You Should Be Here | j. christopher

003

THE STUDIO'S LIGHTS WERE DIM FOR AMBIANCE, which was just how Ayoluwa liked it.

She was alone in the booth, eyes closed, her hair tied up and her favorite producer and one of her best friends, Nicholas, was behind the sound board.

The recording to an unreleased song by her was playing back throughout the whole studio and Ayoluwa was solely focused on how clean it sounded.

"Hey, Nick?" Ayoluwa called out, making the track stop.

"What's up, Ayo?" Nicholas spoke back.

"Can we try making the BPM go up by twenty? Actually, no. Ten, please. And I wanna make the second bridge a little more dynamic so can we just play just that part so I can hear it?" Ayoluwa asks, tilting her head up towards the ceiling a bit, "Thank you."

Through the oversized headphones, Ayoluwa heard the previous song and began to sing and adlib, "I don't wanna wait another minute for ya. No, no. Oh, you got me falling from the ceiling for ya. Yeah, I knew right from the start there was no limit for me, and I'm catching feelings, baby."

Ayoluwa continued to sing, "You give me feels and I know that it, know that it's real. You give me feels. You give me feels," She dragged out the last word then stopped.

"That's still not right," Ayoluwa groaned, "It feels off still. Doesn't it off to you?"

"You were right. Her voice sounds better in person." A new masculine voice sounded through Ayoluwa's headphones causing her eyes to snap open.

When she looked to the sound board, she could see Nicholas dapping up a taller brown skinned man with tattooed hands. A hood was halfway up and Ayoluwa couldn't see his face.

"Um?" Ayoluwa called out, "This is a closed session. We still have two more hours here."

"Ayo, come out. I want you to meet someone." Nicholas called back.

"Nick..." Ayoluwa started.

"Just five minutes. Please?" Nicholas asked.

Ayoluwa sighed, "Okay."

She slipped the headphones from around her ears and walked out into the main area of the studio they were in.

"What's going on? Wait, I know you. Robert Browne." Ayoluwa said as she finally got a look at the man who had joined them, "You produced Teyana Taylor's The Album right? I love that album so much."

The man smiled at the recognition, "Rob. I'm a big fan of you as well. Your first album and your EP were classics."

"Wow, thank you," Ayoluwa felt her smile fade a little, "But what are you doing here?"

Robert groaned a little and turned to Nicholas, "You haven't told her yet, huh?"

"Tell me what?" Ayoluwa raised an eyebrow at her best friend.

"Um," Nicholas rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "So, Drake's team reached out to me. He really liked the last single you dropped, saw that I produced it alone and he wants to start working with me on his next album."

Ayoluwa's eyes widen and she slapped Nicholas' arm in excitement, "That's great!"

"Ow. But the only thing is if I do it, he wants me full time so I won't be able to-."

"Work with me," Ayoluwa finished in an understanding tone, "You have to say yes. It's too big an opportunity."

Nicholas let out a smile, "Thanks for understanding and you don't have to worry about finding a new producer."

Ayoluwa looked at Nicholas and then glanced at Robert, a little unsure.

She liked Robert's previous work but Ayoluwa was extremely particular about her music and she wasn't about to let anyone in without personally vetting them.

"Mmm. The album's already late and I only have one song approved by my A&R and, no offense, but just because we like each other's music doesn't mean that we would necessarily work well together." Ayoluwa replied.

Instead of getting offended, Robert's smile grew wider, only further showing off his white teeth, "I think that we would very well together," Robert pulled down his hood to reveal a full beard, "Let me show you."

Ayoluwa narrowed her eyes but let him pass to the sound board and where Nicholas' laptop was open.

"This is your sophomore album, you wanna show your fans that you're grown up, right?" Robert asked as he sat down in the computer chair and pressed the play button on the sound board.

The sound of Ayoluwa's last recording played throughout the studio and Robert leaned back in the chair as he listened to it before speaking, "I heard you before about the BPM. I think instead of picking it up, we should lower it. The fast beat will take the feeling out of your voice."

Robert touched a few buttons and then the track restarted.

Ayoluwa had to agree that the slower BPM did sound better than her original idea of going a bit faster.

"Okay," Ayoluwa admitted, "I like it better than the original."

"See?" Robert said.

Ayoluwa rolled her eyes but her smile was playful, "I'm getting back in the booth."

"Mhmm." Robert responded, his voice husky.

A couple of hours later, Ayoluwa sat in the apartment at the steinway piano in the living room.

Her fingers were playing the instrumental to If I Don't Have You by Alicia Keys.

Ayoluwa hummed a little bit of the lyrics then sighed.

Amy, her assistant and Gloria, her manager were standing by the piano so that they could discuss Ayoluwa's next moves.

"I think I could get you onto Jimmy Fallon but-." Gloria was typing on her cell phone when the bedroom door opened and then slammed shut, effectively interrupting the older woman.

Joshua was also texting someone on his cell phone as he walked right past the three women without looking up.

"Josh? Where are you going?" Ayoluwa asked, "I thought we were gonna have a movie night."

Joshua glanced at Amy and Gloria, "I need a rain check. I'll be back later."

"O-Okay. I love you!" Ayoluwa called out just as the front door slammed closed with no response.

"I'm sure that he just didn't hear you," Amy assured Ayoluwa.

"You know how people can get too caught up in their phones." Gloria chimed in.

"Right," Ayoluwa forced a smile, "I'm sure that you guys are right."

Ayoluwa took a deep breath before turning to Gloria who was giving her a slightly pitiful look.

"So you mentioned Jimmy Fallon?"

NOTE FROM KY
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