Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood
chapter-212

'Firefly' popularity quickly spread due to a lot of reasons. The music video was visually great, and everyone could see that a lot of money had gone into it. The song itself was a great one, and everyone was mesmerised by it.

Aiden's fans had not thought that one day he was going to collaborate with Rachel, the person who had eliminated him on X-Star.

But it was a pleasant surprise.

A lot of people were astonished by Rachel's high vocals, which hadn't been used properly in her previous songs and were in awe of it. Her dance moves were praised a lot too.

As for Aiden, his style of composing suited 'Firefly' a lot and everyone could see that he had exceeded himself this time.

The high vocals, great lyrics and the way of singing — Everything was top-notch.

He was praised a lot for his composing too. One of the music critics tweeted, "Aiden Silvereye 'Firefly' seems like the song that clearly shows a great musician's potential. He seems to have a knack for getting better and better with each song. The Oscars might really be his this time. I'm going to get my hands on his first album and put it on my wall as I feel like this is the beginning of a legend."

Many thought that the tweet was exaggerated, but many appreciated it too. Though, the views on the music video were just saying one picture.

On the first day, it got 6 million views.

On the second, the number was up to 14 million, and on the third day, it finished at 21 million. By the end of the first week, the music video had already gotten 43 million views and was a huge hit.

It was slowly going towards the 100 million mark, and by this time, everyone was sure that no one would be able to stop it.

"We are getting a lot of great comments. Over 40 percent of them mention you. Some are even asking you to release more solo songs, and the subscriber count of your channel has also increased."

Linda said, looking up at Rachel, who, for a change, had a smile on her face. They were talking in a cafe.

"I saw. I read all the comments. It… it feels nice."

Rachel said. It was after a while that she saw so many comments about herself. The best thing was that most of these were very positive, and it felt like her resurgence in her career was finally happening.

"How's the company's response?" Rachel asked, and Linda gathered her words before speaking.

"It's pretty good. They are very happy that the song is doing so well." Linda said. "Currently, they are just monitoring all of it, especially comments about you."

"Are they going to finally give me another chance?"

Rachel asked, her eyes gazing at Linda's face. 'Firefly' was a huge opportunity for her not only because it was her first song in a while but also because it was her opportunity to prove herself to Cyco media that she was someone worth investing in.

Cyco media was also obviously keeping a close eye on how the audience would react to her.

"Honestly, I can't say for now. The music video is surely making an impact, but we will only know after all of your live shows with Aiden are finished. I'm hoping for positive news, though."

Linda said, and Rachel nodded her head, trying not to think about it. In the end, she changed topics.

"The showcase is tomorrow."

"Yeah, a lot of media reporters are called, and many fans that won the contest are also going to be there. So, the sales largely depend on the reception. Though 'Firefly' already managed to impress a lot of people."

Linda said. They held an online social media competition to get tickets to the showcase for 'Stories'. It got a lot of Aiden's fans interested, and a good amount of people were going to be there.

"Are you confident about giving a good live performance?"

"Yeah, I feel like I would be able to."

"Okay."

Linda muttered, and before she could say anything else, a group of friends sitting adjacent to them stood up and walked towards them.

"Hello, are you Rachel Rose?" One of the girls asked, and as soon as Rachel nodded, she became excited. "Oh my god! I can't believe I'm meeting you here. I'm listening to 'Firefly' on loop. I loved it. Can you give me an autograph?"

"Ah, yeah, sure."

Rachel was a bit surprised to hear that, but she didn't waste any time giving out autographs. Seeing all this, Linda just smiled to herself.

She couldn't remember the last time a fan had asked Rachel for an autograph.

Like many people who would get momentarily famous through reality tv shows, Rachel had also started to fade away in the last few months, but the last week had changed that.

The sight in front of her was proof of it.

'I'm so happy that she's finally getting a resurgence.'

***

The sky was as dark as it could be, and the rain gods were not holding it back today.

It looked like the whole city was going to drown today, and people wondered why it was raining when it was the month of March.

Inside the hall that was booked for the showcase of 'Stories', a lot of reporters, celebrity guests, and fans were present. A lot of security guards were walking around, making sure that no one tried to do anything funny today.

Especially with Aiden already being stabbed once in the past.

"Ah, this showcase looks pretty good. I didn't know Aiden Silvereye was going to become so big this quickly."

"Yeah, apparently, Cyco media is partnering up on the album with him and handling a lot of things. He lucked it out, getting good connections with one of the leading record labels."

"Yeah, but I think it's pretty much a mutual partnership. Business is one thing, but talent is unique. Going by how 'Firefly' is doing on the charts and MeTube, he's someone worth investing in."

Two reporters talked among themselves, standing in the showcase. They were from a Hollywood magazine and were talking about Aiden and his supposed rise in the music industry.

He was now treated as someone extraordinary in the music scene for being an Oscar nominee and a successful artist.

That's why a lot of discussions were happening about him among different groups of people present in the showcase.

Reporters were wondering about what questions to ask him and, at the same time, discussing the performance of the album.

"There's going to be an interview, too, right?" One of the reporters asked his senior.

"Yeah, they are going to conduct one after the showcase. Apparently, Grey and Rachel are both going to perform with him on different songs. I really wonder if they are going to sound great live."

"Ain't Grey a great artist?"

"Yeah, I'm not worried about him. Rachel is a better one to look into as she was rumoured to be disregarded by Cyco media. No one knows how she sounds live. So, we could write articles if 'Firefly' doesn't sound good live."

At another corner, a few reporters were having a similar discussion.

"'Firefly' is really making waves. I think it might hit the top 5 on the Melody charts like this. It's already top of the new song charts. They didn't even promote it a lot."

"They banked on Aiden's current reputation, and the Oscar nomination helped. As the song was good enough, it spread easily. Though, there were still doubts about the quality of other songs."

"What do you mean?"

"I heard that the other songs in the album are just sub-par. The one with Grey might be average, but there are a lot of chances that others might be total duds. He apparently made the songs in a few months, and he was shooting a movie at the same time. There's no way he would get all of them right."

"So, you are saying that 'Firefly' was the best one, and they are trying to salvage the album on just that."

"Yeah, everything will be revealed in the showcase."

As 'Firefly' was doing so good, Aiden was bound to be a hot topic. Because of that, a lot of discussions happened before the live performance between the reporters.

Some of them were sure that the album wouldn't do well, while others believed that rather than good songs, the album might do well because no other artist was releasing anything currently.

There was no current competition in the mainstream.

A lot of them had also come here just to get a chance to interview Aiden about his Oscar nomination, the drama on the sets of [Disconnected] and other things related to him.

For the album, they had pretty low expectations, mostly because Aiden didn't have the resources that a lot of top record labels had, and he had composed all the songs himself.

After all, he couldn't keep making good songs all the time.

But when the showcase finally began and Aiden and Rachel came on stage to sing, the reporters, who were ready to write articles on how the song couldn't be sung properly live, were dumbfounded.

The same sort of reactions came out with 'Shiver' and even when Aiden performed 'Day'.

"How can this be?"

"Why are all the songs in the album so good?"

"Damn! It sounds even better live. They surely have worked a lot on it."

"Hit! This is going to be a big hit."

...