Writing Prompt Wednesday #6

Cassie, a reporter in Washington state, got a call to compete in her state’s selection to find an act to represent them in the nationwide contest. Her song is halfway done and the submission deadline is set in one week. After she filed her final live shot of the day, she went home to finish her song.

Her song is a mid-tempo pop song with 4 verses, a chorus, two bridges, a hook, and an outro. Her producer George, who frequently works with her in day-to-day reporting, helps produce the song. Within a 3-hour session, they manage to get a rough draft. Still, Cassie isn’t totally satisfied.

Cassie: Okay, I’m listening to how the song sounds on the beat, and I don’t think the hook fits well enough.

George: You mean, like…

Cassie: It’s off the beat. It sounded like a 1, 2, 3 when it’s supposed to be a 1, 2.

George: Can you sing it out?

Cassie: I’ll try.

(Cassie sings it out, and it confirms her suspicions)

Cassie: Yeah, I figure.

George: Okay, we can shorten it.

(They shorten the song a bit. Then they played it out. Cassie sang while George puts on a timer and played the beat. The song still needed to be shaved by 5 seconds as it is over the limit of 3 minutes)

Cassie: How long is it?

George: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Cassie: Aww, man. Do we have to take off another 5 seconds? I don’t know where to cut.

George: I mean, we can shorten the intro.

Cassie: Why? The intro is perfect.

George: It may be perfect, but I think it’s a little too long.

Cassie: Actually, my attention is on the bridge before the chorus. I feel like it’s a little too long.

George: Well (looking at the lyrics) I think we can shorten the bridges a bit. Do you still want to do 4 lines, or 2?

Cassie: Two lines is fine. It just gets to the point faster, I feel.

George: I’m trying to get the beat format correct on this. I mean, we got all week to do this anyway.

Cassie: It’s a good thing I have the week off next week.

George: Yeah, I think we have a lot of time on our hands on this project. This will be good.

Cassie: I know.

(George and Cassie work on fine-tuning the song, and with the help of another producer, who is friends with George, they were able to complete the song, record a demo, and sent it to the TV station responsible for fielding entries)

To be continued…