27
27
Maya stays over at my place after finally dragging me out of bed, and we hang out for most of the evening watching movies and making a couple more girls’-night-in TikToks that get pretty good engagement. We call Jessie and my family, and I get the play-by-play of everything else that went on at Coachella after I left. But the next morning Maya has to leave bright and early, after Kimi calls to confirm I’m still planning to do phone interviews about my latest song at their office today.
Amidst all the madness I forgot it was dropping today. That’s the thing about making music in Hollywood: it takes months to go from making a song to finally having it released. I’d lose track of my drop dates if it wasn’t for Kimi and Wayne. I’m always already on to the next idea, my mind flooded with new sounds and lyrics. Sometimes I’m even over the emotions that went into creating the song by the time it’s released, and that’s never been truer than it is for the one I’m releasing today.
Which, of course, is about John.
On my way to Wayne and Kimi’s office I stop off to get a coffee in Beverly Hills, and run into a paparazzi guy. He’s always hanging around this area and we’ve had a lot of interactions together before, so far all friendly—which is why I’m cool about him videoing me while simultaneously taking pictures as I walk out of the coffee shop and head back to my car.
“Princess, you look great today,” he says, holding the camera up to my face and walking next to me.
“Aw, thank you.”
“So what’s been going on with your music lately? Anything new coming out?”
These are pretty standard paparazzi questions so I answer easily without thinking twice. “It’s been so surreal! I’m so grateful for all the support on my latest releases, and actually have something new dropping today that I’m really excited about.” I smile for the camera.
“Congratulations! I saw that and have been listening to the snippets on your socials. You sound great and I love the song. Did you know Riley Vega released a surprise song last night? It sounds just like yours. Do you have any comment about that?”
My face falls and I’m baffled. What the fuck is he talking about? I stop responding and pick up the pace, trying to get back to my car as fast as possible.
“Princess, do you have a comment?” he tries asking again. “Is this a collab, or whose song is it?” He’s having a hard time keeping his camera steady while trying to keep up with me as I approach the door to my car.
“You seem surprised, Princess, what—” His voice cuts off as soon as I slam the driver’s-side door closed. He walks around to the sidewalk, still filming me while I sit in disbelief before pulling up the video to see it for myself. It’s true. She released my fucking song and is trying to make it look like it’s hers. I open the thread of comments on her post:
Riley! That fame whore Princess is teasing your song but with her vocals, saying it’s her next single!!! Lol what a loser!
Princess aka knockoff version of Riley.
I always knew Princess was a one-hit wonder and would do anything to have a taste of success again. Leave Riley alone.
Princess has always been garbage. Not a single original thought behind those eyes.
Lol. Not Princess recording and trying to release Riley’s song as if it’s hers.
Princess should go back to her island her career is dead and always has been. She has nothing on Riley, you go girl!
Enraged, I throw my phone across the passenger seat and it bounces onto the floor.
I put the car in Drive and head straight to Kimi and Wayne’s office. I need to calm myself so I can brief them on what just went down. I count repeatedly backward from ten and practice deep breathing until I arrive at their building.
Bursting into the conference room, I find Kimi and Wayne already sitting there, ready for me.
“Riley put my song out. It’s out, it’s on Spotify. I found out from a paparazzo on the side of the street just now when I was getting coffee. I looked it up and it looks like it came out last night. What the fuck! What am I going to do? There are a million horrible comments on her post tearing me apart. You can forget about this song doing well, this is going to ruin my entire career. They think it’s her song.”
“Slow down,” Wayne says, trying to process what I just told him.
“I wrote this song. Riley had nothing to do with it. But no one is ever going to believe me yet again. You should see what people are saying. There is no coming back from this.”
“The master for that song is owned by both you and the label. It’s been paperworked. You wrote on the song. Riley can’t legally post that. Who knows how she got access to the files, but there’s a simple solution here. We’re going to send a cease-and-desist and the label will have the song and any videos with it removed in no time,” Kimi says, maintaining a calm and collected tone.
“Okay.” This logic calms me slightly. “But that’s not solving the controversy that’ll be spreading like wildfire with the fans and online. The internet never cares what the truth is,” I press her.
Wayne chimes in. “We’ll have the label draft a statement that we can release right way to protect you and clarify the situation. Yes, the fans love the drama and will probably drag it out for as long as they can, but the truth will be out there. This was your song, you wrote on it. You did not take it from anyone. We’ll stick to our plan, prep the interviews, and direct them not to ask anything pertaining to this issue, and we will be on the calls with you to step in and shut it down if any of them tries to.”
This makes sense to me but doesn’t stop my rage for Riley from burning through me.
“Stay focused. You are a businesswoman. You are successful. This is what happens when you rise to the top, people will try to take you down and block your success any chance they can get and however they can. If they’re threatened by you, if you’re a true talent with great potential, these are the things you have to deal with. Do not let them take this from you. Power through,” Wayne says fiercely.
“Okay, I can do that.”
Riley can try to take me down all she wants. She won’t get rid of me that easily.
We spend the rest of the time strategizing and getting me into the right frame of mind for the interviews. Wayne and Kimi update the label and make sure a statement gets drafted and prepared for immediate release. I’m so thankful for them but I cannot wait for this day to be over.
“We have Variety on line two, are you ready?” Kimi’s voice grabs my attention.
I take a sip of my water, clear my throat, and reply, “I’m ready.”