The Top Of The Mountain ✔️~ trixya

Two Worlds Collide

It's been years since I last saw Trixie Mattel. Well, that is other than on a TV-screen. "America's Sweetheart" did end up going to Juilliard, earning a BA in music before she was signed to a major label as a singer-songwriter. By twenty-four she had already received her first Grammy and had an album go Platinum, achieving more than most will do in their entire lifetime.

I however stayed in Milwaukee for years, working part time at the bar with my dads, living in the small apartment above it for free whilst saving funds, and spending the rest of my time drawing, painting and sculpting.

It wasn't fancy, but I felt alive.

Every single night I met and talked to new people.
People with different opinions from me.
People with perspectives I had never considered.
People in situations I could never even begin to imagine being in.
And so, every single day I felt as if I was seeing a new side of the world.

Eventually though, I did feel the need to leave. I wanted to explore new places, see the world. And so I packed a backpack, got on my bike and just left. I had no plan, no true goal, but I still knew what I wanted.

I traveled all around the country until I eventually ended up in New York, in a small apartment in Greenwich Village. I never really planned to settle down anywhere, but I got to regularly show and sell my pieces at a small gallery nearby and somehow the Village just feels like home. I had my entire college fund plus all the money I myself had saved up, and as the family motto is to do whatever your heart tells you to do, my dads had no objections to me moving here.

My ability to just go out and meet people helped me a lot and soon my career grew. I got to work on projects I never expected to, and started to sell pieces to major galleries and collectors.
And now I'm here, sitting in the lobby of Blue String Records.

"Katya Zamo?" A woman holding a clipboard asks me.

Going by just Zamo wasn't my first choice, but it is easier than hearing people struggle to say Zamolodchikova all the time, or worse having to listen to them complain endlessly about how difficult it is to pronounce. At least Zamo is short and simple, and Katya Zamo has a nice ring to it, even though I do miss introducing myself as Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova and have people look at me in shock from how complicated and long it is.

"That's me." I reply, getting up from my seat and grabbing my things.

"Follow me."

I do as she tells me, following her into the elevator up to the 25th floor and then past multiple meeting rooms. Eventually she stops and opens a glass door, gesturing for me to step inside the room. There's two middle-aged men sitting on one side and a younger-looking woman sitting on the other.

"Please, take a seat Katya." One of the men says. I nod in response and walk towards the chair at the edge of the table, that seeming to be the one they want me seated in.

"So, why did you ask me to come here?" I ask as I sit down.

"Well, to be frank we want a clearer art direction for one of our artists and we believe you could help with that. This would include designing the album cover for her upcoming album, both the CD and vinyl version, and participating in concept meetings for her music videos. Naturally we'll have someone else take the lead on the music video production, but we would still like you to be involved in the process. Her last album didn't perform as well as we would have liked and we feel we need a new voice on the team. You're a fresh growing voice in the art world and a new perspective, so we believe you could help." The woman explains.

"We need something to push her sales again, something bold. Maybe more sexy?" The man who didn't speak before says. I keep myself from laughing at how cliche it is for a record label to think that sexy is the only way to go when an artist is stagnant, especially a female one. I have nothing against art being sexy, but it should be a choice an artist does because they truly want to, not because their label thinks it's a good way to renew interest.

"Right... Well, who's the artist?"

"Trixie Mattel." The woman replies.

"Oh... I can't work with Trixie Mattel."