Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 128: Fall Off?

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Many Men (Wish Death) by 50 Cent>

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{THE WINTER FREEZE: Aria Diana Reclaims the Throne, Julian West Sparkles, and Von Varley’s First Major Flop.}

Published: December 20th, 2019 | By: The Billboard Insider

{As the year draws to a close, it seems the mainstream music industry has taken it personally to dominate the charts, resulting in an absolute rollercoaster over the recent weeks.

The chaos began back in November when Lost & Found, an album independently released by a Miami-bound university dropout and former Project: Star finalist, Von Varley, completely disrupted the natural order. Varley shocked the industry when he dethroned Benny Moon’s smash hit Fudges No Fishes, an album that had stubbornly remained at No. 1 since its release in July.

Many critics were already arguing that this was indisputably Von Varley’s year. The nineteen-year-old phenom achieved unprecedented success without the backing or help of a major label.

He remained at the Number 1 spot for a record-breaking five weeks, a feat virtually unheard of for an indie act. His reign only ended when Jack Sherwin’s highly anticipated album, YOU, which was actually released on the exact same day as Varley’s album, finally got its flowers, climbing up from No. 2 to snatch the first-place crown.

But Sherwin’s victory lap could only last for a single week before the jingle bells took over.

The holiday season arrived without mercy. As of today, the charts have been completely rearranged by festive nostalgia. Varley’s Lost & Found has plummeted outside the top 20, while Sherwin’s YOU is barely hanging on by a thread at the bottom of the top 10.

Unwilling to lose out in the brutal Christmas battle so quickly, Von Varley attempted a surprise counter-attack. He teamed up with his former Project: Star teammate and rising pop sensation, Aura, to release a highly-marketed, melancholic duet.

To put it bluntly: it was a disaster.

The single wildly disappointed expectations and in a shocking turn of events, the song failed to chart at all anywhere on the Hot 100, completely vanishing into the abyss despite the heavy financial investment channeled into its promotion.

Insiders are whispering that Varley let his newfound arrogance get the better of him, pushing out a rushed track without the necessary guidance of a seasoned label executive.

Many are already predicting this catastrophic misstep to be the beginning of his fall-off, questioning if he can truly remain afloat on his own after such a huge drop in momentum.

Meanwhile, there were massive winners this Christmas season. Julian West, Project: Star champion; has fully embraced the mainstream machine and is currently dominating the Billboard charts.

West debuted at number 3 and has now climbed to number 2 on the Hot 100 with his upbeat EP’s lead single featuring Aria Diana, the undisputed Queen of Christmas herself.

Fans on social media have quickly claimed this chart battle is a definitive rematch between the three young Project: Star talents. And looking at the numbers, it seems Julian West has finally buried Von Varley in the snow.

Of course, no one is touching the Queen. Aria Diana is currently in her absolute prime season, holding a staggering 6 places in the Top 10 of the singles chart, with her legendary 2011 holiday album currently sitting comfortably at number 1...}

The article was incredibly long, divided into sections where it talked about various artists and news, but Von didn’t have the slightest intention of reading it all. He had skimmed exactly what he needed to see.

He casually locked the screen and handed Emily’s tablet back to her across the glass coffee table. He stood up, stretching his arms over his head, entirely unfazed by the harsh journalistic takedown.

Emily, however, didn’t know that.

"Listen, Von," She tried to comfort him. "It’s the Christmas season. It’s totally normal for these things to happen right now. People just want to hear sleigh bells and old classics. Far Away will make a comeback in January, trust me."

Von paused his stretching and looked down at her. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Don’t lie to me, Emily. I bet you don’t even trust your own words right now."

"Okay, fine," Emily finally said, dropping her kind persona. "Seriously, the industry is tough. It’s a meat grinder. You can’t expect every single song you make to do well, Von. It just happens. Sometimes you miss the mark, and the press is always going to exaggerate it to get clicks."

Von sighed at her words, turning his gaze toward the large windows. She wasn’t wrong. Even the System had essentially warned him of this reality.

Far From You had scored 91, but that had nothing to do with its commercial success.

Silence hung in the room for some seconds before Emily called out.

"And also, Von."

Von turned to look at her from his phone, raising an eyebrow.

"Well. You see the way things are going right now. On paper, I’m your music manager and your agent. But I consider myself much more than that at this point. So I’ll tell you the truth about your recent decisions, as a friend."

"Using 1.5 million dollars in liquid cash to buy stocks... mortgaging a 9.5 million dollar house in Pinecrest... Those aren’t very smart decisions. I don’t know what your actual plans are, but I’m just hoping you don’t regret it when January rolls around and the bills are due."

Von rubbed his chin, putting on an exaggerated, thoughtful expression. "Hmm... you know what? I haven’t even bought the stocks yet. Thanks for the reminder, Em. I’ll call Zack upstairs right now, he’ll update you on exactly what I did with the portfolio."

"No!" Emily groaned and facepalmed. "You absolute idiot, that is not what I’m saying!"

Von chuckled, finding her exasperation highly amusing. He waved a hand to dismiss her rant. "I’m kidding, Emily. Relax. The money is fine."

Emily glared at him from behind her fingers, completely unamused by his nonchalant attitude toward millions of dollars.

"Anyway, I almost forgot to tell you," Von said, casually shifting the conversation back to business. "You can release the music videos now."

"Really? Right now?"

"Yeah," Von nodded, slipping his phone into his pocket. "That’s what you recommended a few weeks ago, right? You said a visual rollout will help Lost & Found ride this Christmas period and keep the momentum alive. Let’s drop them."

"Okay. If you say so. I’ll get on the phone with the distributors and prep the YouTube premieres." She stood up, grabbed her tablet, and quickly left the room.

After Von was left alone in the quiet living room, he pulled his phone back out and texted Zack to meet him in his bedroom. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He walked upstairs, closed the door behind him, and pulled his laptop onto his desk to watch the final cuts of the videos for himself one more time before they went live to the world.

He opened the encrypted folder the video editing team had sent over. Inside sat four video files.

He had spent exactly $820,000 out of his own pocket to produce these four music videos. For most artists and even small labels, spending nearly a million dollars on visual marketing for a single album felt absurd and unwise.

But Von didn’t care. He had put everything into these songs. They weren’t just regular tracks meant to be forgotten in a month; they were his masterpieces, and he absolutely refused to settle for anything less than cinema.

He double-clicked the first file: It Doesn’t Even Matter.

This one had cost the most out of the budget, consuming $300,000 all by itself. A huge chunk of that went into CGI and renting a black 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 and a silver Lamborghini Aventador.

Von hit play, and the screen faded from black, instantly filling his headphones with the low, menacing roar of heavy engines.

The video opened at midnight on an empty, cracked desert highway. Heavy rain lashed against the road, illuminated only by the glare of headlights and a neon purple sky.

Von was behind the wheel of an all black Mustang, his face filled with desperation and panic.

He wasn’t in a street race; he was trying to save a life. Ahead of him, tearing through the rain, was Alex in a silver Lamborghini. Alex was driving recklessly, heading straight toward a dark, endless horizon.

As the heavy rock guitars kicked in, the psychological thriller aspect took over. The world began to literally run out of time.

Massive, glowing clock gears and swinging pendulums materialized in the storm clouds, crashing down into the desert sand around them.

The road behind their tires began to crumble away into a dark void. Von pushed his car to the absolute limit, swerving past the falling gears, desperately trying to catch up to Alex’s bumper to force him to pull over.

During the bridge of the song, Alex leaned completely out the window of the speeding Lamborghini, screaming his verses back into the rushing wind. He looked at Von, his expression a tragic mix of anger and acceptance. He was letting go.

Then, the headlights caught the end of the road. A massive, jagged cliff edge suddenly appeared out of the darkness.

Von slammed his brakes and spun the steering wheel. The Mustang’s tires shrieked, sliding violently across the wet pavement before crashing hard into the metal guardrail just inches from the drop.

But the Lamborghini didn’t even slow down.

Von kicked his door open and sprinted to the edge of the cliff. He screamed into the rain, his hand reaching out desperately into the empty air. But he was too late.

The heavy guitars suddenly dropped out, leaving a heavy, agonizing silence as Von watched the silver supercar sail over the edge in ultra-slow motion.

As the final, explosive chorus hit, the car erupted into a massive fireball at the bottom of the abyss, lighting up the dark canyon. The camera slowly zoomed in on Von’s devastated, rain-soaked face as he fell to his knees in the dirt.

He had risked his life, chased him to the edge of the world, and gave it absolutely everything he had to save him.

But in the end, it didn’t even matter.

Satisfied with the heavy emotional punch of the ending, Von smiled and closed opened the second file: A Thousand Miles.

This was the epic, theatrical romance. It had cost $250,000 to bring the time-jumping vision to life.

The video started in a lavish, candlelit Victorian ballroom. Von, dressed in a sharp, tailored 1800s suit, stood frozen in the middle of a swirling crowd of dancers.

Then, he saw her. A beautiful woman in a flowing gown, standing across the room. He pushed through the crowd, his eyes locked on hers.

He reached his hand out, but just as their fingers were about to brush, the music swelled, and the ballroom floor shattered like glass.

He fell into the darkness.

When he landed on his feet, the world had changed. He was standing in a modern, rain-drenched city alleyway. His Victorian suit seamlessly morphed into a soaked leather jacket.

Down the street, illuminated by a flickering streetlamp, he saw her silhouette turning a corner.

He broke into a dead sprint. The camera followed him closely as he chased her through the maze of the neon-lit city.

He jumped over puddles, his breath was visible in the cold air. He finally caught up to her under a glowing train bridge.

He reached out to grab her shoulder, but a loud, roaring subway train suddenly rushed past, completely blocking his path and drowning out the music.

When the train finally passed, the street was empty. She was gone.

Frustrated and desperate, Von burst through a heavy steel door at the end of the alley.

Instead of another street, he stepped out into a blinding, scorching desert. The song hit its grand, emotional peak. Von was exhausted now. His clothes were torn, dusty, and ruined from the endless journey. He crawled up a massive sand dune, the sun beating down on his back.

But when he reached the peak, he stopped. Standing at the top, backlit by a giant, golden setting sun, was the woman. She turned to him and smiled. Von reached out, pulling her into a tight embrace just as the final piano chord faded to silence. It was breathtaking and really emotional.

He quickly clicked on the third video: Coming Home.

This was the pop anthem. It had cost $150,000, paying for a top-tier animation studio to create a high-energy, colorful 2D/3D animated world.

The video opened in a dull, grayscale, boring corporate city. Everyone looked sad, staring at their phones, marching in straight lines. An animated version of Von and the Midnight Pulse band were standing on a gray rooftop. But the second the upbeat, catchy hook dropped, Leo struck a chord on his guitar.

A massive shockwave of neon paint exploded from the instrument.

The animation was hyper-kinetic and fluid. Von and the band rode literal waves of vibrant color down the side of the building and into the streets.

They created absolute, joyful havoc. They spray-painted the sky, danced across the roofs of moving subway trains, and slid down banisters.

Every gray, sad citizen they touched instantly exploded into color and started dancing. It was a visual dopamine rush, perfectly engineered to keep viewers hooked and smiling the entire time.

Von smiled, watching the final frames of the colorful city, before clicking on the fourth and final video. He clicked on the next file: You’re Gonna Come Home.

This was the emotional anchor of the entire visual rollout. The video opened not with a nostalgic warmth. It was shot entirely on vintage lenses, giving the screen a gritty, beautiful film grain look that instantly made it feel like a cherished memory.

The first shot was of a dusty, beat-up sedan driving down a long, winding dirt road, surrounded by endless, sun-drenched rural fields.

Inside the car was Von, looking like a weary traveler. He wore a faded canvas jacket, his hair was slightly unkempt, and his eyes were fixed on the horizon with a look of exhaustion and deep longing.

As the gentle, acoustic guitar intro played, the video began to intercut.

The scene shifted to the inside of a quiet, softly lit farmhouse. An elderly couple sat at a worn wooden kitchen table.

The house felt underwhelmed. The mother was slowly turning the pages of an old photo album, tracing over a faded Polaroid of a young boy.

Across the table, the father stared out the window, his expression carrying the heavy, silent weight of years spent waiting.

As Von’s soulful, reassuring vocals kicked in, the tension in the video began to build perfectly in sync with the track.

Every time the chorus hit, promising a return, the dusty car was shown getting closer and closer to town.

The editing masterfully bounced between the slow passage of time inside the quiet house and the urgent, driving journey of the son trying to find his way back to them.

The emotional climax of the video only relied on humanity.

The music swelled to its peak just as the dusty sedan finally turned onto a gravel driveway. The crunch of the tires echoed through the track. Inside the house, the elderly couple froze. The mother looked up.

The camera cut to the outside. The car door clicked open, and Von stepped out into the golden hour sunlight. He took a deep, trembling breath, looking at the porch of the home he had left behind so long ago.

The front door of the farmhouse slowly creaked open. The mother stepped out, dropping the dish towel from her hands. The heavy instrumentation of the song suddenly dropped out, leaving only a soft, lingering acoustic chord.

The video faded to black the exact second Von dropped his bags and the mother ran forward, pulling her son into a tearful embrace.

Just as it faded, Von heard some knocks at the door.

On gaining approval, Zack walked in, looked at Von, then at the paused screen of the laptop.

"I got your text," Zack said, walking over and taking a seat on the edge of the mattress. "Are the final cuts ready for upload?"

"They’re ready," Von nodded, his mind already shifting gears. The art was finished; now it was time for the business. He turned his chair to face Zack fully.

"But that’s not why I called you up here. I have a question for you. You’re still sharp at all that trading and stock market stuff, right?"