"Ms. Monroe, the first episode has been edited according to your suggestions, ensuring the integrity of every contestant's performance. Are you satisfied?"
Eastwick TV, The Voice of America Director's Office. Director Scott was on the phone with Celeste Monroe.
Coincidentally, just after Liam & Amelia Studio approached Director Scott to have Frank Castle's singing footage cut, Celeste Monroe's manager, Jocelyn Shaw, also found him. Jocelyn stated that Celeste Monroe highly valued every contestant's opportunity to showcase themselves and suggested the production team not over-edit their stage performances. For this, Celeste Monroe even agreed to participate in the "Mentor-Contestant Partner Battle" segment in the fourth episode.
On one side were two A-list celebrities, on the other, the number one Diva Queen in the music industry. Director Scott naturally knew what to do. Thus, not a single frame of the contestants' singing footage was cut, which led to Frank Castle's complete stage presentation. As for Frank's other footage, a lot was indeed cut in post-production. Don't let Frank's current seven or eight trending topics fool you; if all of Frank's footage had been released, he would have monopolized the entire trending list tonight.
So, in a way, Director Scott did fulfill his promise to Amelia Quinn and Liam Reed. I tried my best to edit it, but Frank's output was just too high, haha!
"Frank Castle is clearly a jerk! How can he just get whitewashed by singing one song?!"
"We need to spread all the bad things Frank Castle has done! We need to let everyone know that the internet has a memory!"
Some were happy, some were furious. At this moment, Lynn Evans was beyond enraged. The show had ended, but the battle for Amelia's fans was far from over. Just now, Amelia Quinn's fan group had rallied everyone to control the narrative online, insisting that people shouldn't forget that Frank Castle was a cheating, abusive jerk.
Mr. Evans watched his daughter, who seemed possessed, and was about to try and reason with her, when Lynn suddenly shrieked: "Amelia just posted on social media!"
A minute ago, Amelia Quinn had suddenly posted on social media. First, a photo: in a quiet room, on a small table, sat a glass of red wine. Then, four words: "Drinking in the beauty alone."
Lynn was instantly excited: "Amelia is telling everyone that she wasn't affected by that jerk! She's better off after leaving him!" Lynn and many of Amelia Quinn's fans commented under this post.
"Amelia shines alone!"
"This is what an independent woman looks like!"
"A pathetic man like Frank Castle, who writes songs to insult his ex-wife, deserves to never have a woman willing to talk to him his entire life!"
Amelia Quinn still had a considerable number of fans. After a night of controlling the narrative, they finally reminded most netizens of Frank Castle's past misdeeds. Now, the online consensus regarding Frank Castle was fairly unified: an untalented jerk. Even if he gained some fame from negative publicity, no woman would likely want to get close to him in real life.
Seeing the significant results of their night-long battle, Amelia Quinn's fans went to sleep satisfied, while Frank Castle walked out of the hotel into the morning mist.
"Frank, over here, over here!" A car stopped by the roadside, and the window rolled down, revealing a cute face.
Frank approached, helplessly saying: "Ms. Rhodes, didn't I say there was no need to pick me up?"
Cecilia Rhodes put her hands on her hips, her eyes wide: "Didn't I say to call me Ceci?"
Frank hesitated a bit. Cecilia Rhodes grew impatient: "Hey, hey, hey, I'm trying to be your friend, are you going to disrespect me?"
Frank, defeated, could only call out: "Ceci."
"That's better!" Cecilia Rhodes's sweet eyes curved into crescent moons, urging him: "Quick, quick, get in the car!" The little sweetie was impatient and almost got out herself to drag Frank in.
Frank had no choice but to get in the car, noticing two other people inside: a strong burly man in the driver's seat, and a short-haired middle-aged woman in the passenger seat. The strong man seemed to be Cecilia Rhodes's bodyguard, and the middle-aged woman was likely her manager. Frank remembered Cecilia Rhodes calling her Ms. Mo. Frank smiled at the middle-aged woman: "Ms. Mo, hello. Thank you for this."
"Mr. Frank, you're too kind. This is the copyright agreement for using your song. Please take a look, and if there are no issues, kindly sign it. The payment will be transferred to your account immediately." Ms. Mo handed over an agreement. Although she had a smile on her face, her tone was strictly businesslike.
Frank had long ago registered the copyrights for all his songs on the American Copyright Network. Logically, Cecilia Rhodes should indeed pay him copyright fees for performing his song. However, given that he was just a minor, D-list artist, Cecilia Rhodes collaborating with him was actually helping to boost his profile. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't accept the copyright fee.
But Frank still signed the agreement because he understood Ms. Mo's intention. Paying the copyright fee made it a normal collaboration between singers, which could prevent a lot of gossip. After all, Cecilia Rhodes was so young and a single female celebrity, and she was most afraid of dating rumors. Especially with someone like him, a "jerk" famous across the entire internet.
Seeing Frank sign, Ms. Mo's smile became noticeably more genuine. "Thank you, Mr. Frank, and apologies."
Frank smiled: "Understood." The two adults shared a knowing smile, reaching a mutual understanding. Cecilia Rhodes, sitting next to them, was completely unaware of the subtle negotiation that had just taken place between Frank and her manager.
"Frank, I thought about it last night, and we can sing this line like this..." The carefree young woman pulled Frank into a discussion about the details of their recording session.
An hour later, they arrived at Evergreen Recording Studio. Aaron Yuan didn't allow outsiders inside, so Frank and Cecilia Rhodes entered the studio while Ms. Mo and the bodyguard waited outside. Lily Yuan, as usual, had bought breakfast. Being thoughtful, she even bought two extra portions and personally took them out to Ms. Mo and the burly bodyguard, much to their surprise.
Watching the elegant and gentle Lily Yuan walk back into the recording studio, thoughtfully handing Frank a cup of coffee, Ms. Mo suddenly said: "Old Lee, the internet says Frank Castle is a worthless jerk no one wants. Doesn't that feel a bit off?"
The burly man's voice was rough: "Then why are you guarding against him?"
Ms. Mo said impatiently: "Divorced men are the most dangerous! Of course I have to be wary!"
Inside the recording studio, the group began practicing after breakfast. Today's practice went very smoothly, mostly finished by noon. In the afternoon, the two began officially recording the song. No Makeup wasn't a difficult song, and Cecilia Rhodes handled it with ease. By just before 5 PM, the male-female duet version of No Makeup was successfully completed.
After listening to the final demo, Cecilia Rhodes was very happy: "This is the one! Frank, it sounds so good! We're amazing!"
Frank gave Cecilia Rhodes a thumbs-up: "You're amazing! Truly worthy of being a Pop Princess with three platinum albums and fifty concerts before the age of twenty-two!" This wasn't flattery; it was genuine admiration. Look at her, so young and already such a powerful singer. I need to work even harder, can't embarrass Aunt Celeste!
Frank didn't even realize that, without him knowing, he had already listed "not embarrassing Celeste Monroe" as one of his reasons for working hard. Just as he was thinking of Aunt Celeste, she called him, her voice tinged with anger:
"Don't let the online rumors affect you. I've already had Jocelyn look into it."