Gamer Superstar - Chapter 36

36 – Noah is like an onion
Fortunately, the contract was pretty straightforward. Although there were a few small details that my mother suggested I change, Selena emailed it to the company’s legal team and within minutes they returned it already edited and ready to sign.

After confirming with me that this was what I wanted, my parents signed the contract for me, and our partnership finally began.

“So, Noah, do you have any songs already written or do you want me to find a writer to write a new song for you?” Selena asked after signing the contract.

“I don’t think I’ll need writers for me, I already have some separate lyrics that I wanted to sing, if you want I can show you the one I recorded today.” I said as I looked at her.

Surprised, Selena nodded and I got up to go to my room with her following me.

“Have you heard The Lazy Song?” I asked as I opened the animation program I was using.

“The Lazy Song… The Lazy Song… I don’t think I know it.” She said a little embarrassed, but I just shook my head.

“No problem, it was a song I wrote and sang on an internet talent show, luckily I registered the copyright after I sang it, but a streamer started saying he was the singer of the song after it went viral.” I explained about Logan’s case. “But I was able to turn it around a bit and get some of the music public back to me.”

When Selena heard this, I felt the atmosphere around her freeze. “Our legal team is very powerful, with the copyright and videos of him saying he’s the original singer and writer of the song, we can sue him. How about that?”

On second thought, I had no problem. The best way to avoid future problems with Logan would be to nip this in the bud and make sure he didn’t get any more ideas about claiming the song as his own.

“Sure, I can get the proofs and send them to you.” I said smiling, pleased that I was already seeing the benefits of signing with AJP.

“The song you want to release is this Lazy Song?” She asked, curious about the song, since it was obviously good, right? If even a big streamer lied and pretended to be the original singer.

“Yeah, I’m working on an animated clip to post on my MeTube channel, for now I’ve got 20 seconds of animation done, check it out.” I said as I opened the music video and showed it to her.

🎼🎶🎤

Today I don’t feel like doing anything…

I just wanna lay in my bed…

Don’t feel like picking up my phone…

So leave a message at the tone…

‘Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything…

🎼🎶🎤

At the beginning of the song, not much was happening, so the animation was just BlackVelvet’s character bobbing his head in his room in a comfortable outfit while 5 guys in animal masks stood around him bobbing their heads to the beat.

When they talked about picking up the phone, all the characters made the phone move with their hands, and when that verse ended, the characters moved away from the camera and were about to start dancing, but I hadn’t animated that part yet, so the screen went black, but the song kept playing.

Selena started listening to the song with a serious expression as she stood with her arms crossed, but as time went by, I noticed that she relaxed and let the energy of the music infect her.

I could even see a small smile appearing at the corner of her mouth, which was usually just serious and focused, which was good news.

🎼🎶🎤

Nothing at all

Woo-ooh, woo-ooh, ooh

Nothing at all

Woo-ooh, woo-ooh, ooh

Nothing at all

🎼🎶🎤

When the song finally ended, Selena looked at me with a slightly shocked expression.

“You never cease to amaze me, Noah.” She said very sincerely as she looked around and sat down on my bed behind her.

“Why?” I asked smiling.

“When I left the bar yesterday, I spent a couple of hours listening to the two songs you released, and I imagined that for your career we would have to focus on emo rock songs and limit ourselves to that to focus on the target audience you were building, but seeing how good this music is, I think we can diversify your career and try to follow a more one-sided path.” She explained her point of view.

Hearing that made me very happy because that was exactly my plan. I didn’t want to be known as just a sad rock singer, I wanted to be more than that. Armed with so many good songs from my old world, it would be a complete waste if I only focused on the songs of one style and didn’t use the other songs.

“That is also my plan. I already have some songs in other styles that I’m preparing, and I don’t want to just focus on sad rock songs. It’s a big market, no doubt about it, I could get rich even if I only grow in this niche, but I feel that limiting myself to this style is not good for me”. I replied with a smile.

Seeing that our thoughts were the same, Selena also smiled and said. “Great, now tell me, are you doing this character animation all by yourself?”

“Shit… I thought, knowing that the idea was for me to actually tell her about Jacob, to make sure no problems with the two identities arose in the future, but damn, telling her, such a pretty girl, that I draw animals on the internet to make money is practically asking for humiliation, right?

“Yeah… to get publicity and money at the beginning of my career, I had to start a service I’m not very proud of.” I said a little embarrassed as I scratched the back of my head.

Suspicious, Selena looked back at me and asked. “What do you mean? You better tell me so there won’t be any scandal in the future…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not as serious as you might think. I just made a Twipper account where I sell art for the characters people ask me for, so I can practice my art and make some money.” I replied, surprising her.

With raised eyebrows, Selena asked me. “So you’re a talented guitarist, a talented singer, a talented songwriter, a talented artist, what else are you hiding?”

“Who knows?” I asked laughing.

—— Selena’s POV ——–

As I looked at Noah in front of me, I became more and more intrigued.

Ever since I first saw this kid playing guitar in the bar yesterday, I could see potential in him, and after he started singing his song, I saw that he had potential and passion for it, which gave me the urge to hire him as my first musician.

Even though I had been working at AJP for so many months, the company hated me because I didn’t want to hire anyone.

While I was looking for quality, the company was focusing on quantity now that things weren’t going so well.

My manager was about to fire me after our last fight for this reason, but I stuck to my guns because I knew that having one A-list artist would be much more beneficial to the company in every way than having several D-list artists.

And in Noah, I saw enough passion and talent to become the artist I needed.

But it seems I only saw the surface of his talent when I met him.

His talent as a guitarist was good enough for me to put him in one of the company’s bands, his talent as a singer was enough to help him start his band in the company, his talent as a songwriter was enough to increase the focus and investment in his career because we wouldn’t have to spend as much, but his talents just kept coming.

Now he was showing me a talent for digital illustration and 2D animation, something I never thought a rock singer could do so well.

From what he showed me of his artwork, even if the characters weren’t quite to my taste, and apparently neither was he, but you could see his talent and that it earned him a good income for something he could do in a short amount of time.

Not to mention the brilliant strategy he had to grow his channel and his music by using this alternative account to promote it without even linking the two images.

I was just worried about his image, because as an artist I know very well that people judge a lot by appearance, and although I don’t care about that kind of thing, his weight would certainly affect the public and possibly make it difficult for his popularity to rise.

People tend to sympathize with good-looking people, that’s a fact.

But it seems like he was prepared for that, he even showed me his daily workout routine, which I couldn’t even do 40% of, but he did it every day, so I don’t think even the problem I imagined would be a problem.

Looking at this chubby boy in front of me, I feel like I’m peeling an onion. With each layer I peel off, I discover a whole new layer of talents underneath that I didn’t know he had.