#Music Mentoring
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There is no R in Fee...or why the Free Economy sucks for artists, or anyone, really.
Just imagine if I asked you to do a job that could take months, even years, to complete; but before you started, I explained, you may never get paid for it.
Welcome to the world of the artist and musician. This is the environment we work in. Our currency is *IP and Copyright and sometimes we can earn a healthy amount for our output; but for the majority, it’s hit and miss and creative incomes are pretty lean.
Over the years, I have developed a simple response when anyone wants to use my work, or music, on the Songbroker Music Publishing catalogue for free, and that is; “There is no R in fee”.
Creatives are driven to produce work for a variety of reasons, but it is unlikely the main one is because they think they are going to earn a lot of coin. Secretly, probably, we all hope we will, but there is never a guarantee we can charge for the work we do.
Artists don’t get paid via a salary or a wage, we get paid when our audience (or customer) wishes to interact with our work commercially. And the kicker is, because we never know if someone will be interested in what we offer, or when that may be; well, it’s not exactly a job for the fainthearted.
I have licensed songs on film and TV productions that were written over 25 years ago. That’s a long time to wait for a pay cheque.
As I am in Skin by Cassandra’s Ears recorded in 1989, featured on NZ TV series Westside in 2020.
I wrote It’s My Sin around 1990 and someone licensed it onto a film, Juniper, in 2021
Recently, and it’s not the first time this has happened, someone asked me if I would license one of my music tracks onto an online promotional video. A Government Department was funding the project, and the Director was certainly not short of a bob or two.
The fee they offered me was Zip; Nada; Zero; Nothing. The producer was hoping I might consider a gratis license because it was such a good cause.
I thought about that offer for about minus two seconds and said. “No way”.
If I am not keen to proceed with a *synchronisation deal, I usually say “No, thank you, but thanks for the opportunity”; but this wasn’t one of those circumstances. This was a bunch of people asking me to work for free when they should’ve known better. There are laws against this in the real world, but unfortunately not in the artists’ realm where the Free Economy continues to dominate.
Another example of the Free Economy is when performers work at events for no remuneration. A Charitable Trust; A Non-Profit; or Government Agency may ask them to volunteer at a fundraiser or perform at an industry awards show spectacular for exposure or experience while the people asking are on very reasonable salaries. Everyone else contracted to work at the event is getting paid, but there is an unwritten assumption that the performer should rock up for no charge.
Most artists are good people. We want to do the right thing. But asking anyone to do something for free backs them into a very uncomfortable corner. Even if someone agrees to give their work away for nothing; you need to understand, like buyer’s remorse, they might go away and, after having time to think about it, might resent you very much.
What the Free Economy also does is perpetuate the myth that ‘art’ has no value and that creative people are not important in our society, nor do they deserve to earn from their work. That may not be your intention, but yeah, that’s what happens when you pull out the “Will you do it for free?” card.
Thinking people in Aotearoa New Zealand champion the living wage and accept this is a fair way forward but then these same people would not hesitate to ask someone who is probably earning way less than them to donate their time, or their work, for ‘no-charge’.
Look, I get it, it’s OK if you are an established artist who wants to donate your expertise to a worthy cause (and even get some personal promo going) but many artists in NZ do it very tough and even a small *koha is better than not offering some sort of payment for a person’s time or work.
If you are organising an event, the rule of thumb when considering whether you should pay someone is this; If all people working at an event, including; you, the caterers, roadies, ushers, bar staff, cleaners and the production company, are receiving some sort of payment, then you should offer to pay the artist, performer, speaker, etc. There is no excuse not to.
It’s also about excellent results. When everyone working on a job is happy, the outcome of this is a good energy and therefore a better work flow. This is probably a little esoteric, but I have worked on a lot of projects in my time and my theory has not failed me yet.
Art is valuable, and it’s worth investing in, but who wants to sink resources into something that has no return at all? The irony is when an artist hits the big time, the income from their creative output can be more than some of our highest paid CEOs and Government Bureaucrats. Lorde will earn from her creative industry for the rest of her life and beyond; at the same time contributing to society by paying her taxes. One less person who will need to rely on a pension in retirement has got to be a good thing, doesn’t it?
You need to be brave to be an artist. You will face rejection and years of living from hand to mouth with no ability to save for a rainy day or support your kids (which is why I had to give away my music for a number of years). So when there is an opportunity to sell or license your work, then you want to be paid decently because you know how much work went into creating it.
Through all the years of working and getting paid a wage to support my creative tendencies, I can say, hand on heart, nothing is as sweet as being paid a royalty for my creative work. Whether it’s a song placed on a film, a streaming income or a performance fee, it’s all good. Whenever I sell a book or one of my albums, I am happy feet dancing for hours. It’s nothing to do with the money. It’s because someone is interested in my art and they are acknowledging me by paying for it. Frankly, it’s one of the best feelings ever.
Next time you are thinking of acquiring music or licensing art or asking someone to work at your event; keep in mind the many hundreds of hours that this person has laboured to make what you are asking for, available. Before you make a fee offer, ask yourself; “Is this fair?” Always offer something and remember the mantra. “There is no R in fee”.
See more about the author Audio Culture
*HP = Intellectual Property
*Synch Licensing — Synchronising music onto film and TV shows.
*Koha The koha reflects the mana of both the giver and the recipient, reflecting what the giver can give, and the esteem they hold of the person or group they are making the gift to… *source Wikipedia
#Jan Hellriegel#Essays#Music Blog#creative industries#creative business#Free Economy#Work for Free#Music Mentoring#NZ Music#Music Industy#Knowledge is Creative Freedom
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My Fair Lady (1964) // 30 Rock (2006)
#my fair lady#30 rock#eliza doolittle#henry higgins#liz lemon#jack donaghy#audrey hepburn#rex harrison#tina fey#alec baldwin#i have a LOT to say about this but it's past my bedtime so just have this#i could make a bajillion more comparisons between them btw there's so much that this gifset doesn't even touch on#specifically when the mentor is like 'psssh I can get on fine without her' and then is on the verge of tears five minutes later#going 'WHERE'S MY LITTLE BUDDY'#'i need her here doing her dumb but endearing things in order for me to function as a human being'#musicals#ray.gif#parallels#another addition to the gifsets designed specifically for me collection
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That part in My Goodbye where Athena uses the melody she kind of picked up from/developed with Odysseus in warrior of the mind makes it hit even harder. Even when she’s saying goodbye there’s still that influence and there are all of the other musical parallels to warrior of the mind in it too
#like the two lines about mentors are the same melody in both#epic the musical#epic: the troy saga#epic the cyclops saga#jorge rivera herrans#athena#odysseus#odyssey
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a pet headcanon of mine is that after they're done with the sigil removal, emira expands her horizons and starts studying the psychological side of healing, pulling in some resources from the human realm and combining it with boiling isles methods (i imagine the field of psychology in the boiling isles, while existent, was often pushed aside as just a lesser branch of the healing coven back when belos was in charge. i do imagine there's often magic like the memory tweezers involved)
and i imagine she ends up focusing in on like, art therapy and self-expression, because she knows how important that can be, after having her individuality stifled so hard when she was young
#eliot posts#toh#the owl house#emira blight#canon gave us so little on her compared to her siblings and i feel A Need to expand on her because of that lol#also i like the idea that she does still enjoy illusion magic and focuses more on the artistic/creative side of it#she also gets into non-magical art at some point#<idk if that hc came from me or f1ddlyb1ts or if we both came up w it independently but it's included in one of their fics#and then i think she explores writing some and even a bit of music and bard magic#projecting my ''cannot stick to just one creative hobby'' here#raine mentors her because if amity can get lilith and edric can get eda then emira should get raine#also all of the blight kids have formed a good relationship with darius as their probably future stepdad#but emira especially vibes with him#like ''hey dad i'm going for manicures and bubble tea with your boyfriend. i'll be back by seven''#boiling isles bubble tea has eyeballs instead of tapioca‚ naturally
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Grabs you by the shoulders. Drummer!Stephanie Brown. You Agree
#ramblings of a lunatic#dc comics#stephanie brown#batgirls#she canonically plays piano and the skills u need for piano are seen as transferrable to drums#girl drummers are cool as fuck categorically and also i feel like it'd be a good outlet for stephs aggression#like she still plays piano on a shitty yamaha keyboard she got secondhand and dragged back to her and cass' apartment#but for like. her birthday or a holiday tim/cass/babs/whoever got her an electric drumpad after she expressed interest in learning#@dc please. please let my girl play music again. she deserves it she only stopped piano bc of ptsd SHE'S HAD TIME TO HEAL LET HER PLAY#let her join black canary's band as payoff for their mentor/mentee relationship getting cut short in the 90s/2000s /j
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christinacarreira: When the work is fun😋
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#trainingday #figureskating #icedance #dance #worldchampionships #montreal #iceacademyofmontreal
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Stephanie Brown, Katherine Howard and Heather Chandler bonding over being sa’d, preyed on by older men and murdered at a young age because of the actions of people who were supposed to love and care for them
#stephanie and her mentor#katherine and her husband#heather and her best friend#dc comics#dc#heathers#stephanie brown#batfam#six#six the musical#six musical#heathers musical#heathers the musical#heathers movie#heathers the movie#heathers 1989#heathers 1988#war games#steph brown#the spoiler#dc spoiler#spoiler dc#k howard#catherine howard#henry viii#veronica sawyer#batman#tw sa mention#tw grooming mention#musicals
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Not surprised Odysseus is related to the Greek gods cause that's basically a requirement for all Greek heroes, but I'm feeling some kind of way that it's hermes
YEAH!!! Like I always knew Ody was Athena’s champion which I thought was unique for Greek Heroes bc most are demigods, but also it makes sense for him to still have a divine relation since he’s technically royalty. a lot of kings based their authority on the fact that they have divine blood (whether immediate family or no)
but the fact that Ody’s Greek god relative is Hermes just hits different in the best way. tbh i have really found it a bit of a tragedy that Ody was not Hermes chosen champion at first simply because of the similarities between then AND having the god of traveling as your patron is super helpful for Ody especially (because…reasons) like no offense to Athena because her and Ody have a really interesting dynamic and wisdom is a very prominent theme that follows Ody, but it doesn’t encapsulate the whole man
AND THEB IT TURNS OUT THEY’RE RELATED SO MY WOE OF A MISSED OPPORTUNITY WAS OVERTURNED
#tbh thsi could have been solve earlier for my heart if i bothered to look up Ody’s family tree before#also#ther hermes&ody dynamic fits (in the context of epic) Ody’s ideal of being mentored by a god#there’s less of a distance or prominent unbalance in their relationship#they can be friends and admit that#meanwhile Ody was the only one who wanted something more platonic w/ Athena while she kept it more professional & distanced#kinda wanna do an analysis on that for epic the musical but i wanna wait until Hermes shows up just so i have clear cut conparisons#odysseus#the odyssey#epic the musical#asks
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Back on posting old art I never posted, Frau Schneider, my beloved 🖤
I'm seriously considering turning her into a sticker and slapping it everywhere I need to remember something to do. Drinking water? Frau is there judging me. Writing? Frau is waiting. Sleeping at a decent time? She's at the clock, looking at me with hatred in her eyes.
Jokes aside, this was more of a try on stylized drawing, which I completely suck. Since I studied Schneider's face thoroughly once for another drawing, I figured stylizing him would be easier for me as a first try.
I love his nose HAHAHAHA that's my anchor on his likeness xD
Sketches, breakdowns on how I got here, what I thought on shapes and more on his features - and just general artist blabbering, down below!
It was born from these loose sketches:
And I do like the ~proper~ one too. Took a lot of screenshots of the video's making of to understand his mannerisms when ~in Frau~, and there's a big change between the video and the live versions.
Video is a proper, collected, older woman with a dark side from repressed unfulfilled desires, live one is a brute, angry, harshly dominant one. 100% angry all the time, taking her dogs for a walk 🖤
Keeping some harsh shapes on the first one 'cause we all know she's evil, and some more organic ones on the second one 'cause she's UNHINGED.
(Also, Frau's coat are a thousand little Edelweiss 'cause you know. Schneider, Austria, his wife hahahaha aaaaand I have roots from there too, so I decided to shamelessly slap Edelweiss everywhere xD)
Another interesting thing to note, was trying to keep the male proportions on a female presenting appearance. Because we all learn about better shapes for women, how they usually are ~smaller, softer and more delicate~ than males (please read with sarcasm) but Schneider is still a man in woman's clothing, acting like a woman. So I had to keep in mind what I'd draw if it was just him as himself - big hands, big feet, tall as a fucking tree, very large shoulders, toned arms and muscles, all that. No ~delicate~ features 'cause he's still a man, but in here he's a woman.
I'm not saying I succedeed. But it was a good first try :)
Given I have so many drag queen original characters, it's something I think it was nice to study and have in mind T-T
About his features, like I said, I studied him once 'cause I was trying to go for stylized Live aus Berlin Schneider illustration once, but all I got is: I can draw his likeness from memory now, that's it *cries in incompetence*
I said before, I'm not good at stylizing.
So, his key features are: very slim and small mouth, big nose (gods I love his nose, I'll always say that), kinda small eyes and there's almost no distance to his eyebrows (on the video they paint his brows to make a LOT more arched, almost like original Maleficent), longer face, big and square chin, sharp and high cheekbones. I figured if I kept all that in mind, I'd have his likeness.
That's what I used to go figuring out how to draw Frau like that :)
And why am I blabbering all this?
I just hope it helps other self-taught artists out there who have a hard time finding resources and see other people's drawings and go "oooh man how do I get there?" and the artist always go "I dunno just draw a lot and you will get there :)"
Yes, yes, draw a lot. If you don't practice, you won't learn. But there ARE tools, observation studies, drawing studies and a WHOLE lot of things you can learn from other people to get where you want to faster and easier - but most of these resources are, nowadays, behind a paywall. So I just figured I'll share what I learned and hopefully it'll help someone struggling with the same things I did less than a year ago ;)
#schneider#christoph schneider#art#stylized art#illustration#character art#I'm just having nonsensical fun at this point hahaha#I do pity enourmously my mentor#getting all these crazy unhinged people drawings to analyze#but hey I don't make the rules#frau schneider lives rent free in my head#and schneider too for that matter 'cause he's the reason why I remembered I can't live without music#rammstein#frau schneider
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Should babies be allowed to do whatever they want?
#that is cousin rad's baby. just to keep you informed#and ashley is mentoring anxiety-riddled music students. just to keep you informed#comic#my characters#clancy#ashley#diesel#pd'l
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just finished interviewing bellini for one of my finals in my comedy class and i'm losing my mind over bellini going on a tangent about how if he were grading my comedy over the past year he would give me an A+. like i didn't ask him to say that and it wasn't related to any of the questions i asked but you better believe i'm leaving that in to be like see professor? BELLINI gave me an A+!!!
#it was very sweet lmao and a great conversation over all#last time i was in town i told bellini a one-liner i came up with about the 2SLGBTQIA+ acronym having the exact qualifications#for a strong password (8 letters a number and a special character) and he said he's repeated it to several people#and it's always gotten a big laugh!! which is so cool!!! i'm not typically a ''joke'' writer my stuff is usually character-driven#so that's awesome that both bellini AND scott really loved that line!!#bellini in particular has been such a fan of my comedy since we first met (across multiple eras now)#like we met while i was working on my musical ''other girls'' and he was so excited to hear about it when i first mentioned it#and had me send him the recording as soon as i got it#and he's been so helpful in developing aubrey as a solo sketch character too#it's so cool having a professional comedian (especially one with such a meticulously good ear for comedy like bellini)#be as excited about my work as i am and be able to help me refine it into something even better#and especially as a queer comedian today who's finding it difficult to navigate this landscape of being ''bad representation''#bellini having been an openly gay comedy writer for almost double my lifetime is such a great resource to have!!#of course a lot of this is true for scott too (tho scott hasn't actually *seen* any of my comedy yet. he's just heard me tell jokes from it#but bellini is such a special mentor for me and i'm so happy we randomly connected over mouth congress over a year ago
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A Heretics View of the Music Industry Religion
The modern music industry focuses on chart success, data, stats, making money and fame, and, for some, that is aspirational. For me, it has always been a weird religion and one I never really signed up for.
The industry or Popstars have never mesmerised me and I don’t relate to the ethos even though I had plenty of opportunity to drink it in. When I released my second solo album, I gave the cult away so I could forge a music career on my own terms and because of this; I am content today, plus I still produce music and, being a woman of a certain age, that is success in itself.
In a musician’s perfect world, everyone would do well enough income wise to do it as a full-time job. They would enjoy the ride, retire, feeling totally chuffed with a life well lived, grateful they could follow their dream.
More often, however, that’s not how things pan out. You might get to play in a band, release a couple of songs, get an arts grant and if you have a big family (or a lot of friends), you might sell a few albums or some merch. A few years later, however, you will head off into the sunset because you will need to get a ‘real’ job and your music career becomes that story you tell when you reminisce about the good old days.
But here’s the thing; it is very difficult to make a living just from your art, any art for that matter, even though the message preached via industry organisations is that you can attain a robust career as an artist. The hard truth needs to be acknowledged; not all of us are going to be famous and rich and you may need to pivot if you want a roof over your head or to eat.
It’s OK though because this is probably true of 99.999999999% of all the musicians who had the dream to live their life as a music artist. Even those who tasted success, had a recording contract or music in the charts, may one day need to decide if they want to keep going.
For me, it was my twenty-ninth birthday after releasing my second album Tremble, with a major record label. Soon after it debuted, I was singing to a couple of people (literally) in a pub in St Kilda, Melbourne. I looked around at the empty seats and thought, “I think… maybe… I am not going to make it” and decided the next day it was time to go home.
At the time it was heart-breaking, but I am glad I did because everything turned out well because of that choice. Today I am incredibly content with where I am now, plus I learned a valuable lesson; Being famous might be amazing, but nothing beats being proud about what you produced. Would I swap anything in my music catalogue for fame or fortune? Short answer is, no.
I don’t mind that I wasn’t a global pop star, but I do care about my body work and am proud of every inch. Even better, I still get to produce music now. In 2019, I released my fourth studio album, Sportsman of The Year–A Suburban Philosophy, with an accompanying book and it was a creative career highlight and now I am lucky to be thinking; “What next?”
When you are creating your masterpieces, remember that you are the only one who cares about your work (well, your parents probably do too). The people you hope will respond to your music are at this very moment more interested in their own lives and how it’s working out for them. Nobody has asked you to create something, nor do they care if you do. All you can hope for is that someone will tune in to what you are doing one day.
And if you don’t get a huge response from your music release; does this mean the song you recorded is not good enough or you aren’t as talented as you think you are? No, it simply means the stars didn’t align this time. You are in good company because many artists work away in obscurity and some really famous people are not even recognised until after their death. If you believe it’s the best song in the world, then it is. That is your truth, and no one can take that away from you unless you let them.
You need to remember that anyone can be famous now and you don’t even need to be that clever. Most musicians will never enjoy the millions of followers a TikTok star might get for dancing to disco in their undies. Fame may never happen, so it’s best to learn how to be content with your work without the accompanying public overtures and feedback that so many artists seem to need.
The other thing to consider is that everyone, no matter how famous they are, has to watch the success tide go out one day. No one shines in the sun forever and we all face the decline when it eventually comes. It’s life. 100 years from now, all we can really hope for are a few decent lines in the annals of history. Time is a great leveller and we all greet the same destiny, no matter who we are.
In 1993 I won a song-writing award, a Tui, from RIANZ, now known as Recorded Music New Zealand. It seemed wonderful at the time and it was a great honour to receive it. Today, few people I work with were even born then, nor do they care about my achievements. Why? Because it’s 2022, it’s a new generation, and a different zeitgeist. What people are doing with their music now has a lot more appeal than my memories. It was time for me to move aside from the current trends twenty years ago. And I did.
Notice I wrote “move aside”, I didn’t say “move out”. I just accept that I am not the current generation and that is OK. I pick and mix what is happening now and add it to my creative sensibilities, if it suits. The world keeps spinning, so all you can do is concentrate on what you are doing. If you put all your energy into your art while you are in the creative zone, you will always be fulfilled, irrespective of reaching a global number one.
So why bother trying at all? Simple. Because you want to and you enjoy it and that is a substantial reason. The key is to relish success when (and if) it happens, and because this moment in time is fleeting, enjoy the sense of achievement, tip your hat towards yourself and move on.
Whether you are an overnight sensation or just play music to your cat, make sure you do the best job you can. Being totally committed to something you take pleasure in is where genuine fulfilment comes from. This is a state of mind you can achieve for life and is significantly better than chasing the approval of false gods.
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It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t an accusation—it wasn’t a prompt for him to continue, either, but somehow it drew out the admission that he’d been holding back for so long, too long, the crew lounge whispers not around to push it back inside him. Only this young first officer, cross-legged on a bed, and an inflectionless statement of fact.
“It was too much,” Herc said to the magazine. “He was too much.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Linda slid off the bed after a few seconds of stunned silence; he concluded she was probably going to leave the room, and him to his past.
Unexpectedly, however, the edge of his mattress dipped. He stiffened in shock as Linda hesitated, sitting right up next to him—then rested her head on his shoulder, decided to commit, and gave him a tight, silent hug.
The breath came out of Herc in a soft oh, and Linda’s arms pressed tighter around him. “I’m sorry,” she said, in the way anyone would when there wasn’t much else to say, but from her it wasn’t insincere, and Herc bowed his head a little, overcome by emotion.
can't believe some guy with a slide whistle copied my intergenerational mentor-mentee dynamic exploration from 2022 /j
#em draws#cabin pressure#shipwright & fairbairn#herc shipwright#linda fairbairn#ubi caritas est vera: died 2022. jules verne adaptation musical: born 2023#welcome back intergenerational mentor-mentee dynamic exploration#if i had a nickel for every time i did fanwork inspired by... etc.
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Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Lament to the Master
#castlevania#castlevania music#order of ecclesia#music of the day#trace of rage: boss remix!#and what a boss#i can still hear barlowe attempting to punch shanoa the bastard#it's not as intense as sorrow's distortion#i think it fits shanoa's resignation more#sure her beloved mentor wants her dead now. she's past the point of caring. she has to put him down as well
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im sick of having knowledge and skills locked behind a paywall.
why is it always “well you need to pay at least $15,000 a year to learn that for four years before i even CONSIDER hiring you”??
whatever happened to “this is a fine young lad. he may only be seven but let me take him under my wing and teach him the ways of being a blacksmith so he may one day be my successor”???
#i want to be a child in a village in the 1800s and learn every skill ghem die of scurvy#sounds pretty rad if you ask me#like learning piano would be cool but nooooo i need to pay an app $120 a year or find a teacher thats even more expensive#god i want to learn so much#i want all the skills#how can i best minmax my curent build?#my current build being a teenager with adhd#can i just like upgrade everything on my skilltree?#like i got musical knowledge but my sight-reading sub-skill is lackimg a few points#everything would be so much easier if run by skill points#or if i had an epic mentor to guide me through life who is very knowledgeable#people be like what do you want to do when you grow up?#IDK MAN EVERYTHING???#too much goin on in my brain#adhd#actuallyadhd
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me feeling strong urges of joy and violence after seeing six teenagers compete in song form
#kids working for what they what with their own musical numbers and a sassy mentor proctoring the competition#25apcsb#ride the cyclone#jett talks (me)
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