The competition started that night.
I was sitting in my room when the Discord call came through. I clicked join and the screen filled with tiny video boxes.
Sixty four contestants were sitting in the queue.
Some people looked nervous. Some looked like they had been waiting their whole life for something like this.
I leaned back in my chair and adjusted the camera a little so my mic and keyboard were visible.
After a minute the stream host joined and the bracket popped up on screen.
Sixty four names.
Four rounds.
Eventually four songs.
My name was eighth in the order.
That meant I had time to watch the first few matchups.
* * *
The first few contestants played their remixes.
Some were crazy good. Some were just decent. None of them were terrible.
A lot of people flipped old pop songs or classic R&B hooks.
Every time a song played the chat would explode with comments and emojis.
Fire emojis. Skull emojis. Random people arguing about drums.
I kept the chat open on my second monitor and just watched.
It was weird hearing people talk about music like this live.
Then the host said my name.
* * *
My opponent was a woman who looked older than most of the contestants.
Maybe twenty five.
Dark skin, curly hair, sitting in front of a keyboard setup that looked expensive.
They flipped a coin to see who would go first.
I called heads.
It landed tails.
She decided to go first.
* * *
Her remix used a sample from Keisha Cole.
"Should've Cheated."
The beat was smooth and her drums hit clean.
The chat liked it.
I nodded while listening.
It was good.
But I still didn't think it was better than mine.
* * *
Then the host said my name.
They pressed play.
My beat came in through the stream and for a second the room felt quiet even though thousands of people were watching.
I leaned back and watched the chat scroll while the song played.
I called you on your phone
(You ain't runnin') I called you on your phone
When no one is around you say baby I love you
If you ain't runnin' game
Say my name, say my name
You actin kinda shady, ain't callin me baby
Why the sudden change?
The hook rolled through the speakers while the drums hit underneath it.
People in the chat started spamming fire emojis almost immediately.
The remix kept building.
Where you at and who you with?
Open up I'm at your crib girl
Better tell me where you are
Girl I know you lyin
Say my name, say my name
I watched the chat instead of my camera.
Messages were flying past faster than I could read.
fire
this one crazy
bro flipped destiny's child
I smiled a little but tried not to react too much on camera.
The song ended and the chat somehow started moving even faster.
* * *
The judges talked for a minute.
They liked the drums.
They liked how the hook still sounded familiar but different.
One of them said the remix felt modern without losing the original energy.
I nodded while they talked even though my mic was muted.
Then the voting started.
* * *
The results popped up after a minute.
I won every judge vote.
And the fan vote was eighty twenty.
The chat exploded again.
People typing W after W.
The host congratulated me and moved the bracket forward.
That meant I was moving to the next round.
* * *
My brother doesn't really celebrate when things go right. He just moves on to the next thing. Most people would have been jumping around after winning in front of thousands of strangers. Jordan just leaned back in his chair like it was another Tuesday. That was always the strange thing about him. Winning never surprised him.
The stream kept going after my round.
I stayed in the call and watched the rest of the contestants.
Some songs were wild.
Some were forgettable.
But now I was actually in the bracket.
And that meant I had one week to make another song.
Song S*M*N tory lanes