"Good morning America and welcome to the show that pits baritones against mezzo-sopranos and actually gets away with it. For today's challenge our hopefuls will have to do music trivia to gauge what kind of music genre they correspond to. Are they rockers, country bumpkins, high brow Mozart protégés or will one of them be sent home for making our ears bleed?" Lombardi smiled wide as he turned to the contestants.
Since there were so many school districts around the country, video auditions were sent in and the producers narrowed it down to sixty contestants, thirty of whom would be leaving by this evening.
The challenge entailed three rounds. Challengers would be divided into groups of three. For the first round, each of the judges would ask questions to a team on the music genre they represented and the first team to answer all three questions correctly would proceed to the next round. Each question answered correctly throughout the challenge would be worth a Quaver Token, a Q-Token if you will.
Q-Tokens would be useful in some difficult challenges which could require spending above their usual pay. The more Q-Tokens one had, the more of an advantage. Q-Tokens could be spent on items that may carry you through challenges, buy outfits otherwise exorbitant or skip the challenges altogether if they proved to be too difficult but skipping challenges would deny one the opportunity to impress the judges.
"Now without further ado, let the games begin. Best of luck to all challengers."
The first team, was a pair of ice dancers, the girl, pale-skinned, long fishtail braid hanging over her shoulder and an ice-blue leotard, the guy next to her had his hair in a pompadour and sported a matching blue but in lieu of the leotard, he sported a suit and scarf. Beside them was a mousy looking girl whose ginger spice permed hair hid whatever part of her eyes that wasn't camouflaged by her large glasses. The ice dancers' whole look and personae screamed 'fear me' which made one wonder whose idea it was to pair them with the poor girl. Jennifer, Jeremy and Deidre.
The second team, was a trio of Victorian looking prep school brats, upturned noses pointing skywards, looking down upon everyone from the stage despite some being taller than them already. Amanda, Geraldine and Hudson.
The third team were definitely rock band fanatics. Black and red, head to toe like vampire zealots, with their white faces, dark make up, mesh gloves and spiky combat boots. Kalma, Naenia and Hannibal.
Wyatt Shane stepped up first.
"Who was named Entertainer of the Year, by CMA in 1975?" he asked. "Also known as the Mickey Mouse of Rock and he mentioned this in an interview with the Rolling Stone."
The buzzer rang a number of times...
"Michael Jackson, it makes sense since his name's Michael so Mickey has to be short for his name right?" one contestant, Candy answered.
"Actually Candy, Michael Jackson was known as the King of Pop, not the Mickey Mouse of Rock." her teammate Rex corrected her.
"Yeah but he was like secretly a mouse or something right?"
...but none of the teams were able to answer.
"John Denver." a hushed voice suddenly spoke up.
Everyone turned to the girl who was staring quietly at her feet, her little hand resting on the buzzer. Wyatt Shane broke into a smile.
"That's absolutely right young lady."
The rest of the round went the same way. Elizabeth Hartfield popped a question on the star who played the beloved redhead from the hit Nickelodeon Show, who off screen was a brunette. I found it hard to believe that half the teams were blank about someone as famous as Ariana Grande, but then again the world was more surprising than I gave it credit for.
Then Midnight took the mic and grilled a couple of sweater vest clad ivy league girls about the difference between Math Rock and Math Metal and the greatest hits in the Psychedelic sub genre. It was a whole thing but in the end none made the cut.
Finally, Allison's team stepped onstage. It was her and some girl flaunting a tomboy look. A teal flannel was tied around her waist and her silver-dyed hair was atop her head in a messy bun. She was chewing on some gum with her arms crossed across her chest. Her black T-Shirt read 'I don't give a bloody damn, why should you?' and was short sleeved on one side and ripped on the other, revealing a pirate tattoo. The third member was definitely an anime enthusiast. Her bubblegum cosplay wig and Kamado Tanjirou Sailor Dress were a dead giveaway.
"You definitely give off a different vibe from the other teams, you three all picked pop," Lance said as he looked at the three in turn. "So, first question. Give me at least six sub-genres of Euro Pop."
The buzzer went off, making him turn to Allison.
"Easy, Austropop, Balkan Pop, French Pop , ugh and I thought the french couldn't get any weirder, Neder Pop, Russian Pop and Laïkó." she answered with a confident hair flip.
"What sub-genre makes use of electronic keyboards and synthesizers and embodies jazz, soul and pop?"
"What idiot still listens to jazz?" she said a bit too loudly.
"What was that?" Lance glared at her.
"I'm sorry," she smiled sweetly and batted her lashes. "What I meant to say was sophisti-pop."
"Last question, Allison don't answer this one." he looked on to the other two. "Name at leat two sophisti-pop artists whose name begin with the letter H."
"I mean, I don't listen to sophisti-pop, it's really retro but I'd have to say Hue and Cry and Haircut One Hundred. I think my parents were into their whole dark and démodé aesthetic in their teens." the tomboy answered with a shrug and she looked at anything else.
The anime girl blubbered something in Japanese but she was wrong so she was out automatically. I sighed with relief as I pulled out the com in my ear. But I heard Lance's voice come through one last time.
"Hey Allison, I have a question for you." Lance suddenly spoke up.
"Three questions Lance, or did you lose count?" she asked coyly. "You know, if you want a date all you have to do is ask." she winked.
Barf.
"What can you tell me about living in a box?"
I fumbled with my earpiece, a bit startled but it fell out of my hands at the mercy of the wheel of a passing janitor's cart. It sparked a few times before everything was silent. Oh no, I knew Allison and she would definitely get that wrong. I slid up the wall and gingerly peeked through the door of the control room at the screen catching her every move. She shrugged apathetically and walked off the stage. My hand flew to my chest and I sighed relieved. She must've answered the question well after all. Maybe I was worrying too much.
I pulled my baseball cap back on and tied the bandana mask on my face tighter before I pushed the cart down the hallway, blending in with the rest of housekeeping just as a troop of flustered contestants filed into the main room.
The second part of the challenge was more hands on. The remaining forty-five were split into groups of five to do a 'libretto sew up'. In other words, they'd be given a line from a song in the genre they'd picked and each of them had to continue the song with their own inspired lyrics until the last person. It was sort of like a musical broken telephone. That would be challenging on my part, since Ally would have to sing and she was about as creative as a blob with a fart for brains.
Her mind was good for math, history and chemistry but she couldn't write a song on the spot even if her Gucci shoes were on the line. The challenge would be in the auditorium since the place had good acoustics or at least wasn't as acoustically dead as the other rooms in the house.
The auditorium had a school theatre vibe and offered me the advantage of guising myself as a cleaner in the wings. I could sing, she would lip sync and everything would play out perfectly. Sam said she'd handle the tech team so that they'd help, so long as no one opened their mouth to say anything. That and they were receiving a wad of cash from her for their co-operation. Money talks alright, and it was definitely speaking their language.
There were nine teams and the genres left were Britpunk, Outlaw Country,Baltimore Club, East Coast, Pirate Metal, Southern Soul, Vocal Jazz, contemporary R&B and Sophisti-pop. By the first half hour, Brit punk and Baltimore Club had been kicked to the curb so now all that was left was for the remaining teams to fight against being voted out.
The Vocal Jazz guys were really good. They were so co-ordinated and synchronized, it was almost more mechanical than human. They were a bit different but I could tell an alliance was in the offing already.
The other group to watch, was the R&B group. The white-haired flannel girl was amazing. She didn't seem like much. Stoic demeanor, eyes glassy with tedium, it's like she didn't give a shit about anything. Until she opened up her mouth and belted out conjured up lyrics for a Mariah Carey song. She was amazing and she knew so too, because she turned to me and shot me a wink.
Allison and her group were up next and needless to say, all the judges were excited to see what she had to offer, rather what I had to offer, but they didn't need to know that.
"Your line...is 'More Than This'." Lance sat with his hands folded, watching the five through unimpressed eyes.
"More than this, you know there is nothing." the short Merida parody started.
"Leaves will fall, but I keep on loving." anime girl belted out next.
"More than this, there will be seasons, come winter, summer, fall." Candy Summerton sang her voice thundering all over the room.
"More than this there will be nothin' left at all." Naenia sang a bit drearily but she delivered the lyrics technically so she was still in.
"You know more than this, that I'll be the girl left at the ball." Allison mouthed.
The auditorium was quiet before one person burst into applause, then a second one, then a third and the ripple effect resulted in the entire room erupting into cheers and applause. Whispers of how she was the one to beat, echoed among the sound and lighting crew a few feet away. I swallowed hard.
"Well, aren't you just full of surprises Allison Decora." I heard him comment and he stood up breaking into applause.
The rest of the judges followed suit and I peeked behind the curtain just long enough to see her wide smile. She looked like a little girl with a lollipop on Sunday morning. Literally, I didn't know who her wardrobe designer was but they'd given her an Alice in Wonderland sort of look. With that 1930s baby blue organza tiered puff sleeve, dress and white hair tie, all she needed was the rainbow swirl lollipop.
I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if I were on that stage. I checked my phone. It was already time for me to clock out and she'd be fine for the third round anyway. It should be simple enough for her. All she'd have to do was make a drink, how hard could that possibly be?
I pulled myself off the floor and abandoned the cart in the corner before I slunk out the back door.