Spotlight: the Sequel

Untitled Part 11

Previously...

He smiled and started kissing down my neck, "Okay, I don't want to talk about her anymore."

"Okay," I giggled.

~oOo~

Songs used: "Give Your Heart a Break"- Demi Lovato

"My Life Would Suck Without You"- Kelly Clarkson

Aug. 2022

I walked into the scorching summer sun. A slight breeze cooled me as I turned, watching Angie, Ben, Brianna, and Edward follow behind me and stop.

Angie looked to me and said, "Did you guys want to go get lunch or something?"

She looked exhausted, with dark bags under her eyes and her brown hair in a messy bun. I knew she was just being polite. I couldn't blame her – if I had just had a kid, I would want to go home and take a nap too.

I smiled at her. "It's fine, Ang. You and Ben go have fun with Brianna. Edward and I have to go shoot our music video for Lucky anyways."

I could see the relief in her eyes. She nodded and looked to Ben, who was cradling Brianna in his arms. I could see the adoration in both their eyes. I looked the Edward. One day, that would be us.

Edward looked at his watch. "Crap!" he exclaimed. "We're late, Bella. Let's go!"

Turning the happy family standing before us, he hurriedly said, "Bye guys! Sorry to leave so quick...we got to go film our music video for 'Lucky'."

He grabbed my arm and began dragging me away, pulling me towards the car.

"Bye!" I yelled, over my shoulder, giggling and the stressed expression on Edward's face. He hated being late.

We took a trip to Downtown LA to film. We continued to film through our second wedding anniversary, which meant a lot to us.

After we filmed, Edward snuck into my trailer, and we tried to keep quiet as we celebrated.

Sept. 2022

After the hype of "Lucky" came and went, we began working on a new EP.

Our first song, "Give Your Heart a Break", featured Edward on violin. I didn't even know he could play until I saw him take it out in the studio. I thought it was a great idea. He was a little shy because he was worried it would make the song sound too much like pop and not enough rock. I asked him if he really wanted to do it, and he said yes, so I assured him that we had enough songs on the album to please our audience. One song wouldn't matter. We had fun with this song.

It also challenged me as a singer, because the only time I've ever sang above my register was when Edward and I did "Long Live the Kids" last January. But I knew I could do it with him beside me.

Edward started the intro on violin. The notes were short, quick, and easy to remember, and they made me smile. He would keep playing this pattern until the last phrase of the first verse, which was 'Baby, I'm not like the rest?', pause, then go into a legato, smooth strokes on the violin, for the chorus. After going over the pattern for the rest of the song, we went home. The next day, we tracked our vocals. And then, the day after that, we tracked our background vocals. The band came in, and we worked on the instrumentals, mixed everything, and finally showed the song to Carlisle. It took us roughly a month to complete, and we were tired, but we finally did it.

(Bold: Edward; Italic: Bella; Bold Italics; Both)

The day I first met you

You told me you'd never fall in love

But now that I get you

I know fear is what it really was

Now here we are,

So close yet so far.

Haven't I passed the test?

When will you realize,

Baby, I'm not like the rest?

We released the song, and most of our fans loved it. But we also got a lot of criticism for taking a different step in our sound. Some said we were selling out our signature rock background for the pop audience. Some said that I wanted to get more attention, since my voice was more prominent.

But I didn't care. Edward didn't mind as much as I did about the criticism. He supported me as I supported him and that was all I needed.

~oOo~

Jan 2023

We continued to work on four more songs for the EP, then released the project in January, 2023. Edward, the band, our fans, families and I were really excited for it, but in the midst of it all, Alice and Jasper started to have problems in their marriage. Jasper struggled with his singing career, and no matter how much Alice wanted to help, he kept pushing her away because he wanted to provide for them. Alice's career was doing well, but she was more worried about Jasper than herself right now. They got into a few fights and Alice stayed with Edward and me for a couple of days before they made up again. Despite my slight concern, I couldn't worry too much because I had my own marriage and EP promotion to focus on. But Edward understood how much my sisters meant to me.

~oOo~

Edward and I released the second single from our EP, "My Life Would Suck Without You". It was a really fun, playful song about how much we couldn't stand each other, but in the end, we wouldn't be anything without each other.

(Bold: Edward; Italic: Bella; Bold Italic: Both)

'Cause we belong together now, yeah

Forever united here somehow, yeah

You got a piece of me

And honestly

My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

We had calls from few directors to make a music video for the single, but nothing made an impact, so we made our own. We set the video up around our house, filming our writing process, clips of us recording, and just goofing off and having fun. There were cameos of our family too, but it was mostly centered on Edward and me.

We released the video and promoted the single on a few radio stations, late night TV shows, and smaller performances with the band. Things seemed to be going really well.

Until the worst happened.