"Ta ra ra ra ra! Wow, Contestant Ari! I don't think I've ever heard such a catchy song about traffic in my life. Ever! How did you ever come up with it?" The MC, Ryan Leary, slung his arms around Ari's shoulders as he began a mini-interview while waiting for the audience's opinions to be tallied.
"So…funny story, I was coming back from the first audition for this program, and I was stuck in traffic. The cars around me were blasting their horns, and that's where I got the Tararara portion. Everything else was built around that. Although I did have the help of one of the contestants in making it a more cohesive song."
Ari replied in a calm tone as he tried to calm his breathing.
He was entirely out of breath from singing and trying to play the trumpet, which was as difficult as Jamie had made it out to be.
Thankfully, he had made it through the song without messing up, but he had probably used up a day's worth of luck to accomplish it.
Now he just had to survive the judges and the audience with hopes of not being replaced by another contestant.
"Wow! So these are lyrics that you've really experienced, huh! Good to know. The audience is still making their decision, so why don't we get the judges' opinions first, starting with Larry Jackson? He seems to have a lot to say. Larry."
Larry Jackson grabbed his microphone and stared at Ari with a slight scowl before speaking.
"So Ah-ri-el, I see you decided to ignore my words and still come with that…makeup on your face?"
Ari blinked before replying as politely as he could to the feedback, which was not based on his performance.
"I took your words into consideration and made a decision after considering many factors."
"Factors such as…?" Larry continued to press him.
He really disliked Ari since their last interaction, where he felt that Ari mocked him and wanted him to fail.
He had hoped that the boy would quit after he was pressured to perform his own composed song, but that had failed spectacularly.
Not only was the song a bit catchy, even if the lyrics were immature, but Ari seemed to have taken some of Selena's feedback and applied it within two weeks.
His expressions were better, his voice was stronger and more confident, and even though his moves were still quite stiff and jerky, they seemed to have a bit of charm to them, as if they were done on purpose.
He absolutely didn't want to pass him, so he began nitpicking in hopes that the other judges would support him.
"Please explain what other factors you considered, Ah-ri-el." Larry Jackson purposefully mispronounced the boys name again.
In a calm voice while restraining his sigh, Ari began responding, "Personal factors, including the fact that the rules of the program don't say that I can't have makeup on. There are many other contestants who are doing the same."
"There's a difference in light makeup to cover up blemishes and this!" Larry Jackson burst out while pointing a finger at Ari.
The crowd gasped in shock at his behavior, but his victim was unfazed.
"Since this was a talent showcase, I wanted the audience and the judges to judge me for my skills and not for my appearance."
"Your appearance is-" As Larry Jackson was about to continue his rant, somebody else cut in.
"So, do you plan on keeping this makeup on for the entirety of the show?" Bing Yongsun picked up his microphone and asked slowly while examining the confident boy in front of him curiously.
Even though he was standing in front of over a hundred people in the industry, including experts with money, fame, and power to their names, Ari didn't seem nervous like the other contestants.
He just stared at them with those catlike green eyes, with a small smile on those painted red lips.
Even though Bing Yongsun whose motto was 'skills can be taught, but looks are more important' judged that based on Ari's facial structure that he could perceive behind the thick layers of white paint that he was ugly, he still felt that the boy was quite charming in a way and wanted to see more of him.
He made a mental note to ask his assistant to look up the boy's profile.
If he had passed the initial screening, his looks couldn't be too bad, and with what he had displayed so far, he clearly had talent that could be nurtured.
Plus, he was curious to see how the people would treat a contestant whose full face they couldn't see once public voting began.
For now, he would just observe since the boy seemed to have some bad blood with Larry Jackson.
"No, sir. I plan on revealing my face. I'm just waiting until the right moment to do so." Ari replied politely while staring at the judge.
More specifically, he wanted to up his visual points and wait for these bruises to finish healing.
"Interesting. And when do you think that will be?"
"Sometime soon," Ari replied cautiously as he felt pressured by Bing Yongsun's dark eyes.
"Good. Let's do that sooner rather than later. Understood?" At Bing Yongsun's suddenly cold tone, Ari gulped before nodding.
For a second, he was quite scared of the man's eyes.
Bing Yongsun continued speaking slowly, "My feedback on your performance is as follows. Your voice is quite nice, although your breathwork was unstable throughout the performance. It might partially be due to playing the trumpet, but your basics are clearly not there. As for your composed song, although the lyrics are simple, they convey the story well without weighing it down with semantics. Going in a country direction was a good choice, production-wise."
"Thank you."
Bing Yongsun placed his microphone down calmly and crossed his hands.
Seeing that Larry was still glaring at Ari, Selena picked up her microphone and decided to go next.
"Ari."
"Yes, ma'am."
Selena gave him a small smile before she continued.
"You told us last time that you would perform a self-composed song that you were absolutely confident would take you to the next round. How do you feel about the song you just performed?"
"I put in my best effort, and I certainly hope so, but at the end of the day, the choice is left to the judges and the audience," Ari replied neutrally.
It wasn't that he was trying to be humble, but music was generally subjective. It wasn't like racing or boxing, where there was a clear winner and loser.
What was amazing to one person was disgusting to another.
All he could do was try his hardest, which he had.
The rest was truly in their hands.
"What happened to that cheeky confidence that you had in your first audition? You need to bring that Ari back," Selena replied with another laugh.
Seeing her smile widen, Ari laughed slightly before speaking again, "I liked my song and think I did a good job. I think the audience and the judges like my song, so with your urging, I'll confidently say I'll make it into the top 100. How do you think I did, Miss Selena?"
"You said it yourself. I think that you did a good job. And it's clear you've been practicing. Better expressions, more stable, you still look quite stiff, but vocally and stage presence-wise, you did quite well. And the song you composed is quite fun and catchy. Good job."
"Thank you."
As Selena put her mic down and turned to Larry, he just stared forward angrily.
"I've already said my opinions, so I'll abstain from speaking on the contestant."
Seeing Larry's disagreeable demeanor, the MC, Ryan Leary, filled in the suddenly awkward silence.
"Well, after a contentious discussion, it looks like the audience has finished voting and they've slotted contestant Ari in at 90th place. Judges, are we okay with that placement?"
Both Selena and Bing Yongsun nodded without adding anything more, so Ryan Leary slung his arms around Ari's shoulders for a quick interview.
"Mr. Matisse, it seems that you've just made the cut, but with 19 more contestants coming after you, there's a chance that you slide out of the top 100. How are you feeling?"
"Firstly, I'm thankful that the audience and judges saw enough in me to put me in the top 100. I hope to continue to prove myself to those who decided to support me!" Ari bowed his head slightly to the audience before looking at the MC.
"Well, we look forward to seeing your good parts, especially your face. Now, for one final question before we continue with our remaining contestants. You mentioned earlier that you collaborated with another contestant to make your song; earlier, a contestant told us that he collaborated with another contestant to make his own song. Would you be able to verify who that contestant is?"
At the pointed question, Ari glanced at the judges' table. Seeing that they weren't refusing, he nodded, "Sure. The contestant I collaborated with is Jamie Jones. He's currently in 7th place."
At his words, the audience members began screaming again.
"Nice! I'm not sure if you saw it earlier, but Jamie called you a genius. How do you feel about that?"
At the words that were trying to prop him up, Ari immediately shook his head. "Jamie is just speaking kindly about me because he's a kind person. I actually think he's the real genius."
"Awww, it's great to see the friendship between two contestants. Contestant Ari, please go have a seat. Let's get our next contestant up here."
"Sure. Thank you."
Ari turned and gave a staff member his trumpet before beginning to head toward his seat in 90th place.
As he glanced at William Forbes while passing him, he whispered Status before looking away.
But nothing showed up.