| |
XM: Xtremely
Musical
Only Rebecca and Randal remained after last week's boardroom double firing.
Both corporations met at Trump Model Management, where yet again Trump felt
obliged to attempt to even out the unbalanced corporations. Randal and
Rebecca agreed to take Clay on board for the next task, citing his creative
ability as a worthy asset.
With the corporations now evenly staffed, Trump explained that for the next
task, they would "create a new, original song and pitch for a musical artist
and present to executives from XM Satellite Radio." The song would play live
on air for millions of listeners on one of XM's premiere stations, XM Cafe.
The corporation whose song best suited the format of XM Cafe as judged by XM
execs would win.
Felisha, who hadn't been a project manager "in ages," nominated herself as
PM for Capital Edge. Rebecca's passion for music motivated her to become
project manager. "Producing music," Rebecca mused, "who wouldn't want to do
that?!"
Capital Edge In
Tune, Excel Goes Off Pitch
From the start, Capital Edge enjoyed a much better sense of corporate
harmony after Clay's transfer to Excel. PM Felisha, Alla and Adam all
quickly agreed that soul-pop singer Levi Kreis was a perfect fit for XM
Cafe's lyric-oriented brand of adult alternative rock. Basing their song
"Nothing" on Levi's personal struggle and highly upbeat disposition, they
felt they had a winner. And Felisha stayed on point, steering the recording
sessions away from a jazzy vibe toward a more straight-up alternative rock
groove.
Rebecca and Randal's initial enthusiasm about "creative" Clay dampened
almost immediately after they selected charismatic Nigerian-born Jide as
their artist. During the songwriting session, Clay fixated on his own idea
of "What About Me?" and stubbornly disputed Rebecca and Randal's song
direction. Rebecca felt Clay's concept was "too feminine…and not a good fit"
for Jide. Excel eventually decided on the song "My Time Has Come" and
recorded the tune with a world-beat/soul arrangement.
But the conflict was far from over. Clay sarcastically mocked Rebecca as
melodramatic while she tried to practice her pitch. She snapped back at
Clay's negativity, "Don't tell me that, tell me an idea." And during the
presentation, Clay disrupted Rebecca by bringing Jide in to meet the XM
execs before Rebecca had finished introducing the singer. Yet perhaps most
unsettling was Randal's promotional poster, which the XM execs noticed had
the incorrect XM Cafe channel number.
Life is Heli-Good
(for Some)
At the task results, the XM executives made it clear that Capital Edge had
nailed XM Cafe's alt-rock demographic with Levi's song, "Nothing," while
Excel's "My Time Has Come" didn't quite fit their niche. Unfortunately for
Felisha, last week was the final opportunity for a PM exemption. Trump
suggested she put that formality out of mind for the time being, and fully
enjoy her corporation's reward: a helicopter tour of Trump properties around
New York City, hosted by the Donald himself.
As Capital Edge circled above the Trump Empire at 40 Wall St., the Empire
State Building, and Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza, the
candidates savored the opportunity for one-on-one time with their possible
future boss. Adam grew emotional as they hovered near the Statue of Liberty,
admiring its classic form silhouetted by setting sun. When Adam's emigrant
father looked upon the very same image years ago, he had nothing in his
pockets. For Adam, sitting in the lap of luxury in a helicopter with Donald
Trump, after week nine of the interview process, was truly "a few seconds of
pure bliss."
By way of contrast, Excel prepared for the boardroom--where one of them
would be fired.
The Star-Breaking
Machinery Behind the Unpopular Song
Though Rebecca and Randal pointed their fingers at Clay, all three
candidates had made mistakes. When Randal pointed out that Excel took a risk
by challenging the XM Cafe easy-rock sound slightly by choosing Jide, George
scolded him: "You didn't take a risk, you committed suicide." George said
Excel made an elementary blunder, "They didn't listen to the customer. You
didn't present what XM Cafe sells." Trump bashed Rebecca's leadership but
said he was most disappointed in Randal, telling the Rhodes Scholar, "You're
too good to put on a performance like this."
The mogul saved his harshest words, however, for Clay: "You've taken these
two people who have been stars, and all of a sudden they're reduced to
nothing." Trump pointed out that Rebecca said she never wanted to work with
Clay again, a sentiment previously aired by his former Capital Edge
colleagues Adam and Alla. "Clay, you're supposed to be creative, but no
matter which team you're on, all you do is create problems," Trump said,
emphatically pounding the table and thrusting his finger toward the
cantankerous Texan. "Clay, you're fired."
|
|