Forbidden Desires

1 - Making of Beauty & A Beat

May 2012

- Justin's POV           

Justin woke up to the constant ringing of his iPhone. "The heck? Who's calling at this hour?" he groaned while reaching for his phone and checking the time. It read 6:24 AM. His manager, Scooter Braun, was calling. He let it ring until it stopped, annoyed because he'd only gotten home late after Scooter and his team made him re-record some vocals for his upcoming album and spent the rest of the day in back-to-back meetings. The phone rang again, and this time he immediately answered the call.

"Yeah, hello?" he answered sleepily.

"JUSTIN, I NEED YOU TO COME TO THE STUDIO IMMEDIATELY!" Scooter shouted, making Justin curse and pull the phone away from his ear.

"Why? What's going on? You promised I could have a day off," Justin whined.

"I know, but you won't believe the amazing news I just received. This could be great for your album, Justin." Justin sat up immediately. "Go on."

"You know DJ Zedd, right?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, he wrote this catchy song that he didn't think matched his album, so he called me and asked if you were interested in the song."

"Okay, let me get to the studio and check it out so I can give—"

"Oh, there's no need for that; I already accepted it."

"WHAT?"

"This is what we need, but I haven't even told you the best part yet!" Scooter said excitedly, causing Justin to keep quiet and listen intently.

"The team thought Nicki Minaj would be a great fit on this song, and she agreed to jump on it."

Justin got out of bed and went to the balcony. "Nicki Minaj, the rapper?" Justin asked.

"No, the scuba diver," Scooter responded, sarcastically. "Yes, the best female rapper in the world."

Justin rolled his eyes. He had heard of Nicki and her music but wasn't fond of her. He was tired of his girlfriend Selena (right now they're in a bad place) blasting her music and screaming her bars word for word. He just didn't like her loud attitude and ridiculous outfits and felt someone needed to tame that beautiful woman. But it wasn't going to be him.

"Can't we find someone else to do it? What about Usher?" Justin asked.

"Usher is too busy, and he was on your last album. It would help if you expanded into other genres for a wider audience, Justin," Scooter insisted.

Justin sighed, knowing Scooter was right. He was at an all-time high in popularity, and adding Nicki to the already long list of features he had would guarantee the success of his upcoming album. Scooter continued, "Look, why don't you come at 12 to record and listen to it? Anything you don't like, we can fix, okay?"

"Okay," Justin said, sighing in defeat. He went back into his bedroom and went straight to the bathroom to get ready.

12 PM

After dressing and grabbing a quick bite to eat, Justin entered his car and drove to the studio. Upon arrival, he stepped into the studio and was immediately greeted by everyone in the room. His best friends, Ryan and Jayden (Will Smith's son), were already there, nodding along to the song.

"This song is so sick, bro," Jayden said enthusiastically.

"Yeah? Alright, let me listen to it," Justin said as he took a seat. The demo version of "Beauty and a Beat" started playing, but Justin remained unimpressed. "I don't hear myself on here, and are you sure this is the song Nicki said she wanted to hop on?"