Sarah Carerra - 1.09 - The Debut Album

Printer-friendly version
Dad gave me thumbs up from the control room after I had placed the new set of headphones that Scott had handed me over my ears. It helped to slow down my speeding heart.
Sarah Carerra
Chapter 9 - The Debut Album
by Megan Campbell
Copyright  ©2009 Megan Campbell
Released: November 23, 2009

Editor Note: The images used for this story were purchased and used under royalty-free license* from Istockphoto.com . ~Sephrena

Author Note: Please email me at AngelJediGirl (at) gmail (dot) com before posting this story to any other site. Posting to a pay site is prohibited.

Comments and suggestions are also welcome at the above email address.

*  *  *

Chapter 9 - The Debut Album

We were standing in the lobby of Olympic Records, having a good laugh at the name, when Scott came up to us.

"Mr. Campbell," he said while extending his hand towards my dad. "It's good to see you again."

"Good morning, Scott," my dad said while taking his hand in a firm grip. After he had released the handshake he gestured to me. "You remember Sarah?"

Scott looked down at me (he's quite tall) and smiled, extending his arm again. "Ms. Carerra, it's nice to see you again. You look exceptionally good this morning."

I felt myself blushing again while I limply took his hand. ‘If I keep blushing every time someone compliments me, I'm never going to make it in this industry’ I thought. Then again, this blush may have something to do with the fact that he knew my secret, and not the Sarah Carerra one.

"If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the conference room where the meeting will take place," he said, looking back at my dad. He nodded and we followed him through the halls of the record company and into a small conference room.

There were two guys sitting at the table, joking with each other when we walked in. They stood up when they saw me, and walked around the table towards where we had entered.

"Ms. Carerra," the older one said. He looked to be in his 50's with graying hair and wearing a well-tailored suit. "My name is Matt Thompson. I'm the Director of Talent." He gestured to the other man, in his late twenties. "This is my son, Max, our lead Marketing agent."

"Pleased to meet you," Max said while extending his hand. I shook it and then his father's.

"Thank you for this opportunity," I said to them, and their nods seemed to indicate that it was their privilege to have me here instead of the other way around.

"The honor is ours," Matt voiced my thoughts before gesturing to the table. "Please have a seat, this shouldn't take too long."

That statement worried me a bit, but Dad still seemed to be enthusiastic, so I guess it wasn't surprising to him. We took our seats, with Matt, Max, and Scott on one side of the table, and my dad and I on the other side.

"Now," Matt said. "We are extremely honored to have you here with us today, Ms. Carerra. Can I call you Sarah?" I nodded.

"Thank you, Sarah," he continued. "We enjoyed your demo CD immensely. We've been looking for a fresh new face like yours for a while, and we believe that you've got a long career ahead of you. You received the contract details, Mr. Campbell?"

"Yes," my dad replied. "We agree with all of the terms listed in revision 2 of the contract, like we discussed on the phone."

"Excellent," Matt said and removed a stack of papers from a briefcase on the table. "We'll just need you to sign these contracts and then we can get started on your new career."

It took us about twenty minutes to sign all of the papers we needed to sign. I still didn't know the terms of the contract, and was slightly upset that Dad knew without telling me, but I trusted his judgment.

"Now for the fun stuff," Matt said after he had replaced his copies of the contract back into his briefcase. "We'll break for lunch, but this afternoon we'd like you to re-record Intuition. We want to get your name and voice out quickly, and we'll make this your first single and hopefully have it on the radio by next week."

That stunned me! I didn't think I would be singing quite so quickly, let alone getting on the radio!

"You've also got a photo shoot at four this afternoon," Max interjected when his father had finished. "We need to get some publicity photos and a picture to use as the album art for your single."

"Is that okay with you two?" Matt asked, but it didn't really seem like a question we could say no to.

My dad nodded while I sat there, stunned! After getting my dad's approval they all turned to me. "Yes," I told them. "I'm just surprised it's happening so fast."

"Don't worry, kid," Matt said. It felt demeaning to be called a kid. "You'll do fine."

*  *  *

Scott led us to the building’s cafeteria, but told us he wouldn't be able to join us. We said our goodbyes and walked in to get some food.

There were quite a few people sitting at the many tables, most wearing business attire. But there were two other people dressed more like me, and one of them was Daren Stockard! I felt shocked to see a famous singer in here! He wasn't much older than me, 19 I think, but he already had a couple of platinum albums.

He looked up at us as we entered, and seemed intrigued at the sight, which only worried me more.

We got some food, not bad really, and were talking while we ate at an empty table. My dad was telling me about the contract details, but I didn't understand everything he was saying. All I knew was that there were way more zeros involved than I thought there would be! Unfortunately, Dad felt that I needed to be fiscally responsible before I would be able to use my share of the money (even though he's my dad, he was still getting a percentage for himself). He wasn't going to let me touch most of it for a while.

When we were nearly finished a shadow fell over the table. Turning around I saw Daren standing there! I hate to admit I acted like a giggly fan girl, but I did. I mean, he does have some very good songs.

"Hi," he said to me, and somehow managed to acknowledge my dad at the same time. "My name's Daren."

When I was able to catch my breath, I responded, "Sarah Carerra."

"Sarah Carerra," he said, musing the name over in his mind. "That's a very lovely name for a very lovely girl."

Dangit! I was blushing again! And in front of Daren Stockard too!

"I haven't seen you around before," he said with a smile. "Where are you from?"

I looked over at Dad for a second. We'd talked about Sarah's background story, and it didn't differ much from my own. He looked slightly amused at this exchange though. I was worried he would be one of those dads who are too overprotective about his daughters, but he seemed to be calm and rational. Then again, it could just be for show.

"I'm from L.A." I told him. Before he had a chance to ask where in L.A., I continued. "I just signed with Olympic this morning."

"Well it's nice to have you here," he said like he owned the place. "I'm sorry I can't talk longer. I have to get back to the studio. I just wanted to introduce myself."

He smiled at me, causing me to smile back.

"It was nice to meet you, Sarah," he said. "I look forward to hearing some of your work."

"It was nice to meet you too, Daren," I replied, and with a grin he turned and headed out of the cafeteria.

"He's too old for you," Dad said moments later.

*  *  *

Dad was leading me down the hall toward the studios. He'd been here with clients enough times to know where to go, but we weren't certain which studio we were supposed to be in.

Fortunately the receptionist in the studio lobby was able to point us to the correct one, mentioning that Mr. Thompson and his son were already in there.

"Sorry," Dad said when we entered the studio. "We weren't sure which studio we were meeting you in."

"That's okay," Matt replied while looking at his watch. "You're earlier than we expected you anyway." For some reason, I didn't quite believe him.

Scott was also in the studio. From what my dad was saying he was going to be our contact with the label. I just hoped working with someone who knew both of my secrets wouldn't turn out badly.

"Alright, Sarah," Scott said, taking charge. "We've recorded some new background for Intuition, and we'd like to update the vocals you gave us for the demo. We were hoping to get some more emotion out of it. Come listen to this."

He motioned me over to the mixing board and handed me a pair of headphones. I put them on and waited for the song to start.

I liked what they did to it. They added some remix to the song that I thought would make it sound better, and I could clearly hear the new background vocals. I just hoped I would be able to deliver my part.

"I like it," I voiced my thoughts to Scott when the song had ended.

"Good," he said, but I felt that he was patronizing me, and that my opinion didn't really matter on how the song was going to sound. That didn't bode well for the future if I had no say in my own songs. I hoped it was just because they had already put so much work into this one.

"Matt and Max are here to see how it turns out." Scott said while showing me into the sound studio proper. "But don't worry. You've already got the contract."

That made me laugh and worry at the same time. I didn't know if there were any ‘outs’ built into the contract. Dad gave me thumbs up from the control room after I had placed the new set of headphones that Scott had handed me over my ears. It helped to slow down my speeding heart.

It took me a few tries to get into the groove. I'd only read through the song for a short period of time last Saturday, and I wasn't remembering all of the words right away. They were coming back quickly, but I still felt like I was letting everybody down.

"Sorry," I said after the fourth attempt. "I didn't get to learn the words very well before the demo Saturday."

"You're doing great," Scott told me. He was manning the mixing board today, even though it wasn't his regular job. "It's always rough with a new song, but you're getting better every time."

I smiled at his words of encouragement, and went on to deliver a nearly perfect rendition.

It took us nearly 45 minutes to get it the way Scott, Matt, and Max wanted it. I'd get one part of the song down and then they would have me work on another part until they were happy with it and then move on again. It was more tiring than I thought it would be.

"Great job, Sarah," Scott finally said. "That's a wrap."

I smiled, took off my headphones and headed for the control booth.

"Great job, Sarah," Dad echoed, wrapping me in a hug before the door had even closed. But it wasn't a regular father/daughter one that I was starting to get used to. Instead it was a quick chaste congratulatory hug. I immediately felt sad that I couldn't express my true feelings with him right then. I was starting to see the downside of the Sarah Carerra secret.

I got congratulations from Scott and Matt also, and Max managed to follow in my father's footsteps with a hug. It felt really weird giving another guy a hug, at least one I wasn't related to.

"Don't forget," he said when he let me go. "You've got a photo shoot at four. Don has the address and I'll see you there."

I nodded, and the three guys left the control room, leaving me alone with my dad.

I did get that wonderful father/daughter hug before we left.

*  *  *

Chapter 10 - Win a Dinner Date With Sarah Carerra
Coming Soon...
up
272 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

Good Stuff!

This does kinda remind me of the excellent "I'm with the Band", but this one has its own story. I love the mistaken identity and the subterfuge going on. Poor Megan is being pulled in many different directions all at once. Maybe her doctor is wrong, because this secret identity thing is starting to look more stressful to me! LOL

I'm really not that familiar with the whole Milly Cyrus gig, but you've included enough details that we the reader can infer the basic idea.

My only complaint is that each chapter seems to come to an end much too soon. A tribute to your writing that you can grab our attention so thoroughly!

Hugs!

Grover

I feel your pain.

WillowD's picture

Namely, the thunk on my brain when each awesome chapter comes to an end. And from the look of things I am going to be getting a good 120 more thunks in the near future.

I just love how this is going...plus the bonus at the end!

Andrea Lena's picture

I did get that wonderful father/daughter hug before we left.It was touching that she was saddened that they had to keep things at a distance to maintain the secret and nice to see that her dad and her had time to be real with each other at the end. And I agree with my sweet learned colleague Grover that the chapters come to an end all too soon. Can't get enough of your writing, dear one!


She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Very nice.

Now we will see just how Sarah fares as a new singer. I am waiting patiently for chapter 10.

"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."

Love & hugs,
Barbara

"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."

"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."

Love & hugs,
Barbara

"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."

I love this story......

You have a very good story with interesting characters that have me Anxiously awaiting the next chapter. I hope to see more of this lovely tale.

Hugs,
Aspin

this chapter inspires me to sing:

laika's picture

Sarah Carerra Sarah Carerra, bo Bara Carerra, banana fana fo Farah Carerra, fe fi mo Mara Carerra...
Sarah Carerra!!!

.
A sweet little teen t.g. showbiz Cinderella story, Everyone's been super so far! [crosses fingers...]
~~~hugs, Laika

Teen Scene

ALISON

'it may be but this old duck is enjoying every word.You have either done your homework well or spent a lot of time in
recording studios.Very professional and well done.Thankyou.
ALISON

ALISON

Sarah Carerra-9

Love the session at te studio. And she looks to be relaxing and experiencing what other girls do.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

When I transitioned

I turned into a hugger. Enjoyed it too.