“I’m sorry, wha-“
“I asked if that was the best you’ve sung?” August asked sternly, retracting his hand and folding his arms across his chest.
“Excuse me but what’s that supposed to-“
“Your technicalities, the melody and delivery is all there but you’re not paying attention to one factor.” The blonde interrupted. January began to feel irritated.
Who the hell is this guy?
“Listen, I respect that you are the producer of this song and it should be according to what you envision. But I am a trained singer with fifteen years of experience, so I think I know how to sing,” January seethed, glaring at the producer who just raised an eyebrow at him.
“Wow, Mr January Springson is conceited and arrogant. You really portray a different image, don’t you?” August shot back with a hard stare, leaning back on the desk.
The singer’s blood really began to boil. Just who did he think he was? Producers are just people who want to be recording artists like him but just lack the talent! With great difficulty, January bit his tongue back.
“You lack emotion.” August concluded. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” January asked through gritted teeth.
“You. Lack. Emotion. Put simply.” he repeated, enunciating dramatically. “Haven’t you noticed that it’s a bittersweet song?”
“Of course, I did,” January rolled his eyes. “And you’ve never felt this way?” August asked unimpressed.
“What? So, I have to become a love-sick boy to be able to sing with ‘emotion’?” January mocked. “Not necessarily. I’m going to sit in the booth with you and I’ll get you to sing better,” The blonde producer said, already dragging January back to the booth. The engineers looked at each other and shrugged, sitting back down at the desk.
“Let go of me, man!” the singer half-shouted. “If I was trying to hurt you, I would’ve used my full strength, stop whining, you wimp,” The blonde replied, sighing heavily and pushing the door open to the recording booth. They stood by the microphone and then August turned to the window.
“Play the song but don’t record him yet,” he instructed the engineers. They nodded in response and pressed play. The familiar chords drifted into the headphones and January put it on when August signalled him.
“Your first line is supposed to be soft, like you’ve been sleeping for a long time,” August explained, pointing to the lyrics on the music stand. “But instead you went in too strongly.”
“Uh, really? Um, okay.” January replied, taking a mental note of the times-stamp. “And right here, you gotta…”
Some time passed and August walked the singer through almost all the lines of the song and the complexity of each note and emotion, making sure that he wasn’t compromising any factor. August looked at January as he practised singing some of the lines, gazing intensely at the singer. He couldn’t make him out. Well, not yet anyway.
He had paused the song to let January get a more definite feel and let the engineers take a breather whilst he guided him. They were running out of time for the session and August needed it to be done today to make the album deadline. He patiently sat through every note and melody line and gave little tips to the singer, making it more effective for January.
“How was that?” January had stopped singing and turned to face the producer. “Not bad this time, I think you’re getting there,” August replied, a shadow of a smile ghosting his lips. "Hey, is that I smile I see?" January smirked, nudging the producer shamelessly.
"Yeah, like you could get a smile out of me that quickly. You're far from perfect but I'll work with what I have." the producer swatted at the singer who just let a strangled squeak "Ah! At least I'm trying to work to your impossible standards!"
August shushed January and he turned over the page, quickly scanned the song and settled on a part for January to practice.
“Okay, for this part, you really need to have that moment of vulnerability here,” the blonde said, now tapping towards the end of the song. “Make sure you’re heard clearly but you’re not coming across as apathetic or monotonous.”
“Okay, sure,” January drew a breath, readying himself at the microphone. And then he sang.
“You caught me when my guard was down
And all I can do is remember your hope-“
“Stop.” August interrupted, holding a finger up. “What’s up?” the singer asked, looking up again.
“You need to feel more in your delivery, otherwise everything else is perfect,” August explained, pressing a palm to his temple. The raven-haired man sighed heavily, his eyebrows furrowing.
“August, I don’t hear the difference!” January frowned, staring at the blonde, already getting annoyed. “You’ve been telling me I need to have more emotion in almost every line but what’s so bad about this one?”
“That’s the problem, you need to open your mind to the fact that there is more than delivery and technicality.” The producer said exasperatedly, his green eyes glinting and taking off his dark red beanie. “Music is all about emotion, everything else follows that! Haven’t you been in love before?”
“No! I’ve never loved anyone, okay?” January retorted back, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you done obsessing now?”
The singer groaned, pressing the palms of his hands into his face tiredly. This wasn’t how the session was supposed to turn out. His manager would definitely have a fit at him if she knew. He’d practically shouted at the producer of the song and he expected him to throw him out of the studio right then and there. But what January had not expected at all was being grabbed by his t-shirt and August’s lips pressed to his own.
The singer had no idea what was happening in that moment, but he felt the producer kiss him softly and surprisingly gently as he caressed his lips. January felt August’s hands let go of him and reach up to brush through his thick wavy hair, unable to think or even move for that matter. He just froze.
And what frightened the shit out of January, was that he actually might like it.