[Chapter 26: Smearing and Suppression]
The new album was still nowhere in sight. Besides the already hot-selling Old Town Road, Orlando only had one backup track: Just the Way You Are. The quality of this song was good enough to release as a new single, but definitely not enough for a full album.
Now that Orlando had established himself as a genius songwriter, it wouldn't be easy to approach Warner Records and have them collect songs for him. So, he had no choice but to continue vocal lessons, keep recording, and prepare to shoot the music video for Old Town Road.
This part was simple. Orlando had some footage for the video from the vision he'd received, and he felt that with a few tweaks, it could be used directly.
But before he could officially kick off the MV shoot, Warner suddenly called him in for a meeting.
---
When Orlando and Frank arrived at Warner Records headquarters, they saw Seymour waiting for them at the entrance.
"Seymour, what's going on?" Orlando asked.
"Several gossip tabloids suddenly released dirt on you all at once. Warner told us to come right away."
"Dirt? What dirt? The stuff from my Bronx days? Warner told me they had already cleaned that up."
Orlando figured if there was any dirt on him, it wouldn't be his time with Madonna -- that wasn't damaging unless there were compromising photos. The thing with Daisy probably hadn't leaked either. That left only his past as a peripheral member of a gang in the Bronx and his community service sentence.
But that kind of background wasn't a big deal. Even the most conservative folks wouldn't care much about that. People had a pretty broad moral latitude for artists -- after all, with a history of rebels and outlaws, people's standards tended to be flexible.
Warner had already put out multiple press releases framing Orlando's past as a rough neighborhood kid who took a wrong path but turned his life around through immense talent. That was the advantage of the "artsy intellectual" image. If he'd been marketed as the all-American sweetheart type, cleaning up his image would be way messier. No one likes a sweetheart with a pile of scandals.
"I'm not sure. Let's head in and find out. They're already waiting," Seymour replied.
---
Inside the conference room, CEO Gray Morris was present.
"A Bronx-based exotic dancer Sarah claimed in an interview that Orlando lost his virginity to her when he was thirteen. Sources say they were seen behaving intimately, and Sarah is currently serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking."
"Al Platts, the leader of a theft ring, currently incarcerated, revealed that a certain famous genius singer used to be one of his young thieves and often participated in their operations."
"Orlando's private life exposed: besides Madonna and Sarah, how many other affairs has he had?"
"..."
Staff read through a stack of tabloid stories -- Orlando held a thick folder filled with similar reports.
"None of this matters. Stop reading," Gray interrupted, turning to Orlando. "What do you make of it?"
Given Orlando's experience, he really couldn't make sense of it all. Luckily, through his mental link, he could sense Gray's real thoughts.
Orlando frowned. "They're implying I'm promiscuous, involved in crime and drugs, trying to smear and ruin me, Mr. Morris -- is that what you're suggesting?"
"You're too sharp," Gray praised. "Exactly. From my experience in the business, this is most likely a coordinated attack by rivals."
Seymour, an industry veteran with close ties to Warner, and now Orlando's label manager, spoke up: "Mr. Morris, I believe these rumors are completely unfounded. There's no evidence. This looks like a collective push by competitors. For a prodigious newcomer like Orlando -- an automatic crowd magnet -- if they can't control him, they'd naturally want to suppress him. Else, how would other upcoming artists survive?"
"I agree," Morris smiled.
Orlando asked, "What should I do next? What will Warner do for me?"
"Well asked!" Gray clapped his hands, and the room fell quiet. Everyone at Warner followed his lead.
"This is exactly why I called you. What will Warner do for you? First, we'll create new buzz to divert public and media attention. We'll finish your MV, then the new single -- record and release it fast. We're going all out this time! Madonna should be happy to keep promoting you; she's already standing by your side."
"After all the hype with her for so long, won't the audience get bored?"
"Oh, you're already considering audience fatigue? I have to say, Orlando, you're a natural at this game."
Gray said, admiringly.
Orlando smiled and shrugged to himself, thinking he'd just "overheard" their plan. By now, he was completely calm. Reading Gray's mind told him this wasn't a big deal. They didn't even need him there -- Seymour or Frank could've handled it.
They only made him show up to pressure him a bit.
Warner had a distribution-only contract with him and now regretted not signing him outright.
No one at Warner expected Orlando to blow up this fast -- to be this big!
A four-week streak at number one on the Billboard singles chart, and his single hit platinum in just a month. This was no rookie flame; he was on superstar level.
But with the contract only a month old, whether out of legal limits or Daisy's interests, Warner wasn't ready to renegotiate yet. They didn't want to mess with small money.
So they had to create minor obstacles in less critical areas just to remind Orlando how important Warner Records still was.
Like today's incident.
"This is definitely a problem," Gray paused before continuing, "but in the short term, it's tough to create a bigger story than your recent buzz to shift attention. We wanted to have you and Madonna caught in some intimate situation -- then deny it -- to generate even more hype."
The heat around their rumored romance was off the charts. Sales for both their records skyrocketed.
One big hit, all the way.
Plus, Gray knew via his contacts that they really were involved. The cost of the spin was nearly zero, so as CEO, he was naturally invested.
But Orlando's concerns had to be considered.
Warner's financial reports for the first half of the year looked great.
Gray had to think about the second half.
He originally planned to push another big publicity stunt when Madonna and Orlando dropped new singles at year-end, boosting Warner's earnings then.
If they burned through all their media value now, wouldn't that cheapen their second-half hype?
This was a serious question.
After some thought, Gray made a different call: "Let's hold off on hyping your romance for now and switch to distraction tactics."
This time he looked at his Warner executives.
"Any suggestions?"
After a brief pause, the room buzzed with ideas.
"Maybe we can send Milli Vanilli out as a distraction? Their producer admitted they lip-synced last year at a Connecticut theme park."
"No, no, although Milli Vanilli won Best New Artist at this year's Grammys, they're not a big enough target. I say we bring up Sony's scandals! We were already planning to take them down. Now's perfect -- kill two birds with one stone!"
"That's a good idea, but we don't have enough dirt yet."
"Even if not enough material now, we could try. The US-Japan trade agreement is nearly signed, and anti-Japanese sentiment is high nationwide!"
Jason, Warner's head of PR, said this last part, and the room got livelier.
"Really? I heard talks are still ongoing."
"Got any explosive insider info?"
"They say they'll open up sectors like agriculture, retail, finance..."
"Then can we start poaching? Producers, songwriters, artists, catalogs -- from Sony Columbia?"
"Absolutely. Strike while the iron's hot... If we go after Mottola now, other labels should follow. Columbia's management could be in turmoil -- that's our chance."
"Maybe we can even snag Mariah Carey's contract cheap. I'm already talking with her family..." a manager grinned mischievously.
"Ha! I like that!"
"..."
Looking at these guys, they didn't seem like corporate executives; more like gangsters in a hideout.
But this was just the way of the world.
Under government pressure, all sizes of capital pounced. Big fish ate big fish; smaller players fought for scraps.
The Morgans and Rockefellers attacked the Mitsubishis, while the small fry like Warner Records could only go after Sony Columbia -- their equal fish.
*****
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