Chapter 49: The Changing of the Guard
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 11:55 AM
Michael was sitting in his studio. But he wasn't making music. He was looking at his MacBook Pro screen, frowning.
The laptop was split into two windows. On the left, the scheduled premiere page for 'Drugs You Should Try It' on YouTube. On the right, the live stream of "NewWaveFinds".
The critic, Hex, was live, and his screen showed the same YouTube premiere Michael was watching.
Hex's live chat was moving at an impossible speed. Thousands of people were there, waiting.
"5 MINUTES LEFT!!!" "Do you think it will be as dark as 'Paris'?" "Nah, I bet it's another 'White Iverson'. That was the hit." "The intro from last week's live sounded insane. I'm hyped."
The anticipation was palpable, even through the screen. Michael felt his heart pounding in his chest. He had spent the last 24 hours in a state of quiet anxiety. This was his tenth song. His production masterpiece. His graduation.
He closed his eyes and summoned the System interface, just to see the numbers. BALANCE: 136,645 IP. And in the store, the Milestone Roulette button awaited him. Everything depended on this song.
He went back to the live stream.
"Okay, chat, here we go," Hex said, his voice serious. "I don't know what to expect. This guy, Michael Demiurge, has gone from sad guitars to industrial noise to commercial trap hits in less than six months. He's a loose cannon. But the hype for this beat is real."
Hex put the YouTube premiere window in full screen for his audience. The YouTube countdown was on the screen.
PREMIERE WILL BEGIN IN 0:10
Michael stopped breathing.
0:09
In Ohio, Chloe was in math class, her phone hidden under her desk, her headphones run through her sweatshirt sleeve.
0:08
In Madrid, Victor was in a cybercafé with two university friends. "You have to hear this," he had told them.
0:07
In New Jersey, Damien was in the school library, hoodie on.
0:06
Hex's live chat was a wall of fire emojis.
0:05 0:04
0:03 0:02 0:01
The screen went black. And the music began.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 12:00 PM
The YouTube premiere began. The screen went black. And then, the sound.
'(Hoo) Yawa thgin eht esahc...'
Michael watched Hex's live stream. The critic leaned into his microphone, frowning, his expression one of pure confusion.
"What is that? Backwards vocals?" muttered Hex. "Okay, artsy. A bit pretentious, but..."
He couldn't finish the sentence.
The beat dropped. A massive whoosh of reversed synths, followed by the clean hit of the drums and bass. And then, Michael's voice, bathed in ethereal Auto-Tune, came in.
'I try it if it feels right... This feels nice...'
The instant the lead vocal hit, Hex, who was about to make a comment, shut his mouth.
And said nothing.
Michael leaned into his own laptop, his heart pounding. Hex wasn't reacting. He was just listening.
His face, usually animated and critical, became a mask of pure concentration. His eyes were fixed on a point off-camera, as if he were analyzing the sonic architecture in his head.
The song continued.
'I've been down and lost for days... Glad I found you on the way...'
The live chat was going crazy.
"WHAT IS THIS?" "OMG MY HEADPHONES" "I'M HIGH RIGHT NOW AND I HAVEN'T SMOKED ANYTHING"
But Hex commented nothing. He kept listening, absorbed.
'When the day gets brighter, the night gets nighter... I always feel this way...'
'Through the hills... I hear you callin', miles and miles away...'
Michael, in his studio, felt a pang of panic. Hex's lack of reaction was more terrifying than a bad reaction. 'Does he hate it? Is it so bad he doesn't know what to say?'
The chorus faded, giving way to the verse.
'We up all night, from dawn to dusk, it's always poppin'...'
'I fell in love, fell outta love, we both had options...'
Hex raised an eyebrow. The production was still lush, but the lyrics were pure rockstar hedonism.
'I played the drums, she rolled the drugs... I rocked the club, we both throw up...'
'We was the band you never heard before...'
Hex nodded slightly, acknowledging the picture Michael was painting.
'You got that tat' above your crack... And on your cat, you be right back...'
'Your mama never know...'
The chat was laughing, but Hex remained serious, analyzing.
'We were rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' stones...'
'When I'm all alone I wish you had a clone...'
'I take that puff, you take that puff... You know we never care to overdose...'
The chorus came back in, bigger this time, with more layers.
'I try it if it feels right (Oh)... This feels nice...'
Hex remained silent. He was completely mesmerized. The song reached the bridge, the music calmed down a bit.
'Shit, I try it if it feels nice... Shit, this kinda feels nice...'
'M-miles and miles away... Miles and miles away...'
The outro began, Michael's original vocals, now sung forwards, closing the circle.
'When you're home alone in the mood... I know you wanna move, I know you wanna dance...'
'I know you're gettin' ready to... Chase the night away (Ooh)...'
'Oh, you love me, darling.'
The last ethereal note faded into silence.
Hex stared at the black screen for five full seconds. The silence on the live was total, except for the chat spam, which was now just a wall of exploding brain emojis.
Finally, Hex turned slowly toward his camera. His eyes were wide. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.
He took a deep breath into the microphone. And said the first thing that came to his mind.
"What the fuck was that?"
He wasn't talking to the chat. He was talking to himself.
He leaned back in his chair, running a hand over his face.
"Guys, chat... did you hear the same thing I did? What the hell was that?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He leaned forward again, this time with frantic speed.
"That... that wasn't a song. It was an experience. It was a fucking soundscape."
Michael watched as Hex, still in shock, started clicking like a madman.
"Wait... wait," Hex said to his chat. "I need... fuck."
Michael saw on his own phone, which was on the desk, a SoundCloud notification: "NewWaveFinds has reposted your track".
On the live, he saw Hex immediately add it to his favorites. He saw him open Spotify and add it to his official "NewWaveFinds" playlist.
Hex turned to the camera, his face a mix of awe and excitement.
"I don't know what to do," Hex said to his chat, his voice almost a whisper. "I feel like more people need to hear this song. I feel like I just heard the future. I'm going to... I'm going to listen to it again. Right now."
And he listened to it again. Live.
This time, he started analyzing it, pointing out things Michael hadn't even consciously considered.
"Listen to that voice... the Auto-Tune isn't a crutch, it's an instrument. He's using the tuning to create a harmony with the synth. And the layers... My God, the layers! The reverse reverb! This kid is producing at a level that is light years ahead of everyone else on SoundCloud."
The chat, which was confused at first, was now amazed. Hex was giving them the language to understand what they were hearing.
"The way the beat comes in and out... the atmosphere... this is psychedelic. This is... this is art."
Hex stopped the song halfway through the second verse. He stared at the camera.
"Look at this," he said, and raised his hand. It was shaking.
"I'm shaking. From pure excitement. It's like the first time I heard Kid A or something. It's... new."
He put the song back on. "And every time I hear it again, I like it more and more. The first time was confusing. The second is incredible. The third will be an obsession."
He let the song finish. He stayed silent, and then gave his final verdict.
"I don't know what to say, chat. I can only say that Michael Demiurge is a genius, and he came to revolutionize the rap industry. Period. It's over. Everyone else is playing checkers, and this kid just moved a three-dimensional chess piece."
Hex's live ended shortly after, but the damage was already done. The clip of his reaction, with his shaking hand, was clipped and uploaded to YouTube separately.
In an hour, it had 500,000 views.
The verdict of the most important critic in the underground scene was unanimous. And the music world took notice.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Hex's video acted like an accelerant. The chain reaction was massive.
Hex's live was just the beginning. Chloe, in math class, was left with her mouth open, the music filling her ears. It wasn't the pain of 'Ghost Boy'. It was... beautiful. It was like floating.
Victor, in Madrid, heard it and felt a wave of optimism, a direct contrast to the pain of 'Star Shopping'.
Damien, the goth fan, heard it. He expected more aggression like 'Paris'. But instead, he got a production so complex and dark that he respected it on a technical level.
The 'White Iverson' fans loved the vibe and the clean production. The 'crybaby' fans loved the lyrics about "feeling lost for days".
Michael had done the impossible: he had released a song that unified all his fractured audiences.
In his studio, he watched his phone melt. But the real story was in the System interface. The Impact Points weren't trickling. They were cascading.
[MILESTONE RESONANCE DETECTED!]
Source: Release of 'Drugs You Should Try It'.
Resonance Level: Critical (Genre Innovation).
Analysis: You have introduced a psychedelic/atmospheric subgenre, unifying all audiences and attracting critical acclaim.
Impact Points generated: +60,000 IP (and rising)
Michael watched his total balance exceed 196,000 IP.
He had reached his 10-song Milestone.
He opened the System store. There it was, shining.
[MILESTONE ROULETTE (10 SONGS) UNLOCKED] [COST: ALL YOUR CURRENT IP BALANCE]
His finger (mental) hovered over the "Buy" button. He had the 196,000 points. He could do it right now.
But he stopped.
'Calm down,' he thought. He had just released the song. The 60,000 IP were just the first day's gain. Hex's video was barely starting to circulate.
He decided to wait.
It would be stupid to buy now. The song would continue generating thousands of Impact Points over the next few days, as more people discovered it.
He decided to wait a week.
He would let the song reach its peak. He would collect even more points. He would let his total balance rise as much as possible.
If the cost of the roulette was "his entire balance", he was going to make sure the price he paid was the highest possible, betting that a higher payment would mean better quality songs in the spin.
He closed the interface. The work of the "SoundCloud Era" was finished. Now, for the first time in months, he just had to do one thing:
Wait.