Chapter 303: He’s Exactly Who He Thinks He Is (2)
"What happened to his legs. Why’s he bruised like that?" as Ari got up in his usual lazy way, Jelissa took the opportunity to whisper to Larry Jackson while noting her comments and overall ranking for Jamie, who had done excellently as she expected.
Jamie was a singer who consistently employed good vocal techniques and knew how to showcase his steady, warm voice, which could dip down into a surprisingly low register and hit high, decent notes as well.
Today, he had drifted away from his usual country song choice and chosen a pop ballad that really showed off his technical skill.
"Who knows? He’s been parading around like that for the last couple of days. Maybe he got injured in field day?" Larry replied indifferently.
"Those are circular bruises, and they look pretty similar to tennis balls, don’t you think? And if he beat all the other opponents without letting them score, who do you think hit him that many times?"
At the uncomfortable intensity of Jelissa’s questions, Larry Jackson decided to change the subject.
"Let’s just listen to Ah-riel sing. Hopefully, our ears will survive it."
Letting the conversation die temporarily, Jelissa watched as Ari tapped his feet repeatedly before the instrumental began playing.
And as if he had gotten into the habit of holding a microphone, he held one hand to his mouth like he was holding a microphone.
You cut me down,
But it’s you who’ll one day have to fall
A soft, almost whisper-like voice with that unique tone that made Ariel’s singing voice easily identifiable filled the room.
Despite the lack of sound enhancements, she and others could hear the whispered tone perfectly, which meant he was projecting very well.
Briefly, Jelissa remembered the clip of Ari laughing while saying that his voice was pretty loud, but her attention was quickly drawn in again as he continued singing the next verse while those green eyes stared with unveiled venom at the PD standing behind the camera.
You play dirty tricks,
I won’t say much
Bit by bit, Ariel’s voice began transforming, from whispering to a voice slowly filling with strength.
I’m criticized,
Your words and stones won’t break my bones,
Shoot me down,
But I get up
He paused to take a deep breath before opening his mouth and belting the next lines, that ear-catching raspiness evident in every word despite the clarity of his voice.
I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose,
Fire away, fire away,
Patting his chest while staring into the eyes of the PD, Ari sang even louder as the intensity of the song transformed into a phenomenal crescendo.
Your bullets ricocheted, so aim again,
Fire away, fire away,
Utilizing the vocal range that Jelissa personally considered the widest among the contestants here, Ari easily transitioned from his chest voice to his head voice to hit those soaring notes without sounding feathery or out of breath.
You gun me down, but I won’t fall
I am titanium~
You gun me down, but I won’t fall
I am tita~ni~um~
It seemed that everyone held their breath to hear the beautiful high note, imbued with pain and sorrow, that was held for close to 10 seconds.
As she listened to the vibrato that tapered off smoothly, Jelissa had to blink to clear her eyes because she thought for a moment that it was Carlos standing before her and not Ari.
What was going on?
When had this kid gotten so good at singing and imbuing his emotions into his songs?
This was a boy who sometimes looked like he was being forced to sing and perform, but right now, he was singing with so much passion and pain that it actually brought tears to Jelissa’s eyes.
My heart is stone cold, so get your gun,
Fire at me, I won’t run,
I told you, I’m made of bulletproof glass~
She had suspected it when she heard the song choice, but from that unwavering gaze that didn’t even look at the judges’ table while he sang, she could tell what had brought him to this point.
And it made her vow to do her best in addressing the problems she saw.
Closing her eyes, she just enjoyed the rest of the vocal performance until there was no more sound coming out.
I am tita~ni~um~
"Thank you for listening." The slightly accented voice filled the room, and Jelissa opened her eyes.
"Well, Yes Contestant Ah-ri-"
Before Larry Jackson could finish his sentence, Jelissa quickly interrupted the incorrect name pronunciation.
"Contestant Ariel, what happened to your legs? That bruising seems to be quite bad. What happened?"
"Ah, this? William decided to use my legs as target practice during the tennis match at field day." Ari immediately spilled the beans.
"I did not! He’s lying!" William yelled, but Ari didn’t even turn back to look at him.
His gaze was focused only on Jelissa, as if she were the only one there.
"Is that right?" Jelissa leveled a cold glance at William, who had sang decently earlier, before shrugging.
"Yes, ma’am."
"I said he’s lying!"
Jelissa also ignored him.
"Understood. You did a good job, Ari. I can tell you’ve been practicing. Please take a seat."
"Yes! And it’s really nice to have you back."
"It’s good to be back."
Giving her a bright smile, Ari took his seat right next to Jamie, doing their little handshake before focusing.
"Benjamin Moore. You’re up next for vocals."
Standing up with a smooth move, Benjamin gave Jelissa a pleading look.
"Good to have you back, Jelissa. I’m bare cursed to go after Ari, so please have some leniency in your judging, yeah? I’m not a vocalist, so naturally I’ll sound like a wasteman compared to him."
"Hahah, I’ll keep that in mind, Ben. Get right to it. No time to waste."
"Rahh."
The remaining contestants got evaluated on their vocals, with some doing better than others.
By the time it got to Carlos’s turn, it seemed like he was feeling the heat as he sounded even more angelic than usual, so that even Larry Jackson was impressed.
As the two vocal coaches finished scoring each contestant, they gave the contestants a quick water break before continuing the evaluation.
The next category to evaluate was rap.
With fewer contestants wanting to get evaluated at the rap position, they were zooming along.
It started with Vishal, and before Ari knew it, it was his turn.
"I’ll be performing I Love Myself by Kungfu Ken. And before I get started, I just want to say, thank you so much to Kungfu Ken. Your lyrics speak to me."
At Ari’s words, X-ponent’s eyes widened with interest, and he even sat up straighter at the somewhat unexpected song choice.
After all, Kungfu Ken was an underground battle rapper based out of LA.
He wasn’t a mainstream artist, and this track was one he had used during a rap reality competition many years ago, so he hadn’t expected anyone to perform the song or even know about it.
From what he remembered, Kungfu Ken got into an enormous disagreement with the show producer and wrote this as a diss track to use against the show producer on the final performance.
This would undoubtedly be interesting considering that the situation mirrored Ariel’s current one, and for a brief second, X-ponent wondered how the production team had allowed Ariel to perform such a song.
Perhaps they didn’t understand the context or chose not to listen due to time constraints?
He would probably find out later.
Unaware of the judge’s thoughts, Ari began tapping his feet while casually waving his hands in the air.
Others might think he was vibing, but only he knew that he was selecting the correct JukeBox setting to perform the rap song.
As the jazzy beat rang out, Ari began swaying from side to side, feeling the bass, drums, trumpets, and cowbells with his whole body.
Snapping his fingers, along with the drumline, he turned away from the PD and began his performance.
I done been through a whole lot,
Trial, tribulation, but I know that,
Evil producers wanna put me in a bow tie,
Pray that their conscience don’t go dry yeah, yeah
At the explicit callout toward the PD, and dramatic pause in the song, making the gasps of the contestants audible, Ari pretended to look around before smirking, and his mouth was forced to spit the words out at a particular cadence due to the JukeBox skill.
As I look around me,
So many haters wanna down me
But the enemy is never going to drown me,
In front of a dirty practice mirror, you found me,
Cause I love myself,
One day at a time,
Even if the sun won’t shine.
Feeling the vibe of the music and the words of affirmation deeply, one hand came to Ari’s mouth like a microphone as he began pacing back and forth, staring from PD Ji-ho to William and then back to PD Ji-ho as he continued rapping confidently.
There’s a war right now,
Fake news in the streets,
Post lies on the net,
You’re the dirty police,
Sold your integrity for green, you’re no better than a fiend,
Can’t keep your hands clean, bottom feeder in a scheme, ey
Enjoying the way the PD’s face turned red, Ari did a little shuffle dance as he continued saying what he wanted to say.
These days I’m frustrated,
Of the mess you have created,
I ignore your cold faces,
Why act shocked, you know I’m crazy
I dreamed of serenity and peace
But I’ll put a middle finger up in the face of the beast
The sky could fall down,
The wind could cry now,
And it will never take my smile,
Because I love myself
Even if the sun doesn’t shine.
Truly feeling as if he were watching a professional rap show or a rap battle, X-ponent watched with full interest as Ari moved around the room with the laid-back confidence and swag he always had about him.
He was dancing to the music, making eye contact with everyone, all the while rapping at a high level and throwing shots at the PD, whom he was clearly displeased with.
His breath control was there, his diction was clear, with every word being delivered with impact, and his rap flow wasn’t static. It sped up and slowed down as needed, and it all happened seamlessly.
X-ponent had to admit that he was very, very impressed.
If he hadn’t known that he was a vocalist, he would have thought that Ari was originally a rapper.
He couldn’t believe that this was the same kid who had joined his rap training a couple of weeks ago and was acting like a beginner who had never rapped before.
If he continued performing like this, he might be the first contestant on the program who could be considered a main vocalist and main rapper.
And if his dance skills were at the same level-
Well...the term all-rounder might come into play.
I love my-self~
One day at a time.
As the song ended, X-ponent found himself applauding along with everyone else.
The kid had done well, and even if the PD looked unhappy about the song or performance, no rules had been broken, and it was up to X-ponent to give a fair evaluation, which he would.
"Thank you, contestant Ari, for the performance. A quick question if you don’t mind."
"Sure." Ari replied in a slightly out-of-breath voice.
"What made you decide to get evaluated for rap. If I recall correctly, you’ve been a strict vocalist and were quite resistant the last time you were forced to rap."
Ari scratched his head awkwardly as he remembered the fiasco with Producer Benny before shrugging.
"My goal is to become a complete all-rounder and rank within the top 3 in all categories."
The all-rounder part was a lie, but it sounded good, so let’s just go with it.
"That’s quite the confident goal. Do you think you’ve achieved that so far?"
"Yes. I practiced hard, and I think I’ve done well so far. I hope the judges believe so as well." Ari answered simply.
Seeing that he meant it and wasn’t trying to be boastful, X-ponent laughed before nodding approvingly.
"I really like that confidence of yours. Feel free to take a seat."
"Sure. Thank you."
Feeling a bit relieved that everything went well, Ari slumped to the floor next to Jamie, almost choking as Jamie decided to clobber his back instead of patting it gently like a human being.
Vowing to get him back later, Ari stared at the judge’s table, waiting for the next steps.
"The next person to come up is Benjamin Moore. Big Ben, let me see what you’ve got, or has your confidence disappeared? The other kids are doing quite well." X-ponent joked around with Ben.
"Even if I’m confident that I’m the best rapper here, the pressure is getting werser, mate. X-ponent, please, can we reverse the order next time? Why do I have to suffer just because Ari decided to show out today? And on a back-to-back ting? It’s not fair, innit?" Benjamin groaned as he stood up.
"Defend your title or lose it, Ben. Life waits for no man, and the people around you are trying to improve too. If you get complacent, you’ll fall down."
"Never. I definitely won’t allow it." With another groan that quickly turned into a laugh, the British boy stretched in an exaggerated manner as the music began.