine. But I still want to try another version with an acoustic guitar. Then we can just choose which version sounds better."
"You brat! You don't listen to what I say!"
Although the two argued a lot because both were extreme perfectionists when it came to music, they would always find a way to grudgingly compromise with each other and meet in the middle ground. These compromises always produced songs that left everyone in the recording studio, including Iris and JJ, in shocked amazement.
All 13 songs were successfully recorded and polished to their final versions. Next was shooting the music videos. Both JJ and Iris wanted to release the album as soon as possible, so they shot all the music videos for the 13 songs every day in just two and a half weeks.
Everyone was exhausted but seeing their artist Iris Long working nonstop without complaints, they gritted their teeth and worked just as hard.
After a two-day break, Iris was once again busy posing for the album's cover and promotional posters.
Finally, Iris' part in the album production was done and JJ's record label took over in putting everything together. She felt so exhausted that just opening her eyes took extreme effort, but this was the first time in her two lives that she felt so alive. Her blood sang with excitement.
She could hardly wait to release her album and hear her music being played everywhere.
Almost two years since the accident and her abrupt retirement from showbiz, JJ's record label and Bright Summit Entertainment Company officially announced the upcoming release of her new album.
Their message was clear.
Iris Long was back.
Double release today!
Yay!
Please continue to spare some power stones for Iris.
Thank you so much!
An hour before JJ's record label and Bright Summit Entertainment Company's announcement.
Almost two years since Iris Long disappeared from the public eyes, she had remained silent online. Even when a commotion broke out after her social media accounts were wiped clean, and when Fan Luo and Jin Chonglin almost caused a scandal involving her with their blog posts, nobody heard a word from her.
This fateful morning, however, all of her empty social media accounts were finally updated.
No greetings, no words.
It was just a single video.
The video started with the back view of a teenage girl wearing a skimpy dress and high heels. Club music echoed in the background, as she walked out to a parking lot and climbed into a sports car.
She drove away and then the scene suddenly blacked out with the sounds of squealing tires and a loud crash.
An ambulance siren blared.
Next was a frantic scene at a hospital with paramedics wheeling the unconscious teenage girl whose face still wasn't shown; her blood splattering on the white floor tiles. The door to the operating room closed behind them.
The next scene showed a hospital room filled with several life support machines. The girl on the bed laid unmoving, her face still not shown.
The camera shifted its focus to a calendar atop a table beside the bed, its pages flipping to the next month again and again, faster and faster, showing how much time passed.
Then the screen gradually turned darker and darker until it completely blacked out. Muffled sounds could be heard, like that when one was underwater.
Sounds of breathing and heartbeat, loud and regular at first, but gradually weakening and slowing down until everything became silent.
A few seconds of total darkness and silence.
A small speck of light appeared in the middle of the screen, gradually becoming bigger and brighter until it swallowed the entire screen.
The next scene showed an ethereal paradise-like mountain forest. A fairy with golden hair and emerald eyes flitted among a garden of colourful wildflowers. She wore a flowing white dress which sparkled delicately whenever she moved.
The beautiful fairy walked towards a deep, blue lake and sat by the shore, leaning over to caress the still waters with her graceful hands.
A loud gasp! The water pulled her violently down into its dark depths.
As she sank deeper and deeper, a shadowy figure could be seen floating slowly towards her direction. As the two neared each other, the other figure became visible. It was the teenage girl still wearing the skimpy dress. Her eyes were closed. She looked lifeless, her black hair billowing out in the water as she was slowly pulled upwards.
The fairy and the teenage girl finally appeared in the same screen, floating in front of each other. They had the same face, yet looked completely different, especially the aura they emitted.
The teenage girl was sickly pale, dark shadows under her closed eyes. The fairy, on the other hand, exuded a soft ethereal glow within her. Her golden hair floated around her like a halo, her emerald eyes glinting with divine light.
The fairy stretched out her arms and gently pulled the unconscious teenage girl into her embrace. The two fused as they touched, until only one figure remained.
The new figure wore the teenage girl's skimpy outfit, a dimming ethereal glow on her skin. Her golden hair gradually turned black. Slowly, her emerald eyes opened before dimming into a dark brown colour.
She gracefully swam upwards like a mermaid until her head broke out to the surface. The scene abruptly cut and reverted to that of the comatose girl on the hospital bed opening her eyes. A faint emerald light visible in her dark brown pupils.
The screen faded to darkness. A rich beautiful fairy-like voice sang a melody without lyrics in the background.
The back view of a young woman appeared. She wore an elegant, deep emerald long dress. Her long, straight black hair flowed behind her like a natural cape.
Her figure stood under a blooming sakura tree, the blossoms raining down like pink snow. She turned and the camera closed up and focused on her beautiful face. Her dark brown phoenix eyes looked fierce yet detached at the same time. Her plump, pink lips lifted into a mysterious smile.
Black out.
And then the word "Rebirth" appeared in big characters, followed by the name "Iris Long" and a date two weeks from now. The logo of JJ's record label appeared before the video finally ended.
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