Culture Vibe

1. Pre Order

"5, 6, 7, 8, Kira, keep your arm in a V, River, step it up, step it up! Shensea, come on!"

"I'm gonna collapse," said Kira, muttering under her breath. "Whoever said being in a girlband was easy didn't have Jasmine for their choreographer."

"I heard that!" Jasmine grinned at her. "We need another workout session, by the sounds of it."

"Please no," Shensea groaned dramatically, as she reached up to rearrange her curly hair which had become tangled as she was dancing.

"Come on, we need to get this sorted," said Naia. "This is the opening of our whole show, we literally can't fail this."

"And you won't fail if you keep practicing," added Jasmine. "You've done so well, dont give up now."

"I'm not giving up," said River, the Australian girl shaking her head with determination. "Reload da ting. Let's go again."

Kira, River, Shensea and Naia were the four girls who made up the London based girlband Diversity, and they were a couple weeks away from the release of their new album, Culture Vibe. At the end of the month, they'd be going on a world tour to promote the album, and to perform their songs in front of their fans in crowded stadiums. The tour started in London, and they'd be visiting nearly twenty different countries before ending their tour back in Manchester. The girls had done a world tour before, about four years prior, but they could all sense that this time was different. They had a point to prove, an agenda to promote, and they were determined to make a difference in a world of discrimination.

"That's looking better!" Yelled Jasmine, over the music. She was nodding to herself enthusiastically, as the girls finally reached the end of their complicated opening dance section.

"Bum bum ba, bum bum ba..." Naia began, and the others giggled at her.

"No singing, not yet please," River shook her head in amusement.

"That's one of my favourite tracks on the album though," Naia grinned. "I'm happy it's our first song."

"I love it too," Shensea smiled at her.

At that point, Josie, their public relations manager, entered the room, with their band manager Sienna.

"Good news and bad news, girls," said Josie, the blonde haired kiwi waving her iPhone at them in greeting. "And can I get a clip of you practicing for the gram, by the way?"

"Sure, in a minute," nodded River. "I think we need a breather first. Tell us the good news."

"The good news is Culture Vibe just hit a record for pre-orders," Josie beamed at them.

"Wow, really?" Exclaimed Shensea. "That's amazing!"

"Yes!" Kira yelled, jumping up and pulling Shensea and Naia into a hug, suddenly forgetting her exhaustion. "I'm so proud of us! And we haven't even released any music!"

Shensea laughed at her.

"Our reputation proceeds us."

"It certainly does," Josie nodded. "You didn't hear the bad news yet."

"Oh, don't say it like that," Naia sighed. "Go on, spit it out."

"The bad news is that you've already copped a fair bit of media backlash for the promotion of the BLM movement, gender equality, and of the individuality of cultures."

"What?!" Exclaimed River. "Why?"

"That's ridiculous," said Kira. "Although to be fair, nothing we didn't expect."

"Basically, the claim is over inconsistency," said Josie. "As you said Kira, it's ridiculous, but there it is. They're claiming that you can't sing some of the lyrics in your songs and then preach the equality gospel. And the lyrics they're picking on is from some of the more romantic tracks in your previous albums."

Shensea shook her head in disbelief, and sat down on the floor to stretch out her muscles. The British Nigerian had dealt with more than her fair share of racism, but generally the media was pro-equality. She was all too aware of the fact that thy had an agenda regarding Diversity from the very beginning, to the point where they'd forgo basic principles of humanity in favour of putting them down.

"Shensea, you okay girl?" Asked Naia, coming to stand before her.

Shensea looked up at her Indian band mate, and smiled at her, accepting the offered fist bump.

"We've just got even more reason to prove everybody wrong now," she responded.

"Yasss girl, come on," Kira grinned, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder. "We got this."

"Cool. Can I video you dancing now?" Asked Josie.

"Yeah, we can go again now I reckon," nodded River, moving into position once again. "Oh wait... Sienna, did you want something?"

The dark haired South African shook her head.

"No, I just came to watch you for a bit, I haven't seen the progress in a while you know."

"Fair enough," Kira nodded to their band manager.

The girls began their routine all over again, and Josie videoed a little of it, before clapping excitedly as it came to an end.

"That looks amazing!" Beamed Sienna.

"It'll look even better with the dancers," said Jasmine. "We'll all work together with them tomorrow. For now though, we should probably work on the performance for 'Head and Heart,' since that's coming up soon."

"Oh, that's the one of the ones you're pre-releasing as a single, right?" Asked Josie.

"That's the one," Shensea nodded. "Alright. I don't have to get my rap on for this so we good."

"Get your rap on?" Naia giggled at her. "What does that even mean?"

Shensea snorted in amusement.

"Alright then, Miss 'I can sing higher than Elsa.' Rapping is a complicated beast that I'm not in the mindset for right now, alright?"

"I'd take that, I can hit Elsa's notes," said Kira, with a laugh.

A/N: aaaaaahhh it's finally here!

Updates will be on alternate days, as usual. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

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❤️ Jordyn