The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

51. The Studio

"We are the new americana! Woahohoh, high on legal marijuana! Woahohoh. Raised on Biggie and Nirvana! Woahohoh, we are the new americana, woahohoh." Charlotte and I sung loudly with the windows down. I was hanging half out of the window, the wind flowing through my hair while my hands were up. "Miss, can you please take a seat?" I heard the faint voice of the driver say. "We're nearing the city and it could be dangerous." I did as he told and sat back. A few minutes later we were met by the busy streets and high buildings. I wonder which studio we'll go to. I just hope it won't be near my old home... I was suddenly missing home. Sydney. The safety that it brought with it. La just felt dangerous. I couldn't relax here. Except at the beach house. No way I'll meet people from the past there. The driver turned left, onto a less busy street. After a couple minutes the car stopped on a busy parking lot, hidden by the buildings around it. And the cars here... Gosh. Lamborghini here, Ferrari there... Ah, why the hell not? Does Justin-Fucking-Bieber record his songs here, or...? I jumped out of the SUV and looked around. I gasped when I saw a pink Ferrari. "That's the fugliest thing I've ever seen." Charlotte said from behind me. I shrugged. "The Ferrari is nice tho." I said. I looked around and saw Ed, Katy, Hayley and Luke standing at the entrance of a modern looking building. We walked towards them while still admiring the cars here. BMW... Random Volkswagen van... But between all the expensive cars that was the most awesome one. You know? One of those typical cruise Volkswagen vans. Red and White. Respect to the owner. We followed the mentors into the building and it looked even better inside. Ed walked to the girl behind the front desk. She pointed to the right and made all these hand gestures. I think she was showing him the way. Ed nodded and walked back to us. "Follow da leada leada leada." He sung and I chuckled. "Okay everyone, be quiet, because there are people recording here right now." We nodded and followed him through the corridors. "Oh, and don't freak if there's a celebrity in front of you kay?" He said and my eyes widened. He looked at me with raised brows, waiting for an answer. I slowly nodded my head. "Okay then." We walked further and unfortunately we didn't see any celebs. We had 4 different, small studios, for each contestant one. Everybody disappeared into their studio and I saw Hayley waiting at the door of the second one for me. I smiled brightly and walked inside. It was just as modern as the rest of the building. There was a bald guy sitting at the desk with all the knobs and things and he smiled at me. "Hello there." He said and I shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Skyler." I said and he nodded. "Dave. I'm just going to help you guys record." He said and I nodded. "So... Which songs are you going to sing?" Hayley asked. "Kids In The Dark by All Time Low and Still Into You." I said. She smiled and nodded. "Great choice." She said. "We got us ourselves a little rocker over here." Dave said and I raised my brows at him. "Uh.. Sorry. Don't mind me." He said and quickly turned to his computer. "I'm just going to search for the instrumentals..." He said and I chuckled. "You can already go into the booth if you want." He said and pointed at a door on the left. I could see the room behind it through the tinted glass. I was a smaller room, with only a microphone and a few instruments, including a guitar. From the inside I couldn't see Hayley and Dave. I grabbed the lyrics from my bag and sat the bottle of water next to me. "First up is Kids In The Dark. You don't have to play along on your guitar right now. We'll record that later." Dave said and I nodded. I put the headphones on, unfolded the lyrics sheets and put them on the stand. "Ready?" He asked through the headphones and I shot him a thumbs up. I removed the headphones from one ear, so I could hear myself sing. That way I'll know if I'm doing it right. "Okay, 4... 3... 2... 1... " The music started and I found myself smiling. Gosh, I love this song so much.

After singing Kids In The Dark three times, once with guitar, I had a small break. "Okay. In 15 minutes we'll do Still Into You okay?" Dave asked and I nodded. I grabbed my water bottle and walked out of the booth. "I'm going outside for a while." I said before walking out. After thinking I made the right directions I found the exit. Guess I thought well. I walked outside and sat on the small bench next to the entrance. I looked over the parking lot, to all the cars here. Which celebrities would be recording here right now? I was looking at the cars until a blue Mustang drove by and parked almost in front of the entrance. The door opened and a young guy got out. Is that... I squealed mentally when I realized it was Martin Garrix. He walked to the entrance with headphones one and slowed his pace and took his headphones off when he saw me sitting on the bench. "Did they kick you out or something?" He asked and I chuckled. "Nah. Just taking a short break." He looked at me up and down with a frown. "Are you... You're from something... I don't know." He said. he knew me? "Is it Xfactor? I'm not sure." He asked and I shook my head. "The Voice. Australia." I said. "Ahh yea! I saw your audition. You were really good!" He said. I just sat there, looking at him. He watched my audition. Martin Garrix. Watched my audition and thought it was good. "Thanks." I said and he chuckled. "You know what? Maybe we can do a collab sometimes. I still need a singer for one of my tracks." He said. I was just looking at him with my mouth wide open. "Wait... What?" I asked. "I'm just going to give you my number, then you can think about it and contact me when you've made up your mind." He said and handed me a card with his name and number. I can die happily now. Gosh. He chuckled. Fuck. Did I say that out loud? "Well, I gotta go. See ya later?" He asked. "Um... Sure. I guess. Bye."

I'm pretty sure I stayed frozen on that bench for a couple more minutes, staring at the card before I realized I had to go back to the studio. I put the card into the case of my phone. That way it wouldn't magically disappear like all my things do. After a while I found the studio and cleared my mind. Focus on the song. "Ah, there y'are." Hayley said. "Dave could be back any moment now. He's just getting some coffee." Hayley said and I nodded. I was contemplating if I should ask Hayley about the songs... The ones I wrote myself. Maybe I could record them here? I mean, we're already in a studio. Why not? But maybe they only rent this place for a couple of hours, or songs... I don't know. "What's on your mind?" Hayley shook me out of my thoughts. "Eh, nothing." I said. "I know you want to ask me something..." She said and I narrowed my eyes at her. She shrugged. "I heard you this morning. Writing songs. And I guess you want to record them?" How the fuck does she do that? Reading my mind like that. It's fucking creepy. "Yea, that could be awesome. But I don't know if it's possible and all that..." I said. "Of course it's possible. We'll sing them after Still Into You." She said and I nodded slowly. I don't know if I'm ready to sing For The Love Of A Daughter... But oh well. Guess we'll see then. "Getcha pretty ass in the booth. Don't have all day." She said and I chuckled. I walked back into the booth, quickly read the lyrics and took a big gulp of the bottle of water. "I'm back!" Dave said through the headphones I was wearing and I almost spit out my water. Damnit. "Okay, you ready?" He asked and I nodded. I cleared my throat and Dave counted down again. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." The music started and I began moving around to the beat of the music. You just can't sit still with this song. That's what I like about it.