hollywood billionaire

Chapter 249 Glory and Dreams
It's Tracy McGrady.

The identity of the dissident surprised Han Yi.

Compared to the lively and out-of-the-box Billie, who appears to be well-behaved and docile, and even has a somewhat flattering personality in front of outsiders, Madison Beal almost never publicly refutes other people's opinions.

Not to mention refuting, sometimes, Madison Beal, who is worried about gains and losses, will even privately send text messages to her friends in the same party after leaving a party to confirm whether she said something wrong or whether she said too much. , which makes strangers who meet for the first time feel bored.

Madison has been so cautious since her contract with Scooter Braun and Island Records was terminated.I don’t know if she noticed it herself, but bystanders who were close to Maddie knew clearly that the reason why she did this was to no longer experience the feeling of being abandoned by the whole world.

Therefore, first he had a heated battle with Hailey Baldwin and Taylor Hill, who had never had any grudges, and then he questioned Hailey's theory in public. Today's Madison Beal feels quite abnormal.

Is it because of the alcohol?

Maybe.

"Martyrs?"

Hailey frowned and grinned.

"Yes, martyrdom. I mean, every one of us sitting here tonight is ready to make sacrifices for our careers... or the reason why we are sitting here, It's because we have made sacrifices, no matter what form they are in." Madison Beer lowered his head and stared at his slightly raised naughty toes, "In order to become a professional musician with a record contract, I left everything on Long Island. Familiar people and things came to Los Angeles... My mother basically gave up her company and stayed with me wholeheartedly. And my brother, Rhett, has changed schools three times in the past two years. . The first time I came to Los Angeles, the second time was when I returned to Long Island after my contract was terminated..."

"Reed is back again?" Han Yi asked.

"Yes." Two shallow dimples appeared between Madison's cheeks, "He came back to Los Angeles again, because you and I... signed a new contract with Han Music, so there is no need to hide back. It's the East Coast. I told Rhett, I said, you should finish high school on Long Island. Running around like this will not only delay your studies, but you won't even be able to make a stable friend."

"But he still chose to come with you."

"He doesn't trust me, nor does he trust my mother." Thinking of Rhett's answer, Madison chuckled, "He said, this way, if I am terminated again, he can take us back as soon as possible Home."

"It seems like he doesn't trust me." Han Yi joked.

"No, he trusts you very much. He knows how much you have done for me and for our group of people. Rhett is a smart boy, and he knows who the real good people are." Madison Beer explained extremely seriously , she knew very well that her brother Red Bill was not so vigilant because of Han Yi.

"He just...has experienced too much in the past two years, so he will naturally be defensive."

"When I first entered this industry, I didn't know anything and didn't care about anything. I just wanted to experience every surprise and beauty that Hollywood had to offer. But as I grew older, I began to have a deeper understanding of myself and myself. The relationships between my family members gained a new perspective, and I began to learn how to see things from their perspective.”

"Although I was a child three or four years ago, there is no doubt that I caused harm to my family without realizing it. They gave up their lives and changed the trajectory of their lives to cater to My pursuit, and I..."

"I spent a lot of time researching what happened to me and paying attention to my own mental health. Most of you should know what I have experienced before, even if I don't tell you personally, I should. You can see it in the gossip tabloids. But it wasn't until recently that I started to think about a question... When I was going through those things, my mother and my brother were also going through it with me. More importantly, they were not only They want to help me share the pain. In their own world, there are also many troubles caused by me that I am not aware of."

Having said this, Madison covered her chest with her hands, feeling the firmness and heat coming from her palms.

"So... put aside my so-called passion or dream, just based on the sacrifices they made for me, I don't have the luxury of hesitation and shrinking. I have to succeed, I have to achieve something, their share Unreserved trust means it has not been betrayed."

"I know that I may make you laugh when I say this. Because I know in my heart that I am a child who has enjoyed privilege since birth. I live on Long Island and come from an upper-middle-class family with good financial conditions. I never knew What is real sorrow? The biggest setback in life so far...well, it means terminating the contract with the label." Madison Beal showed his jazz hands and shook them in the air in a pretentious manner, "Look, the one who was born The white girl with the silver spoon in her mouth is being pointlessly sentimental again. Maybe this is true, but what I want to express is that every musician who enters this world carries a lot of things. There is one or more A person who feels indebted, and a reason why he has to succeed."

"I'm just like you." Bi Li, who slipped away from Zhao Youzhen's arms, quietly sat down next to Madison at some point.She touched her bestie with her shoulder and smiled with understanding, self-understanding, encouragement and self-encouragement, "The person I feel I owe the most is also my brother. But yours is my brother, and mine is my brother." "

"My brother, Phineas... is right there." Billi raised her hand and pointed at Phineas on the other side of the tea table, "Everyone knows him, but those who don't know him probably because of his gloomy look. His character scares you away."

"I swear, Billie..." Hearing Billie's words, Phineas was angry and funny, pretending to grit his teeth, "Stop slandering me immediately."

"You see, even when I'm joking, it doesn't mean anything...my big, stupid brother, ladies and gentlemen."

Bi Li grinned a few times, then tightened the curve of her mouth, and her tone and eyes became serious at the same time.

"Phineas...is very similar to our father. By the way, have I told you what my parents do?"

"If you don't mind sharing, honey." Lana Del Rey made a gesture of invitation. "At least I don't know...but I'm interested in knowing."

"actor."

Billie Eilish raised her index finger and pointed out the window in the direction she thought was west.

"My mother, Maggie Baird, majored in theater and dance. After graduation, she went to Broadway for a few years without success, and then came to Hollywood to try her luck. This time it was a little better, but she still only had supporting roles. "X Files, Bones, and... what's that video game called, Phineas?"

""Mass Effect"."

"Your mother also participated in the production of "Mass Effect"?" Han Yi was surprised.

"She is a voice actor. She did all the dubbing of Samara...that blue-skinned Asari."

Phineas drew a half-circle on his face with his index finger, and his tone was quite helpless.He and his sister study at home and do not have to go to school, which means they have a lot of free time to develop various hobbies, including video games.

Besides making music, one of their favorite pastimes is trying out the latest games.Billie is keen on casual games like "Ilomilo". In terms of masterpieces, she plays the most puzzle games like "Portal 2" that focus on decryption and don't do much shooting.

As a male, Phineas' gaming preferences are more hardcore.In addition to the "Call of Duty" series that every American teenager plays twice, Phineas's favorites are RPG masterpieces such as "Fallout" and "The Elder Scrolls".

But unfortunately, because of Maggie Baird's voice acting in "Mass Effect", Phineas has never touched this series.

The reason is simple - who wants to hear their mother's voice drifting out of the TV screen while playing games?

"That's unbelievable." Han Yi raised his eyebrows, "It's really cool. You should have shared this information with me the last time I saw Maggie... We will definitely have many topics in common."

"Cool? It must be cool. Any actor who has been in Hollywood for more than 20 years should have many big projects worth boasting about." Billie shrugged, "But she will never be the protagonist. From Broadway to Hollywood, in 31 years, It was her biggest dream to be on center stage, but it never came true... not once."

"The same goes for my dad. He was the reporter in "Iron Man" and the bartender in "The West Wing." He was lucky enough to stand in the studio and participate in the production of these epoch-making works. He was also unfortunate enough because he could do Yes, it’s just participation.”

"My family has lived in Highland Park since I was born. If anyone here isn't familiar with the geography of Los Angeles, Highland Park is above Dodger Stadium, east of Glendale. It's not a bullet-riddled ghetto, of course, either. Not an elitist community like Bel Air. It's stuck between 'made it' and 'fuck it', neither up nor down, and in my opinion... I don't know about Phineas, but in my opinion , this is the most cruel thing - neither up nor down."

The brother and sister have a very close relationship. They take classes together, make music together, and often drive together after Han Yi gave them the Dodge Challenger. They talk about almost everything, but they never discuss their family and origins.Billie unexpectedly revealed her heart tonight, which made Phineas become extremely focused. He hugged his knees and stared at his sister without blinking, lost in thought.

"In the neighborhood where I live, as long as you look west, you can definitely see the continuous Hollywood Hills. Whether you want to see it or not, it is there. It is also the only thing you can see in that direction. The weather is sunny "It's impossible to ignore the Hollywood sign because its white panels will shine like diamonds and make your eyes hurt."

"Around that sign, little houses of various colors are dotted. Three, five, ten, 15 years old, you are getting older, and the number of houses on the hill is also growing. There are not many new houses, but you know, Every year there are always a dozen or so families who move leisurely from the mountains to the mountains - they have succeeded. You look up at their mansions, and then look back at your own small yard. It's very warm and comfortable, but you can't do it anyway. Use luxury to describe it.”

"Our O'Connor family...will we stop here?"

"Are we so ordinary?"

Speaking of this, Billie glanced at Phineas, and her tone became softer and softer.

"When this idea first appeared in my mind, I was shocked: Am I dissing my family? I shouldn't do this. My parents have tried their best to provide us with such a good life and taught us We compose music, dance, sing, and do what we want to do without any worries. Why am I still dissatisfied with the status quo? Damn me!"

"I am ashamed of my own thoughts. I have never disclosed my true feelings in this regard to anyone. Like a sinner, I put this dissatisfaction into an iron box and hid it deep in my heart, not letting anyone see it. .Until...until..."

Bi Li turned her head and looked at Han Yi with burning eyes. "Until I step through your door."

"This has nothing to do with the infinity pool there, your private theater, or the Michelin-level food. When I was hiking in the Hollywood Hills before, I carefully observed every villa from the east to the west, but except for the I couldn't see anything except the stone walls and plants that blocked out the sun. Sitting in the living room of 864 Stradella Road, it was my first close look at... the life of 'made it'."

me too.

Zhao Youzhen silently agreed in his heart.

The first time she set foot at No. 864 Stradella Road, for various reasons, her inner surprise and shock should have been several times more intense than Billie's.

"That day was really like a dream. I sat there, pressed the play button, and watched the boss listen to the entire song "Ocean Eyes" and heard him praise me and Phineas and the terms of the contract. …”

"It's too easy, everything is too easy. I feel that all the troubles in the world do not exist on the top of the mountain. All problems can be written off with a pen filled with ink."

"In the evening, I came home in a daze, and the first thing I saw were the excited and nervous smiling faces of my parents. I thought to myself, they look so cute, but so old. There are so many wrinkles, and they obviously weren't like this when they were young. They Your face should be smooth and your smile should be full of energy, but why do you look...so tired?"

"In my heart, they are the most humble but talented people in the world. They are master actors, self-taught composers, dancers who follow the whim, and are the ones that anyone can dream of. Perfect parents. Why can't they have...the easy ones? If Hollywood is a place for the talented and the outcast, why isn't there room for Patrick O'Connor and Maggie Baird?"

"This question stayed with me until my next visit to 864 Stradella Road, which was a celebration party for the owner's acquisition of UTA. The moment I stepped on the lawn, I was relieved. Hollywood does reward those with talent. People, but there are so many talented people. From Angelina Jolie to G-Eazy, who at the party that day was not talented? In addition to talent, you also need a little bit of scheming and a A little bit of skill, a lot of luck, and the courage to give up everything.”

"But even if you have all the factors for success, whether you can reach the top of this mountain is still unknown. In other words, in fact, it is already determined in destiny. Some people are destined to be born here, and some people will only be here throughout their lives. To be able to hover on the edge of a circle. I think that's what the O'Connors have in their book of destiny."

Bi Li stood up slowly, clenched her left hand into a fist, and hit her chest with a muffled sound.

"what about me?"

"What is my destiny? What do I want my destiny to be? At that time, for the first time, I had a practical and urgent concept of the word pursuit. I hope to firmly grasp this goal thrown at me. Olive branch, let me stop standing on the mountainside, looking up at the Hollywood sign on the top of the mountain. I hope to complete the glory and dreams that my parents have not completed, and show them the other side of all the hardships, hardships and disappointments. , what a magnificent sight.”

“I want to live for myself and I want to live for them.”

"I hope that my life will be painful, twisted, tortured, or unaccompanied. I can exchange all the worldly happiness for a chance to stand in the center of the stage and feel the spotlight. A chance for my cheek.”

"So... I really like where I am now. Phineas and I are still living in my parents' house, and our studio is still the garage they vacated for us. I love hearing him in the morning. Playing the piano in the bedroom, and then I burst into his room and asked him loudly, 'What's that?' And then we would make music for sixteen, eighteen hours straight until the neighbor couldn't take it anymore and came to knock on us. Until the door."

"Everything is exactly the same as before we signed the contract, but I know in my heart that the songs we are making now will one day be on the charts around the world through the labels we are signed to. They have already done this for me and Phineas Twice, I have no doubt that the third time will turn out just as wonderful...even more wonderful.”

"The path to success is right in front of me, so I am very content, but sometimes I am envious of others..."

Sitting back next to Madison, Billie touched her best friend with her shoulder again and said with a smile.

"For example, I've been envious of you lately, Maddie."

"Me?" Madison opened her mouth, quite flattered, "Why?"

"I also want to be like you and win the Billboard No. 17 at the age of [-]...I am not a very religious person, but I really pray before I go to bed at night, praying that God can give me similar achievements as you."

"There will definitely be." Madison hugged Billie and kissed the latter's hair, "all in due time."

"It doesn't matter even if you don't." Billie buried her head in her best friend's neck and breathed a long sigh of relief, "You don't need to be as exaggerated as a champion, as long as you can keep producing good songs that can be remembered by everyone... Just like Hai As Li said, be a time guard who cultivates and protects big trees. For me, there is nothing wrong with this. I don’t know what kind of mentality I will have in the future, no matter how many years older I am. , but now I just want to complete this achievement - occupy the center of the stage, even if it is just for a second."

"For myself, for my brother, and for my parents."

"Even if you get a few years older, you should still maintain this mentality." Ellie Goulding, who had been listening quietly to Billie's speech, joined the conversation at the right time with a peaceful smile, "I and your The situation is different, but I can empathize with your thoughts. I know what you mean by doing it for your parents. You are not trying to make them have a better life...well, that's not right, you really want them to Living a better life, but that’s not the most important part.”

"The most important part is that you want to let them see what was possible for them through your own success. Let them see what they could have accomplished if they had the same blood flowing in their bodies if they were born in this era. A feat. In this way, they can gain comfort and relief from their fixed lives, right?"

"You summed it up much more accurately than I did." Bi Li nodded heavily, bit her fingernails and smiled, "I can't say these big words."

"My original intention of entering this circle is similar to yours, Billie. It's just...maybe there's more to what I want to prove." Ellie Goulding tilted her head to the right, using her fingers as a comb. , arranging the messy hair flowing down from his shoulders, and said slowly, "I was born in Hereford, which is very close to... Wales. It takes about one and a half to two hours to Cardiff, Birmingham and Bristol. Drive. Hereford itself is small and remote enough, but the place where I grew up is even more desolate than this. It is half an hour north of the city, a small village called Lyons Hall. It is really a village with only 750 residents. I think among all the people here today, my hometown should have the smallest population, right?"

"You should be the champion." Han Yi thought for a moment and nodded.Zhao Youzhen is from Seoul, and Madison lives in Long Island.Horsh is sleeping soundly in a densely populated area of ​​​​New Jersey, and Ali Love, who is sitting in the corner as an invisible man, was born in San Francisco.As for Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish, they simply live in the core urban areas of Los Angeles and New York.

In terms of population alone, the one closest to Ellie Goulding is Anne-Marie from East Tilbury, Essex, but even there there are more than 6300 people, and they belong to the Greater London area. .

"750 people, my God." Dua Lipa, who is also from the UK but has always lived in central London, couldn't help but sigh, "There shouldn't be many people of the same age living there, right?"

"Our family has the most young people in the village. I have four brothers and sisters, my brother Alex, and my two sisters Isabel and Jordan. I am the youngest." Ellie Goulding recalled, "My father left us when I was five years old, so I don't remember much about him. All I remember is that he was... very interested in murder."

"Passionate about what?" Hayley Williams thought she heard wrong.

"Murder, yes." Ellie Goulding repeated in the affirmative. "He was a funeral planner, so I guess it was a work-related hobby. In the year he left us, As a birthday present, he gave me a whole illustrated book of murder details that he had collected."

"Jesus Christ." Even Ali Love, who has always played the invisible man, couldn't help but take a breath.

"Many people say they hear the dark side in my songs. I think this kind of thing should be part of the reason for the dark side. I'm not sure myself." Ellie Goulding smiled nonchalantly. , "The other part comes from the other pillar of the family - my mother. She... how to describe her? Self-proclaimed artist, avid fan who toured with Siouxsie and the Banshees, unreliable temporary supporter of many record companies and supermarkets. She works. She has lived a comfortable life, but she forgot that there are four children beside her. We live in public housing and our lives are extremely difficult. Without the free lunch provided by the school, it is estimated that at least one of the four of us will starve to death. One or two.”

"I think, Billie, this should be the biggest difference between us. You have a good mother who dares to pursue her dreams, but at the same time she takes good care of the next generation, and I am just the opposite. She has never had a clear vision. Life plans and lofty ideals, and they want to take away the right to have them from their children.”

"No matter how twisted this hobby is, my father did cultivate my interest in murder cases. I would try every means to collect all kinds of bizarre murder cases, and then compile them into the booklet my father gave me. This... It is also a way for me to keep in touch with him. Since the phone cannot be reached and the address cannot be found, then there is only one way that can always remind me that in this world, I still have a father. In some corner I don’t know.”

"But after my mother found this booklet, she didn't ask for my opinion at all... No, she may not need to ask for my opinion, but at least... she should slap me, right? Even scold me. Put those She tore off the photos of the corpse and publicly humiliated me in front of my brothers and sisters. I would be happy to accept any feedback, so that I could at least feel her concern for me."

"But she didn't. She found the booklet from my drawer, turned over two pages, burned it directly, and then buried it in the back garden of the public housing without telling anyone. If Isabel hadn't happened to be in the room See, I probably don’t even know to this day who took that booklet from me.”

"After the burning, she went to work in the supermarket. This is how our Goulding family handles it. Difficult things are just left alone. This is the case with Arthur Goulding and Tracy Goulding. The same is true for Ding.”

"As an outstanding member who inherits the family tradition, I also learned their attitude towards life."

"From the age of 11, I started to attend secondary school and Lady Hawkins School in Kington, a town next to Lyons Hall. Kington is the largest town nearby, and parents from more than a dozen villages will send their children to school here. . But even so, the school’s six grades together only have less than [-] students.”

"I finally came to a 'big place' with a population of more than 1000 people. After seven o'clock in the evening, almost no shops were open. I quickly turned into the most annoying teenager in Britain, holding cigarettes in my mouth all day long. Holding a strong drink, or something worse, wandering the streets at night with nothing to do."

"I strive to be the worst version of myself. I hope to use this method to expose all the harm my parents have done to me."

　I want to talk to you about these recent chapters.

　　The reason why I spend a lot of space describing the After Party and the candle-lit night talk after the After Party is partly because of the many foreshadowings of the future.For example, how to finally win over a contemporary superstar like Taylor Swift, how Han Yi obtained the music copyrights of some legendary stars that he wanted, how Hayley Williams was moved to join Han Music, and many other career-related stories. The thread needs to be drawn out through this drunken conversation that is profound for everyone.

　　More importantly, every star in the story line has flesh and blood and a development context. Their careers are closely related to Han Yi. While Han Yi affects them and changes them, their confusion, difficulties, pursuits and concepts It will also affect Han Yi in turn, eventually making the protagonist become more mature and more comfortable in career and relationships.In the first six months of the novel, in order to catch up with the schedule and build a framework, Han Yi actually did not have much stickiness and communication with his artists. Except for Madison and a few others, such as Dua Lipa and Horsi. This kind of very important figure is actually just a name to Han Yi.From this moment on, Han Yihui realized the importance of communicating with his artists, and his career line changed from a pure pursuit of performance, scale and valuation to a more humane, more comprehensive, and more realistic advancement.

　　In short, career lines, like emotional lines, will all revolve around people's emotional conflicts in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)