Sassy Goth Girls!

Over the course of the week till their performance, the boys put everything they could into making the song better as per Kyle's instructions.

In addition to that, they had also met up with the professional music producers of 'Rising Voices' A&R Team a few times.

These guys would be tasked with making modifications to the instrumentals of their song if it was needed by any of the bands.

Like that, any artistic changes and arrangements to the song could be easily accommodated.

"Yes! Perfect! Thank you so much" Kyle said to the music producer with genuine appreciation.

"It's nothing. Your instructions were on point so it was easier for me to make the changes" the middle-aged producer replied.

"Nevertheless, I appreciate it. I'll be taking my leave now"

With those words, Kyle hurriedly left the music studio.

Stepping out of the room, he ran into Helena and Katie who were also walking over to presumably receive their song's new arrangement for their band.

One interesting thing Kyle had noticed over the course of the week was how the songs assigned to every other band seemed to have a bit of an issue or the other that needed a bit of tweaking to elevate it.

Exchanging a few pleasantries with them though, Kyle quickly made his way over to the practice room for their band.

"No Steven! You're doing it wrong! That's not how you pull off a leg-shuffle!" Ryan corrected Steven for the umpteenth time!

"I suck at this! I fucking suck at this!!!" Steven on the other hand cursed in frustration while Joe just gazed on in amusement as the man's inability to pull off the simple dance move.

"Well this is fun…" he muttered to himself.

Walking into the room, not really minding Steven's current predicament, Kyle played the modified version of the song.

___________________________

{Dancin' On The Egde - Edited} – (70%)

Written and sung By Carl Finch, the pop-rock song was meant to be upbeat and energetic, capturing the youthful and unexpected experiences of a youth love-struck by a charming lady. After being modified, the song seems to have come close to reaching its original vision.

___________________________

'We just have to keep giving it our all. I'm pretty sure we'll hit 80 to 85% once we perform it together as a band' the young man mused to himself as he listened to the song.

He had come to realize over the past few days how the percentage of the song was linked to how much of the song's potential was met in correlation to its vision.

"Wow. Your modifications really did elevate the song quite a lot" Joe walked over and said.

"I'm just glad it came out well. All that's left for us is to perform it as we've practiced now" Kyle replied.

"And also get Steven to actually be able to dance properly" Joe added with a chuckle to which Kyle did the same.

"Yeah. That too" he commented.

Honestly, Kyle could understand why Steven was having a hard time since he had seen that his dancing was the only thing that was low-leveled among his stats.

But even then, within the short span of time Steven had trained with Ryan, Kyle had watched him go from level 4 to level 5.

Though him also constantly taking choreography lessons had really helped ever since Ryan had brought up the idea of pulling off a few dance moves, it was still commendable nonetheless.

That being said, Steven was not the only one who had leveled up in his dancing skills as Kyle himself had also advanced from level 5 to level 6.

He did wonder though, if at some point, the other guys would also level up their singing skills before the competition ended but since it wasn't his main focus for the meantime, he put those thoughts on the backburner.

So, with all the changes to their assigned song, along with constant practice, the guys kept working hard to deliver a great performance.

* * *

In the large auditorium that was packed to the brim with people hoping for a good show today, the panel of judges were currently having a discussion between each other before performances began.

"I wonder if most of them realized that the songs purposely assigned to them had issues that needed fixing" Kiara said while resting her chin on her interlocked hands.

"Hmmm. That's really up to them to realize. But realizing, and actually been able to fix the issue… now that's a different ball game entirely" Jack gave his thoughts.

"Jack's right. This might be a singing competition at the end of the day but at the same time, it's important for these aspiring stars to also have good problem solving skills. That's the only way a singer will ever be able to grow and advance forward" Blake added to their conversation with his own comments.

Nodding their heads in agreement with his words, the judges moved on to another topic.

As the judges kept having other discussions, all of which also pertained to the show, backstage, something else was happening.

The bands were being assigned the positions as to how they would go on stage.

Lily's group, which included June and two other females were required to go on first.

Then the next band, a boy band which included Paxton and three other guys came next.

Like that, positions were assigned.

Katie and Helena's band group was assigned fourth.

Kyle's band came in at sixth and also the very last.

"Now remember, only four bands out of your six bands will move on from this round. Good luck to you all" the staff who had assigned them positions explained and then left.

Just like the last time, the filming studio backstage was quite cold and the camerapersons were just filming everything that was going on.

Normally, there should have been a wave of nervousness surrounding the contestants after the staff had uttered her words but it seemed like everyone had really come to get used to the tension of the show.

Some even believed that at this stage, even if they did get eliminated, there was a very high chance that they'd be able to join a small agency or record label.

And in all fairness, that was actually the truth because among the audience, there was always scouters from any of such small agencies or record labels looking to recruit those that probably didn't go far in the show but were still talented enough to put in the effort and become a star.

There were quite a few like that in the past seasons, some who had even gone on to be far more popular and successful than even the winners and the runner-ups.

"First group, get ready to go on stage!" one of the staff members called out while another began handing mini microphones to the bands and tightly clipping it to their clothes.

Letting out a deep breath of air, Lily and her team members warmed themselves up in preparation.

They were all super confident about the performance they were going to put out and even from their dressing alone, which was in a gothic-themed format, it was obvious that they had gone all out.

Staring at them, most of the other groups knew that they were in for some fierce competition.

Kyle's group though, was very relaxed despite seeing how hard Lily's group had gone for their performance.

They on the other hand, had gone for a more simplistic dressing style.

Dressed in simple tight black jeans, black shoes and a slim-fitted white T-shirt, the only exceptions being Steven who wore a long-sleeved turtle neck and Kyle who wore a black leather jacket atop his shirt, they all stood out individually.

But at the exact same time, each of them had their own charm that blended well with each other.

Joe even had a dragon tattoo across the length of his left forearm that was usually hidden by his long-sleeved shirts in full view today as some of it peeked out from underneath the arm of his short-sleeve.

"First group. Take the stage!" the same staff member called out once again and without fail, Lily's group went up.

There was no need for any interactions between them and the judges today.

They just needed to give it their all and give their best possible performance.

Today, they were just entertainers who really wanted to shine as bright as they could.

Walking onto the darkened stage, their backs facing the audience who had gone deathly silent, the instrumentals of their song began to play.

As the tune of the song began, laced with an edgy feel and having a contemporary and catchy pop sound to it, Lily started off the song with a sassy feel to her voice while speech-talking.

🎤🎸🎵🥁

They say we're scary~,

They say we're bad~,

A nightmare to behold,

I say we're misunderstood!

🎤🎸🎵🥁

The moment most people heard those first few lyrics, they instantly realized that the song was [Maverick], a recent song from a popular female musician about rebelling against societal norms that didn't quite stick the landing when it was released.

This time though, Lily had thrown away the original slightly melodic vocal beginning for a Sprechgesang-style (talk-singing) approach, that added more emphasis to the songs' themes about rebelling against societal norms and traditions while also elevating it further.

As she did, her, June and her other bandmates twirled around while flipping their hair in a very sassy manner, the stage lights simultaneously lighting up to reveal their faces.

That alone, was enough for the crowd to cheer so loudly as her other band members followed up and began to sing too, this time slightly ditching the speech-talking, while adding a bit more melody to their voices with a darker undertone that wasn't in the original.

🎤🎸🎵🥁

What would you have us do?

Stand still and take the injustice,

Pretend there's nothing… wrong?

Take a raincheck on that,

Cause we're gonna burn it all down!

🎤🎸🎵🥁

Even the judges were visibly already impressed with their performance as the goth ladies sashayed forward in style with their dance choreography, their performance continuing on.

Backstage though, the other band members gulped in fear.

If they had been confident before, some of them were really questioning and losing some of that confidence right now.

"Shit! They're too good!" one guy muttered.

"Have we lost before we even performed?" one of the ladies sighed in resignation and said.

"How do you even top that?!" another guy audibly exclaimed in a whisper.

"They really went all out, didn't they…" Ryan quietly said to Kyle while shaking his head.

"But I'm sure we can top that!" he then added with a confident declaration, one Steven, Joe and Kyle couldn't help but genuinely agree with.

Just like that, they all watched as the girl band continued on, their performance only getting better and better as it went on.

Eventually, their song came to an end and the crowd roared with excitement and cheers while the judges, gave such stellar remarks about their performance, one the girls were genuinely grateful for.

A few seconds later, they walked off the stage as the next band was called up to perform, not a single doubt in their minds that their band would definitely be making it to the next round.