Iris slept for a long time after completing the reports and sending them to Jin Liwei. She woke up a few minutes after noon in time for brunch.
As they ate, Dom informed her that JJ's people finally called in the morning while she was still sleeping and asked for a meeting to negotiate contract terms.
For the next few days, Iris together with Dom and her lawyer were busy meeting with JJ's team. Finally, they signed a contract that satisfied both parties. JJ's record label didn't make any public announcements that she signed under them as an artist as per her request.
Next order of business was to sign under a talent management company. JJ recommended Bright Summit Entertainment Company, which was one of the top in the industry and also had the best relationship with his record label.
Although JJ worked with a lot of talented musicians from different talent companies, he liked working with artists under Bright Summit because they were the least troublesome. A big part of this was because Bright Summit protected its artists very well. Unless an artist did something unsalvageable, the company would use its full might and glory to ensure the artist's career.
When Iris went into coma after the accident, her father spent a huge amount of money to dissolve her outstanding contracts with her previous talent agency, record label and endorsements when she failed to wake up after three months.
JJ went the extra mile to contact someone he trusted from Bright Summit. After a few days of negotiations, Iris was already signing a contract with them. She was also given a new manager. Like before, this was not publicly announced as per her request.
The next few weeks were extremely busy. Iris worked personally with JJ and his team of experts at JJ's own studio to record all the songs she composed for her comeback album.
The other people working with them learned to cope (a.k.a. sit there quietly like statues) whenever Iris and JJ clashed like two evil dragons.
"Listen, Iris brat! I'm an award-winning music producer. I'm always right when it comes to music! I say we should change this part of the song to a faster tempo, so we should do it!"
"No, Mr. JJ. You're wrong. That's so stupid. Are you planning to make this into a disco song? Or maybe a dance song?"
"What did you say, you brat?!"
Another one….
"Mr. JJ, this song doesn't need electric and bass guitars. The symphony orchestra is already more than enough."
"Hai! You don't understand. The guitars add another dimension to the song!"
"What another dimension? Mr. JJ, they're just annoying background noise."
"What did you say, you brat?!"
And yet another one…
"Mr. JJ, I want an acoustic guitar as accompaniment for this song."
"Brat, it's better to keep this song as raw as possible and focus on the emotional impact of your vocals instead. No need for other accompaniment. Just the piano is enough."
"Hmm…fine. But I still want to try another version with an acoustic guitar. Then we can just choose which version sounds better."
"You brat! You don't listen to what I say!"
Although the two argued a lot because both were extreme perfectionists when it came to music, they would always find a way to grudgingly compromise with each other and meet in the middle ground. These compromises always produced songs that left everyone in the recording studio, including Iris and JJ, in shocked amazement.
All 13 songs were successfully recorded and polished to their final versions. Next was shooting the music videos. Both JJ and Iris wanted to release the album as soon as possible, so they shot all the music videos for the 13 songs every day in just two and a half weeks.
Everyone was exhausted but seeing their artist Iris Long working nonstop without complaints, they gritted their teeth and worked just as hard.
After a two-day break, Iris was once again busy posing for the album's cover and promotional posters.
Finally, Iris' part in the album production was done and JJ's record label took over in putting everything together. She felt so exhausted that just opening her eyes took extreme effort, but this was the first time in her two lives that she felt so alive. Her blood sang with excitement.
She could hardly wait to release her album and hear her music being played everywhere.
Almost two years since the accident and her abrupt retirement from showbiz, JJ's record label and Bright Summit Entertainment Company officially announced the upcoming release of her new album.
Their message was clear.
Iris Long was back.
