A Growing Star: Chapter 5

Sawyer lumbered into the palatial glass meeting room to meet with his label once again. It had been four months since he last met with them and the album he wanted to release was mostly finished. His team had shared their progress in advance, and everyone was nervous to hear the feedback knowing full well it was not what the label wanted. 

“Look, Sawyer,” began Michael, the guy with the final say on what would happen. “We are all aware of how things have evolved as of late. We understand your desire for a more serious third album. We are sympathetic to that, trust me. Now, we are also dealing with the PR issue of your very obvious weight gain. We’ve all seen the photos of you traipsing around Hollywood in a torn T-shirt that barely fits. The headlines are all about a fall from grace, from hot to not, before and after.”

Sawyer’s face was beginning to turn red as he realized his belly was in fact pressing against the glass conference table. He pushed back from the table and his chair emitted a loud squeak that only brought more attention to how plump he’d grown. He cleared his throat awkwardly and took a sip of water. 

“While the press hasn’t been particularly kind, the Internet has,” Michael continued. “The body positivity movement has pushed back on this narrative, and numerous articles have circulated about beauty standards for men. And,” he paused dramatically, “they all begin with an account of your… well, weight gain. In addition, we’ve seen your social media following hit an unexpected uptick.”

“People like fat Sawyer,” Sawyer’s agent stepped in. “You should see the posts, they actually think he’s sexier. Plus there’s these fetish sites...”

“Christ, can you let him finish,” Sawyer interrupted. 

“Anyway, we think there’s an angle here, Sawyer,” Michael concluded. “We see this third album as your back to basics moment, your ‘Ray of Light.’ The soulful sound you’ve got going pairs great with… you know, the weight. We can market you as the male Lizzo.”

“What about the male Adele?” Sawyer chimed in.

“Sam Smith is the male Adele. We see you as a Lizzo type because you’re sexy, fun, and you embrace your body. We’d like to see a minimum of two songs added to the album, and we keep everything else. The new material should hit two marks. One, it should be empowering or about self love, and two, it should be uptempo songs we can service to pop radio. They might not be a hit, that’s okay. We think some of these ballads could be a hit too. But we can’t risk dropping an album without some pop songs to satisfy your base.”

Sawyer left the meeting feeling good. For the most part, he’d gotten his way and a lot of that had to do with his decision to get fatter. The extra chub really did pay off. Two pop songs was the least he could do. Truthfully, he could leave the work to someone else and just apply his vocals. All in all, this was cause for celebration. 

Sawyer called up Daniel to share the good news and make sure he was coming over tonight. He then placed an order for multiple bottles of champagne and an expansive spread of soul food to be delivered in the evening. That night, and for the next two weeks while Sawyer recorded his new material, he and Daniel lived and ate like kings. They ate, drank, sucked, and fucked to their hearts’ content. Plus, with no pressure to lose any weight, perhaps even being somewhat encouraged to stay fat, Sawyer threw all concern about his body out the window. He stayed stuffed full of delicious foods every moment of every day. He was on top of the world.