On the morning of October 2nd, Ariana, accompanied by her mother, appeared at 413 Fulton Street, the new address of Apocalypse Music, in a pink BMW Mini.
As soon as she stepped on the white marble floor of the reception hall, she exclaimed in admiration: "This is simply better than I imagined..."
Compared with the previous workshop environment, the new company is stronger in terms of location, space, and decoration.
Near the original office location, Ariana was often mistaken for a sex worker and asked for prices by customers of the "One-Time Love Exchange" next door, causing many jokes.
While shocked by the new company environment, her mother did not forget to exert her mean nature, muttering in a low voice: "Hope Italian marble is used here..."
"Miss Ariana, Ms. Joan, please follow me. Mr. Leon is already waiting for you in the office." The receptionist was a young Latina girl interviewed by Phil personally.
Enthusiastic and lively, with a smile on her face at all times, the key point is the perky peach-like taillights.
Joan stared at the receptionist's tight skirt and frowned. "Do you deliberately want men to stare at you there? For God's sake, can you wear a skirt that can cover your butt?"
"I'm very sorry, ma'am..." The receptionist quickly pulled down the skirt twice and squeezed out an awkward smile.
This tight skirt, which vaguely shows the curve of the taillights, was personally selected by Phil.
For this reason, he explained to the boss: "A woman's body is a man's spiritual nitrogen pump. If women in the office wear less, those male employees will definitely not be late."
Leon savored it carefully and felt it made some sense, only warning not to go too far; at least this place should look like a legitimate company.
"Here it is." Arriving at the second floor, the receptionist pointed to the redwood door printed with gilded letters CEO. "Please wait for two minutes; I have to inform Miss Bonnie."
After the company moved to the new address, Bonnie was not only Leon's personal assistant but also took on the secretary job.
Originally he wanted to hire another girl as a full-time secretary, but considering the privacy of this job, even being cautious during the interview cannot guarantee 100% no problems in the future.
Any negligence carries the risk of commercial leakage or even threats to personal safety.
Bonnie is still the person he trusts most.
The receptionist walked to the door of an adjacent office next door and knocked.
A few seconds later, Bonnie walked out, pushed her gold-rimmed glasses, and welcomed them enthusiastically. "Ariana dear! Long time no see!"
"Miss Bonnie, you are still so beautiful!"
Ariana's petite figure, gentle personality, plus honey-sweet mouth won unanimous praise from the whole company, including Phil.
"Welcome, Ms. Joan." Bonnie let go of Ariana, tucked her blonde hair, and extended her right hand.
Joan kept her head held high, arrogance written on her face, extremely reluctant to extend her hand.
After shaking hands, she muttered in a low voice, "This blonde btch's butt seems to be rounder..."
After Leon and Taylor officially announced their romance, her fantasy of becoming the mother-in-law of this young billionaire was shattered. Even so, she still held a trace of obsession.
Did not want to see this "ideal son-in-law" always surrounded by succubi.
"Mom..." Ariana frowned, pulling Joan's hemline and whispering, "You have to be friendlier."
Joan rolled her eyes at her angrily and educated her in a deep voice: "Just because you fool are unwilling to strive for anything actively, even your man was snatched by other btches. Oh God, are you silly girl really my child..."
She was annoyed about this for a long time, constantly instilling the philosophy of "Sicilian women" in Ariana.
Even once had the idea of teaching the girl some secret techniques of Sicilian women to please men.
But Ariana seemed to have learned nothing, still looking like a heartless silly girl.
"Leon, Miss Ariana and Ms. Joan have arrived." Bonnie knocked on the door of the CEO office.
"Come in."
Opening the office door, the dazzling sunlight made people unable to open their eyes.
The double-sided floor-to-ceiling window design gathers the sunlight essence of the entire building here. Leon stood with his back to the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a cup of coffee leisurely.
"Wow..." Joan instantly remembered her favorite American drama Mad Men. Don Draper, the old-school elegant New York ad man, took away her aging but still fiery "woman's heart."
"Welcome, Little A. How's my office?" Leon walked over and hugged her petite body.
"This is simply amazing. You look a little different..."
"What's different?"
"I can't explain it clearly. You look like an investment banking elite now, but before..."
"What about before?"
Ariana stammered, but her mother took over the conversation and said unceremoniously: "Like a little hooligan. I lived in London for a while. The East End is full of loser hooligans wearing Adidas tracksuits. Look, there is a pile of manga magazines on his desk."
To attract more young audiences into the cinema to pay for Ready Player One, Leon commissioned Bonnie to get many Japanese manga magazines under James Wan's suggestion.
The cultural export ability of the Japanese is undeniable. Not only is Japanese food popular in America across the ocean, but Japanese manga is also rapidly eating into the market of traditional superhero comics.
The "ACGN" group is spreading at an amazing speed in America.
Leon smiled and spread his hands, not talking back for Ariana's sake.
He was long used to this woman's meanness. Probably only Phil in the entire Apocalypse Music could suppress the other party verbally.
Only a tongue tested by Manhattan Beach can suppress a mean Italian woman.
He even once fantasized about what the scene would be like if these two formed a family.
"Bonnie, please bring two more cups of coffee, thank you." He looked down at his watch; the old geezer was on his way.
Joan sat down on the white leather sofa, lit a lady's cigarette, and raised her eyebrows in the smoke asking: "How is the preparation for my daughter's first album going?"
"Everything is in progress. The company prepared the best resources for her. Max and I serve as producers." Leon shrugged. "Unsurprisingly, the new album promotion plan will start at the end of the year. You will see this album in all record stores in New York early next year."
Leon paused, curved the corners of his mouth, and continued: "Although Little A's talent is not in height, she has a genius brain. She can always write some interesting works."
"Leon!" Ariana blushed shyly. She wouldn't be angry only when Leon joked about her height.
This new album is tentatively titled My Everything, planning to include 11 works, with three more added in the deluxe version.
Among them, The Way and the title track My Everything were recorded before the company relocated.
With the blessing of more professional equipment in the new recording studio, the recording process of the remaining works will only be faster.
Hearing someone joke about her daughter's height, Joan, who is also less than 1.6 meters tall, looked unhappy, pinching her throat and saying sarcastically: "Didn't anyone tell you that a woman's value is not measured by figure but by wisdom? Smart women can take a man's career to a higher level, while those bloated and disgusting figures of btches can be bought anywhere for a few hundred dollars."
"Mom!" Ariana blushed shyly. The scale of Joan's speech was bigger each time, making her very embarrassed.
"Sorry, I speak a bit directly; this is a Sicilian tradition." Joan took a deep puff of the cigarette.
"It doesn't matter."
"Heard you have a nickname related to Al Capone?" Joan changed the subject and asked.
"This is a topic hyped by those bored tabloid media." Leon spread his hands, not understanding why the other party suddenly talked about this.
"Speaking of which, my family really has some relationship with Al Capone. My grandfather was a distant cousin of Lucky Luciano. Have you heard this name?" Speaking of this, Joan looked proud, her eyebrows almost raised to the hairline.
"Don't know much." Leon certainly knew Luciano's name, just didn't want to follow this woman's topic.
Luciano was once the most powerful Mafia boss in the US, Al Capone's cousin, and the most famous gang boss in history after Capone.
Attempting to add luster to herself with a Mafia boss who has long disappeared in the river of history to make herself look stronger.
This kind of elementary school student-like childish behavior only made him feel ridiculous.
Bang—Just when the atmosphere was a bit awkward, the office door was suddenly pushed open.
Phil and Max walked in side by side. Their clothes were disheveled, and there was still an undissipated smell of alcohol on their bodies.
"Which btch mentioned Luciano?" Phil shouted at the top of his lungs: "Fck, did someone install surveillance in my brain? How did they know I found a group of Italian girls with Max last night, and even a stupid girl bragged to me that Luciano was her grandfather's father."
Max rubbed his cheeks, trying to make himself more sober. "Yes, I remember you worked harder on that chick after knowing this, clamoring to ride Luciano under your butt."
As soon as Phil appeared, he used a series of obscene words that left Joan speechless, not even noticing the cigarette ash falling on her skirt.
To celebrate the relocation of Apocalypse Music to the new address, the two partied all night with their respective teams last night, said to have been high until 3 AM.
Leon stood up, pointed to Max and introduced: "This is Mr. Max Martin, the best producer in the world. He is responsible for most of the recording work of Little A's new album."
"He looks like a depraved alcoholic." Joan didn't even look at Max.
"What did you say?" Phil touched his hair. Last night he just fought in the same [trench] with Max, and their friendship warmed up quickly.
"Max served as a producer for albums of Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry. He has been affirmed by almost all awards. Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me, Britney's ...Baby One More Time. You should respect this person; he will produce a great album for your daughter!"
A series of star-studded names shocked Joan speechless, starting to re-examine this bearded man in front of her.
"I have a hunch that after this new album is released, Little A will be as popular as Katy Perry. Her name will be compared with those first-line female singers." Max said.
"Hope everything is as you say..."
After the awkward meeting ended, everyone went to the recording studio to record a new song for Ariana.
This was the first time the new recording studio was used.
Considering that the recording studio environment has a great impact on the recording state of the singer, the three recording studios adopted different elements respectively when designing.
One of them adopted dark blue and silver as the main colors. Ariana chose this one without hesitation.
"Where is the backing track?" The hangover made Max's head still dizzy, appearing a bit flustered. "It's this song Problem, right?"
"That's right~" Ariana shook Leon's arm coquettishly. "This is the work I am most satisfied with writing; you will definitely like it."
"I can't wait." Leon rubbed her head.
From the moment she entered the glass isolation room, Ariana seemed to become a different person, swinging her high ponytail reaching her waist, her gaze extremely aggressive.
She put on headphones and scanned everyone at the microphone.
Hey baby even though I hate ya
I wanna love ya I want you
And even though I can't forgive ya
I really want to I want you
Ariana twisted her waist while singing; the accuracy of every note was precise.
Her voice was sweet, high notes sounded effortless, showing Grammy-level excellent singing skills.
"Look at this girl; simply improved too much." Phil gazed at Ariana, light in his eyes. "Do you still remember when we auditioned for Senorita, Leon?"
"Of course I remember."
Pictures flashed in Leon's mind. At that time, Ariana looked like a childish junior high school student. If not for the mature eye makeup, it would be easy for people to mistake her for an elementary school student.
"She is full of confidence now, already having the shadow of a Diva." Phil said.
"This is unquestionable." Joan crossed her arms, the corners of her mouth almost grinning to her ears. "Ariana has always received the best music education. I hired professors from Juilliard School and Mariah Carey's exclusive backing vocalist as her music mentors."
The recording only lasted for about a minute before being terminated. Strictly speaking, this was just an audition.
To increase the richness of the song, Max proposed adding a rap section before entering the second chorus in the middle of the work.
"About who will feature with Little A, have you thought of a suitable candidate?" Max asked.
"Does this even need thinking? Cardi is the most suitable candidate." Leon blurted out directly without thinking.
According to his vision, Ariana and Cardi's debut albums will be recorded simultaneously and will be promoted and sold at the same time node in the future.
Cardi featuring the rap part just happens to save the sales share paid to other record companies.
The styles of the two are completely different. One is a sweet girl next door, and the other is a hot btch. The audience groups are different and do not constitute competition with each other.
This is the offensive combination punch launched by Apocalypse Music against Roc Nation.
After the accompaniment stopped, Ariana trotted and threw herself into Leon's arms, raising her head, stars in her eyes. "How was it?"
"You sang great."
"No, I'm asking how is the work I wrote?"
Compared to having her singing skills recognized, Ariana desires her works to be affirmed by others more.
Leon immediately read her mind. "I've always said you are a genius girl."
Even Joan couldn't stand the intimate interaction between the two, waved her hand, got up and said, "Can I walk around here?"
"Please, you two accompany Ms. Joan to visit our new company properly."
Leon winked at Max and Phil. The two understood in a second, quickly stood up, and walked out of the recording studio with Joan one after another.
At this time, only he and Ariana were left here. The atmosphere instantly became ambiguous.
He didn't say anything, pushed Ariana down on the sofa. The other party also cooperated by kicking off her high heels, revealing white and transparent little feet.
Two pairs of eyes stared straight at each other. The longing eyes were about to drip water, and quickly rubbed into sparks.
The union was completed against a background resembling the deep sea and the galaxy.
Twenty minutes later, Leon lay on the sofa, shirtless.
One hand around Ariana's shoulder, one hand holding a cigarette.
"This is my most wonderful recording experience." Ariana stared at the dark blue background, fingertips circling on his chest. "This place is simply amazing."
"Do you want to name this recording studio?" Leon suddenly asked.
"Me name it?" Ariana was surprised. "Really?"
"Of course, this recording studio will be your battlefield in the future. Most of your works will be produced here. It is very meaningful for you to name this place."
Ariana sat up quickly, looking serious.
After thinking for a full minute, she said: "How about calling it Luna (Moon)? The name of the corgi I keep."