Charttoppers - 3. Climbing the Charts

“I’m going off the rails, and no one’s to blame…”

Ash’s latest hit song played on the computer as nineteen-year-old Tyler sang along, already knowing all the words to it. In a modest apartment building in London, he rummaged through the closet in his tiny bedroom, looking for his brown leather jacket. The Korean singer was one of his inspirations and Tyler couldn’t help imagining what it would feel like to be in his shoes, performing songs in front of big audiences and having his own fans sing along with him. It was his biggest wish, and sometimes he felt silly for daring to dream so big.

Still, the British boy had a pretty good chance of making his wish a reality. In just a matter of weeks, his first single would be out for the whole world to hear!

He thought about his upcoming song release and all the things he would have to do once the track is out. His label Platinum Street had invested a great deal of money and work into his album and trained him for a career in the music business. They hired songwriters and producers to create his record, spent a large budget on his debut music video, radio and TV promotions, organized photoshoots, vocal lessons and everything else necessary for someone’s transition from a simple nobody into a star. It often seemed to him they had more faith in him than he did.

Even though with every step he was closer to achieving his goal, Tyler could not help but be cautious, or as his family called it - pessimistic. He simply believed that miracles do not happen to someone like him and that everything could come crashing down at any moment.

The nineteen-year-old still could not forget his first talent show when he was only seven - a regional singing contest for children in Birmingham. It was a big deal, too - the winner was to receive a recording contract and a large cash prize. At the time, he wasn’t even sure how big the competition actually was. All he knew was that he loved singing and his parents seemed to think he was brilliant at it, so when they asked if he wanted to participate, he said yes. However, what was supposed to be a fun family trip quickly turned into a nightmare.

Once they arrived at the arena where the contest was held, and young Tyler saw hundreds of other kids with their parents, waiting for their time to shine, he almost fainted. He had never participated in any competition before that, so the thought of going up on that stage and singing before the judges and all the other contestants seemed downright terrifying. When his name was finally called out, Tyler went up there, pale as a ghost, hardly remembering a word of the song he was planning to sing. Twenty seconds later, he ran off the stage back to his parents’ waiting arms, sobbing and wanting to get out of there and return home as soon as possible.

The hopeful singer has come a long way since then, having performed at various fairs and small local festivals, although none of the crowds were as large as the one from the Birmingham contest. And most importantly, he did not cry anymore when he forgot his lyrics!

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought, and he turned to see his baby brother Kit barrelling into his room. The six-year-old ran straight for his brother, wrapping his arms around Tyler’s waist.

“Hey, champ! Are you done playing with Lucy?” the older boy asked, messing up Kit’s blond hair, a few shades lighter than his own.

“Yeah, she’s no fun. She fell asleep,” Kit shrugged.

“Oh. Well, it’s just us then! What shall we do?”

“Can we watch some cartoons?” the boy suggested, hopping on the bed. Tyler smiled, knowing very well what his brother wanted to watch.

“Hmm, what could we watch,” he looked at the large tank on the dresser, which contained his two pet tiger salamanders - Sally Mander and Queen Elizardbeth. The singer loved them to bits - he got them as a birthday present when they were still tiny, and every time he watched them grow, he felt like a proud father. “Hey, you two, what do you wanna watch? Just don’t say Rango, we watched it last week. Hmm, I know, how about...”

“Dragon Ball!” the brothers shouted in unison and Tyler raised his hand, giving Kit a high five. The boy grinned from ear to ear as his older brother played an episode of his favorite show on the computer.

The brothers laid on the bed, laughing and commenting as they binged several episodes of the show. Even though they knew many of the scenes by heart, it was always fun to rewatch them as long as they were together. After a while, though, Tyler could hear his little brother’s stomach growling, so he got up from his comfortable position on the bed and paused the episode.

“Looks like someone’s hungry,” he let out a short chuckle.

“But I wanna finish the episode,” Kit whined, but Tyler was already pulling him off the bed.

“Come on, I’ll keep you company! Mom’s gonna call us down for dinner soon anyway.”

“Ok,” the younger boy relented and followed his brother to the kitchen-slash-dining room-slash living room. The family of five could not afford a bigger place, so they had to make do with what they had. Kit and Lucy were still relatively young, so having to share a bedroom was not a big issue, although they had no choice in the matter anyway. Even though fights and shouting matches were a common occurrence, at the end of the day they would always make up.

After Tyler reheated the leftover meatloaf they had for lunch in the microwave, the two brothers sat at the dining table to eat. It didn’t take long for the older boy to notice his baby brother was unusually quiet, absentmindedly playing with his food.

“Come on, we’ll finish the episode after we eat,” Tyler said, trying to cheer him up, but the boy did not react. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“Um, nothing,” Kit said bashfully, refusing to look up. It only served to convince Tyler even more that something was indeed wrong.

“Well, my superpowers are telling me something’s bothering you,” the older boy said, dramatically placing his fingers against his temples and closing his eyes. “Let me see, you don’t like meatloaf - you want broccoli instead.”

“Nooo, I hate broccoli,” Kit laughed, pulling one of his brother’s hands.

“If you say so,” Tyler teased and Kit responded by nodding. “You sure you don’t wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

The six-year-old hesitated for a moment. “It’s just that… When you become famous, will you have to leave home?”

“Ohh…” Tyler looked at his little brother, at a loss for words. The truth was that that was something he was afraid of as well. Even though he made a conscious effort not to think about it, he knew deep down that if his career took off, he would have to spend a lot of time on the road. It was something that made him anxious. How would he ever leave his family? It would be great if they could all travel with him, but Lucy and Kit were still so young. They were about to start school soon, so they had to stay in one place. His girlfriend Stacy was another person he would have to leave behind. It was all so overwhelming, but of course he could not say that to his little brother. He had to be brave and strong for the both of them.

“Well, first of all, I’m not famous yet, and maybe I won’t be. Who knows?” Tyler shrugged, smiling. “So you don’t have to worry about that yet, ok? And you know, there are plenty of famous people who have families and live with them. So I’m gonna stick around for a long time. Maybe I’ll have to travel from time to time, but I’ll always come back,” he explained, trying to comfort himself as much as his brother.

“You promise?”

“Yeah, I promise. Wanna shake on it?” Tyler asked, extending his arm across the table. Finally putting a smile on his face, Kit nodded and reached out to shake his brother’s hand, but Tyler quickly moved it out of reach, drawing a chuckle out of the little boy.

“I’m just messing with ya,” he laughed, grabbing Kit’s little hand and shaking it. “Now, let’s finish this and go back to watching Dragon Ball!”

~~

The first thing Samson did when he woke up that Friday morning was check his phone. With his cat Cheops curled up by his side, he arranged a few big, soft pillows against the headboard and sat up, opening the internet browser on his device. His new song and music video, Clouds, premiered at midnight and he was dying to see people’s reactions.

“Oh my gosh!” he gasped as he opened his video page on YouTube, his eyes wide with surprise. “It’s already at two million views!” The like to dislike ratio was great as well, with the dislike portion of the bar much smaller, almost invisible. Considering the lukewarm reactions to his first album, he did not expect so many views so quickly. Maybe his moment to shine was coming this time. It was a truly exciting prospect and he could feel his heart pounding wildly.

Nervously, Samson scrolled down, wanting to take a look at the comments. Even though he knew the YouTube comment section always had plenty of trolls and haters, he couldn’t help himself - he wanted to see what his fans and the general public thought of his new material.

Raul H: My ears thank you for this song! I’ve been blessed

Cutebish: Omg the king of pop snapped! We have no choice but to stan!!

AdmiralSteel: Yawn. those vocals carry less power than a leaking triple-A battery

Vanessa03: What did he do? THAT! That is what he did!

Lovecraftfan4ever: Ok but can we take a moment to appreciate that choreo? He was serving moves left and right. And the song is already iconic, if this doesn’t go #1 I’ma riot.

AnchBoi: Can this no-hit wonder give it up already? We’ve seen it all before...

MrKevin: Ugh I am LIVING for that pool scene. Samson in his trunks makes me weak in the knees.

The singer giggled at some of the comments, delighted at the creative ways people found to express their love for his music. He scoffed and rolled his eyes at the haters, not wanting to give them the time of day. He knew that was exactly what they wanted and he refused to play their game.

After checking his social media, he proceeded to google his name, wanting to see the media reactions. Since he had a high profile talk show appearance the next day to promote his new single, he wanted to be prepared. As he scrolled through the latest articles and skimmed the headlines, he was pleased to see some of them were positive.

Samson Shows Us How to Make a Comeback with New Single ‘Clouds’

Clouds by Samson Flynn - Must-Hear for All Pop Fans!

However, once he came across a review that gave his song two and a half stars out of five, the singer stopped for a moment to read it.

‘Samson - or the team behind him - has managed to create yet another almost irritatingly catchy tune that will probably be stuck in the listeners’ ears during the coming weeks. Whether that’s good or bad - we’ll leave that up to you. The track certainly doesn’t stand out in any way in the current pop landscape. In fact, it could be sung by many other artists - and it would probably sound better. Samson’s voice, while adequate for a pop song, is nothing to write home about. But hey, at least he looks good in those swimming trunks, right?’

“Ugh, of course they’d focus on that! I wrote almost the entire song by myself, but they didn’t mention that. Or that the video concept was my idea. Like I’m the only one who takes their clothes off in their videos,” Samson huffed and abruptly got up from the bed, taking off the t-shirt and briefs he was sleeping in.

After rummaging through his closet for a minute, he returned with the same trunks he wore in the pool scene in the video and put them on. Lying back on the bed, he winked and took a selfie, making sure to capture his sexy, tanned body, and posted it on Instagram.

‘Hey, Stansons! I am thrilled to see you’re enjoying my new song and video! My team and I worked really hard on it and I think all of our love and dedication can be seen in the final result. This is just the beginning tho! I hope you’re ready for more news coming your way soon! #clouds #stansons #stayperched’

It wasn’t long before Hank, his publicist, called him up. The singer picked up at once.

“Hey, Hank. How’s my favorite publicist doing?”

“If we ignore the fact that I barely had any sleep, I’m good. How about you? By your, uh, new selfie, I take it you’ve read the Pop Megaphone review?”

“Yeah,” Samson rolled his eyes, suppressing laughter. “Two and a half out of five? Bitch please. That website hates me and it’s so obvious.”

“They’re like that to everyone. If they hate you, that means you’re doing something right, so I wouldn’t pay much attention to it,” Hank said.

“I know, I just wish they gave me some credit for once. Just because I’m not standing in one spot and belting out ballads doesn’t mean I’m creating basic ‘guilty pleasures’, you know?”

“I know, and we’re gonna prove that with this album. So don’t mind the haters, ok?”

“Ok, dad,” the singer teased. “Any news about the leaker?”

“Nope, nothing. The account’s been banned and it doesn’t look like there’s any new leaks, so that’s good.”

“Yeah… I hope they stay MIA, whoever it is.”

As Samson had expected, his phone started blowing up that day, with people calling and texting to congratulate him on his new song. After Hank, Anna was the first to call, once again expressing her love for the song and telling her friend she played the video at least three hundred times since she woke up that morning.

In the midst of all that craziness, what put the biggest smile on the young singer’s face was a call from his sister. It was a pleasant surprise that brought him back to earth after having to deal with people from his team the entire morning. As soon as he saw Talia’s name on the screen, he answered the call, but the voice that greeted him on the other side was not his sister’s.

“Unca Samsoooon!” a young kid shouted happily and Samson could feel his lips spread into a huge grin.

“Jakeeeey! How are you doing, sweetie?” the singer laid on the couch, lifting his legs up on the backrest. “I miss you so much!”

“I miss you too! When will you come visit us?”

“I don’t know, baby! I hope soon! Are you being a good boy for your mommy and daddy?”

“Yes! And I heard your new song and I like it a lot,” the little boy said, his voice full of excitement.

“And the video,” Samson could hear his sister in the background, instructing her son on what to say.

“And the video!” Jake parroted his mom’s words.

“Haha, thank you, my precious! That makes me so happy to hear. You’re my most important fan!” Samson gushed. Even though he didn’t want kids and felt like he wasn’t cut out to be a father, he loved his little nephew more than anything in the world. “How’s the kindergarten?”

“Good! We play a lot. Lana brought her Spongebob stickers so we traded! I got Squidward and Patrick!”

“That’s awesome,” the singer smiled, imagining the excited look on his nephew’s face. Once again, he heard his sister’s voice in the background.

“Mommy wants to talk to you,” the little boy said.

“Ok. Unca Samson loves you so much!”

“I love you too,” Jake replied before handing the phone over to his mother.

“Hey, superstar, how are you? I imagine you’re having a busy day,” Talia said.

“Yeah, it’s been crazy, but I always have time for my lovely sister.”

“Jakey has been talking about you non-stop since I played him the video. He is already learning the words to the song,” the young woman replied. “And Tommy and I love it too, you look and sound amazing!”

“Aww, thank you, that means so much coming from you,” Samson’s heart was full of joy. Support from his family meant even more than all the love he received from his fans. Knowing that he could always count on his sister, her husband and their son to lift him up meant the world to him. “What about mom and dad, did they have anything to say about it?” he asked, already guessing what the answer would be.

“Not really,” Talia said after some hesitation. “Mom called this morning. I told her you had a new song out and she only said ‘Oh, how nice, good for him.’ But don’t take it to heart, you know that woman hasn’t listened to music since ABBA broke up.”

“I definitely don’t expect her to start stanning me, but it’d be nice to get some acknowledgement and support for a change,” Samson sighed. “At least I have you, Jakey and Tommy.”

“Yeah, you do. We’ll always be your biggest fans! Now, when do I get to hug you and tell you all of this in person?”

“Oh, sweetie, I wish I could just teleport over there right now, but the next two weeks I’m all booked - doing promo for the song. After that, I’m all yours, at least until the album release,” the singer promised, looking forward to seeing his family and spoiling his little nephew some more.

“I’ll hold you to it, baby bro,” Talia said in a tone that let Samson know she was serious. “I love you!”

“Love you too, kween! Try not to miss me too much!” the singer cooed sweetly and made kissing sounds before hanging up.

As grateful as he was for his sister’s support, Samson also wished his parents would come around and acknowledge his job and his success. Instead, they kept doubting him like so many of his haters that wrote nasty comments on the internet. It would be so easy to give up, he thought, but that was not who he was. He would work harder than ever and prove them all wrong.

~~

The Most Anticipated Releases in April

10. Samson Flynn - Clouds

A year after his last single, Crush My Hopes, fans of pop star Samson Flynn finally have something new to listen to. The singer’s long-awaited comeback single Clouds dropped this Friday, along with the music video. There was little word about the track prior to its release, other than the leaked snippet that seemed to have brought Flynn’s fans to a frenzy. Now that the song is finally here, we can confirm that it’s every bit as good as we’d hoped. With a new album soon to follow, this year is shaping up to be a big one for our favorite popstar!

After he read the online article, Marcus closed his laptop with a huff, pursing his lips in discontent. He moved to the kitchen and leaned against the fridge as he held his phone to his ear, listening to his friend talk. On the countertop next to him, two champagne glasses stood alongside an unopened bottle of sparkling wine, waiting to be popped.

“What are you going to do now? The tweet’s been deleted,” the female voice said through the phone.

“Nothing, I’m just going to forget about it,” the dancer said in a quiet tone.

“But it went viral so quickly, that’s what you wanted, right?”

“Yeah, but not like this. This only created buzz for the song and got people even more excited. I basically did free promo for that bitch,” Marcus whispered, eyeing the door. “Even if I leaked the full song, it wouldn’t have changed anything since I didn’t have it in high quality.”

“Sorry, but I couldn’t get my hands on it. The security is so tight, they don’t let anyone except Samson and his team have access to the song. That phone recording was the best I could do. Maybe if I’d had more time...”

“No, it’s alright, Mikaela, thanks for trying anyway,” Marcus reassured his friend. “I owe you one.”

“How about a pair of Ash’s used underwear?” the girl said and Marcus couldn’t help imagining the dirty look on her face. If it was anyone else, he would have told them to fuck off, but with Mikaela, he knew it was just her dirty sense of humor. Even though he was one of Ash’s dancers, while Mikaela worked as one of Samson’s, they were actually old friends who hung out on a regular basis. Since they were both popular, experienced dancers, working for rivals in the music scene was bound to happen at some point.

“In your dreams,” he scoffed. “That’s for my pleasure only, but nice try.”

“Well, can’t blame a girl for trying,” Mikaela chuckled. “Samson isn’t as bad as you think, though. He’s actually pretty chill once you get to know him.”

“Yeah? I doubt you'd be talking like that if he was all over your boyfriend. I don’t care to get to know him, so I really couldn’t give a fuck about what he’s like,” Marcus replied flatly. Just because he couldn’t ruin that talentless hack’s plans this time, it didn’t mean he would stop trying.

At that moment, he could hear footsteps from the hallway, which meant Ash was finished taking a shower.

“I gotta go now, talk to you later. And thanks for everything!”

“Ok, bye!” the girl said before hanging up.

Ash entered the room, dressed in blue shorts and a gray tank top, his black tousled hair still damp from the shower. Marcus eyed the sexy vision in front of him, almost instantly forgetting about the whole Samson deal.

“Hey, whatchu doing?” the singer asked his boyfriend, walking up to him with a smile.

“Just waiting for you,” Marcus responded, taking the two glasses in one hand and the champagne bottle in the other. “Are we gonna celebrate or what?”

“Celebrate what?” Ash came over and put his hands around the other guy’s waist, pulling him in for a kiss.

“Your new number one!”

“Oh, the new charts are out?” the Korean asked as they moved to the living room and sat on the couch. While Ash took the glasses and put them on the small wooden coffee table, Marcus popped the champagne.

“Yup, Off The Rails is officially number one! You beat Kelly Marvel by almost two hundred points, mostly thanks to streaming,” Marcus explained. Kelly was one of the hottest female pop singers at the moment, especially with the teen audience. Girls wanted to be her, guys wanted to be with her, and other artists wanted to collab with her. She was at the peak of her career and virtually any song she released became a hit.

“The video release helped a lot, and the radio callouts are still amazing,” the dancer went on while Ash mostly just nodded, sipping the bubbly.

“That’s cool,” the singer replied, even though he had no clue what some of those words meant. For him, charts were not that big of a deal. Sure, they were a useful indicator of a song’s popularity, but reaching number one or spending a certain number of weeks on Elite 100 or the Elite Albums 200 was not something he considered a true measure of success. Ash thought it was far more important that he releases music that is true to him and that people can relate to.

“What? Are you still upset about the video?” Marcus asked, noticing that his boyfriend was not as enthusiastic as him.

“No, no,” Ash shook his head. “Not as much anyway, it is what it is. I guess my fans like it, so at least that’s something.”

“I know it wasn’t what you wanted, but at least it’s still a really good video. A fucking great one! The director did an amazing job and our dancing scenes are on point!” The dancer tried to find a silver lining and Ash certainly appreciated the effort. He turned to Marcus, placed a hand on the back of his head and leaned in, capturing his lips in a slow, gentle kiss. Even though taken by surprise, the dancer quickly returned the kiss with the same passion, feeling the hunger inside him awaken. Ash was making him feel things he had never felt before.

“What was that for?” Marcus asked after their lips finally parted.

“Just… thanks for being so amazing. I know it’s not easy being with me, having to keep ‘us’ a secret, but still... You always support me and try to make me feel better, and I really appreciate that. Just wanted you to know that.”

“I do know that. And I knew what I was getting myself into when we started dating. I can’t help it that I snap sometimes, that’s just how I am, but you are so worth it,” the dancer smiled, grabbing Ash by the collar and pulling him close. “Now keep kissing me.”

Ash gave him a sexy smile, more than happy to oblige.