For St. John's Elementary School, Ryan Jenkins not taking a leave was actually something worth pondering. It made it hard for both the faculty and the students to adjust. Now, finally, the school's star student had returned to normalcy, taking a long vacation of twenty days.
Ryan began a short routine of writing scripts in the morning and going to the record company to record songs in the afternoon. Nicole even lightly scolded him for it.
"Dear, doing this will make you too tired, and that's not good for your health."
"Nicole, I'm as strong as an ox, don't worry." The intensity of this workload might be tough for people his age, but for Ryan, it was not a big deal. Even if he felt a little tired, after a good night's sleep, he would be bursting with energy again.
Besides, the intensity of recording wasn't actually that high. For him, it felt more like a test and a summary of his years of studying music. Also, his musical talent and skills were truly outstanding, so the recording process was going fairly smoothly.
In addition, he had to shoot the album cover. The album's name had already been decided. Like most new singers, he would use his own name for his debut album — he was no exception. The album would simply be called Ryan Jenkins.
Originally, Ryan had thought of copying some of the more individualistic artists he remembered from his previous life, designing the cover himself and coming up with a simple yet quirky album title. But after listening to the company professionals' explanations, he immediately dropped those unrealistic ideas.
As John Burns had said, "Having individuality is a must, but if individuality exceeds what the market can accept, it's bound to fail. Besides, Ryan, don't you think your name already has tremendous appeal?"
Alright then, for profit, entertainment companies would make use of every possible advantage. Ryan sighed to himself. It wasn't too bad now, but in a few years, to attract attention, it wouldn't just be entertainment companies—some singers and actors would do absolutely anything without shame.
From the cover design to the packaging to the specific promotional plans, Ryan left everything to the professionals. Firstly, because he had limited time and couldn't afford to waste it on such matters; secondly, because expertise matters—he wasn't some know-it-all.
So, he decided to focus his main energy on recording the songs.
"Stop!" Burns' voice came through the headphones. Ryan immediately noticed something wrong and quickly stopped.
"That line was awful, Ryan, you cracked your voice."
"Yeah." Ryan waved his hand and said, "John, let's take a break. I need to find the right feeling again."
The song they were recording was Fly. After he re-arranged it, although it still carried an R&B style, the melody and rhythm had become much more upbeat, especially with Ryan's singing style. Unlike the singer from his past life, he didn't bring a heavy sense of gloom and sorrow to the performance.
Ryan walked out of the recording booth, and a staff member quickly handed him a bottle of water. Burns was stroking his chin, deep in thought. After a while, he seemed to reach a conclusion and said, "Ryan, I think you should change your singing style for this song."
"Change it?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I think the tone should be lower and raspier," Burns suggested.
"Lower and raspier?" Ryan repeated, a helpless smile tugging at his lips. Wasn't that just circling back to the original style? He shook his head. "John, this is a positive and uplifting song. Why would we use that kind of tone? Plus, with such an upbeat melody, it would feel completely out of place."
"Well, the arrangement can be changed, right?" Burns chuckled but didn't insist. He knew exactly how talented the boy in front of him was when it came to music.
After about a ten-minute break, they resumed recording. Ryan got very serious, seemingly trying to prove something — though no one else knew exactly to whom he was proving it.
When Ryan focused seriously, his abilities were indeed extraordinary. After recording on and off for almost another hour, Burns' excited voice came through the headphones again, "Yes! That's great!"
Ryan exhaled lightly. Finally, he had achieved a result that both he and Burns were satisfied with. After listening to a playback, he nodded slightly. He wouldn't claim his version was better than the one from his previous life, but he had managed to tweak the style a bit, making it more in line with current pop trends.
"My insistence was right, wasn't it?" Walking out of the recording booth, Ryan beamed at Burns.
"Alright! Alright! Ryan is always right! Old John is always wrong!" Burns laughed heartily. He was almost fifty, after all; there was no way he would argue with a kid. Especially not with a kid like Ryan.
"Shall we continue?" Burns asked.
"Of course." Ryan nodded. "I'm in great shape now. Let's move on to recording It's My Life. If possible, let's tackle Climb as well."
The surrounding staff couldn't help twitching their lips. For most singers, recording one song every one or two days was considered excellent progress. For someone like Ryan Jenkins, who was close to finishing an entire album in just a week, there were only two words to describe him: genius or monster.
"Ryan, are you ready?" Burns asked with some concern. The next two songs required an impressive vocal range and lung capacity.
Ryan didn't say anything. He just gave a big thumbs-up. He knew perfectly well why these two songs had been saved for last.
Over the past six months, he hadn't just been receiving vocal training for his voice change period; he had also worked with a professional coach to enhance his lung capacity through special exercises. Given his naturally strong physique and his consistent workout habits, combined with his innate advantages in vocal cords, he wasn't quite at the level of Mariah Carey's "buffalo lungs" and five-octave range, but he was in a good enough state to handle these songs — even if they posed some difficulty, they were manageable.
The ballad version of It's My Life wasn't as explosive and exciting as the rock version, but it was much more soothing and listenable. Its gentle lyrics and melody conveyed a comforting strength.
It had to be said that when you're in peak condition, everything goes more smoothly. Seeing the staff outside the recording booth all making triumphant gestures at him, Ryan clenched his fist in response. He had masterfully controlled his singing to be right on the verge of cracking, giving the song a unique raspy feel.
After leaving the recording booth, Ryan downed a full glass of water. Burns smiled at him and said, "Ryan, that was amazing. Take a break, and then we might even finish recording Climb!"
"This album is definitely going to do well!" one of the staff members said. "I firmly believe that!"
Good results? Of course. Ryan's confidence swelled. Not to mention the three original songs he had written himself — the other seven tracks were all classic English hits from his previous life, several of which had even topped the charts. Typically, if an album had two or three widely popular songs, it was considered a huge success. Now, with so many hits crammed into one album, if it didn't sell well, he might as well dig a hole and bury himself.
Moreover, Ryan was confident that Climb, his original song, would be just as good as any of the others.
Just like the media in his previous life had summarized, as long as you stayed away from politics and current events, songs were much less affected by society compared to movies.
After resting for about ten minutes, Ryan was just about to tell Burns to continue when suddenly a staff member knocked on the recording room door and said, "Ms. Kingsley is here. She has something to discuss."
Ryan and Burns exchanged helpless smiles. Today's recording session would have to end here. Following the staff member, they walked into a meeting room, where Kingsley and CEO Reed were already waiting.
After sitting down and listening to Kingsley's few words, Ryan quickly understood what was going on.
Back in the summer, Johnson & Johnson had approached him to endorse their line of children's bath products. Since neither side was in a hurry, negotiations had dragged on until now.
"So, they want to sign a three-million-dollar-a-year endorsement contract with me?" Ryan asked after receiving confirmation from Kingsley. He continued, "What about The Show?"
As part of the contract, Ryan had agreed to write a song for them. He had handed over the completed recording of The Show to Kingsley, who was in charge of the negotiations. This song had undergone heavy lyrical changes — almost completely rewritten — because the original from his past life was about a little girl. Naturally, now it had to be about a little boy.
"They are very satisfied with the song, and they've reached an agreement with Hollywood Records as well," Kingsley said, glancing at Reed. It seemed they had finalized everything.
Of course they were satisfied! Ryan thought silently. The Show had been the theme song for one of Johnson & Johnson's products' commercials in his past life. As for why Hollywood Records agreed? Simple. The ad would come out before the album release, providing free promotion. Only an idiot would refuse that.
"John, how's the recording going?" Reed asked.
"Very smoothly," Burns laughed. "Ryan's in excellent form. If there are no surprises, we should be able to wrap up recording within a few days."
"That's fantastic!" Reed looked as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He punched his fist into his palm excitedly. "What about the cover? Is Ryan satisfied?"
"It's alright." Ryan nodded. His aesthetic standards were way too different from people of this era, so he had hardly offered any input during the design process.
"Good. I'll have all the departments speed up their work!"
Leaving the meeting room, Ryan's work for the day was officially over. He said goodbye to Burns and the others and prepared to go home. Just before getting into his car, though, Kingsley caught up to him and handed him a thin stack of papers.
"This is the script for the commercial, Ryan. According to the agreement between the record company and Johnson & Johnson, if we shoot an MV for The Show, the commercial will be incorporated into it."
Endorsements and commercials were different matters, each with all sorts of complicated clauses.
Ryan quickly skimmed through it and noticed that the commercial wouldn't just feature him — it also needed a child around two years old. He couldn't help frowning. Kids that age were completely uncontrollable during filming, and if something went wrong, God only knew how long it would take to finish shooting the ad.
"Pat, have they found a child actor yet?" he asked.
"Not yet," Kingsley replied, seemingly realizing something.
"Get in touch with them. I can recommend someone." Ryan smiled mischievously.