ChapterTen-New Identity, New Plots

October 27th, 2008

  It's a few weeks later, and 7th Anthem are struggling. After being sent to the bottom two in the first week of the live shows, they were sent there two more times. Neither 7A or the judges understood why they kept being sent there. They were consistent with their performances, and the judges spoke favorably of them, and so did the gossip sites and tabloids. But it apparently didn't matter with the TV audience.

  7A were having their meeting with Louis. He told them, "Last night after the result show, did you research the TV audience's opinions?"

  Alyson explained, "We did. The main reason why were unpopular is because of our past as UTurn. We've released a couple of albums, had mildly successful singles, and an established fan base. It's any wonder why we're struggling."

  Andrew added, "It's not just our sales; it's also because we're still similar to S Club 8. I mean, that was our original concept when we were starting out as UTurn, but we want to move away from that. We can still be influenced by them, but we need to have a our own identity. But it's hard to get out of that after a few years."

 Justin chimed in, "Not only that, that stupid two-image crap we had last year hurt us. Music critics and gossip blogs in England trashed us for it, and now it's being brought up again. Our UTurn past just keeps following us."

  Louis thought for a moment, and then he said, "Okay, you have a new name and a new lineup. Let's talk about your sound. So far, you've been doing dance music versions of the songs you've performed. This weekend's theme is 'disco," so it'll be hard for you to move away from dance music. Are there any other styles you can do?"

  Andrew suggested, "We did do pop-rock on our second album, but we strongly pushed to do dance-pop. I guess we could do pop-rock, but combine it with dance-pop."

  Louis said, "That's not bad, but maybe instead of just doing pop-rock, you could give your song a more urban and electronic sound. So you'll be more of a pop group than a dance group. Now what about looks?"

  Alyson suggested, "Well, our looks are still similar to S Club 8's, despite that it's 2008 now. But when we did our secret nightclub concerts, we wore the same colors, and we had a punk-rock-pop look. I called it punk royalty, based off of Avril Lavigne and the pop group RBD. The club-goers and our fans seemed to like our new look. Maybe that could be our official look."

  Louis liked the idea, so he said, "I've decided that you'll sing After The Love Is Gone by Steps. Your rendition will an electronic-pop-rock sound, which will give you a current sound. Like you suggested, you'll have a rocker image. It's appropriate for your transition from child stars to adult stars."

 The 7A members weren't sure if using a Steps song was the right idea. Steps, a late 90s British pop group, did dance-pop, similar to UTurn's mid-2000s sound. Alyson spoke up, "Isn't it risky for us to a dance-pop song that's similar our UTurn material?"

  Louis replied, "It is a risk, but like I said, you'll have your own version."

  The members agreed to this, hoping that this new 7th Anthem will save them.

  At the same time, Ethan was back working at a bistro. When he was eliminated from The X Factor, he was angry. He plotted to destroy Andrew and the rest of 7A...in front of the show's producers. Of course, this outburst was all over the gossip blogs, making the show more scandalous than it already was.

  When he reluctantly returned to work, the co-workers wanted him fired, but he wasn't. Instead, they grilled him on his time with UTurn/7th Anthem. He didn't say much, except that he was kicked out by Andrew.

  He was on break, eating a small lunch. He looked on his iPhone to check the time. He had about 45 minutes left in his break, so he took off. He went to a nearby Underground station, and soon he arrived at downtown London. He walked to a News of The World newspaper building.  

  He marched up to the receptionist, and said, "I'm Ethan Jackson. I was wrongfully eliminated from The X Factor. I want to speak with one of your writers."

  Suddenly, a security guard approached Ethan. He said to him firmly, "You need leave now."

  Ethan glared at the receptionist, and walked away angrily.

 It's late evening. Ethan, once again, sneaked into the same office building. This time, he was dressed in black, and his face was covered. He went up to a guy, who was typing on a computer. He covered the guy's head, and dragged him to a janitor's closet.

 Once they entered, Ethan turned on the light, and closed the door behind him. He took off the covering from the guy's head. The guy was apparently frightened by this kidnapping.

The guy asked Ethan, "What do you want from me? I can take you out of the gossip columns, but I can't take you off the internet."

 Ethan told him, "No, leave my outburst online. I prefer to have notoriety on my name. That's not why I'm here. I heard rumors that you can hack into other people's phones and computers. Are these rumors true?"

  The guy then became suspicious, so he asked, "Why are you asking such a question?"

  "I need dirt on that band on The X Factor. They were known as 'UTurn' for a few years."

  "7th Anthem?"

  "Yes, them. Look, I was able to hack into their phones, but they apparently got new phones. So now I need to get into their phones. I need dirt, especially on that f*cking Andrew Hawthorne."

  "Do you have some weird obsession with this Andrew or something?"

  Ethan replied hastily, "Just tell me how to hack into their phones!"

  The guy reluctantly agreed.

 Later that week, the results came in for 7A. Their performance was well-liked by the judges. They also complimented 7A's new electro-pop/rock sound and punk-popstar looks.

 On the result show, 7A was finally saved from the Bottom Two...barely. Looks like things are starting to look up for them.

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THIS IS THE SONG THAT 7TH ANTHEM SANG, AFTER THE LOVE IS GONE, AND THEIR NEW LOOK>>>