“There’s really not much to say,” I confessed. “I mean, I don’t think there is. Our relationship is pretty public, but if someone doesn’t know I, uh, I’m married to Drix who is a producer and rapper born and raised here. We’ve been married for a coupleof months now and things are good. I’m happy. He’s great.” I nodded.
“Your relationship is pretty public,” Olivia acknowledged. “When you first got married people couldn’t look anywhere without seeing you guys online. It was like boom, boom, boom, honestly. We got hit with the surprise marriage then the cheating rumors then the health scare. It was insane honestly. How are you and the other women in the group handling it? I mean, Drix has been a big name in the industry for a while and that comes with lots of noise. I know it can be rough for you to navigate a new marriage with all the outside opinions, but is it also hard for your groupmates who may sometimes feel like your relationship is taking the front page over the group or the music?”
“Uhm, I feel like there’s definitely been growing pains in the entire group following my marriage.” I twisted my wedding ring on my finger without thinking about it. “I won’t speak on how I think it makes Retta and Charm feel but I will say on my end it was kind of a double-edged sword because we were making music already but we were also really just starting to come into our brand when Drix and I got married. So I woke up the day after and we were trending and I had all of these new followers, which was great for us to sell concert tickets and reach a new audience, but also so scary. Like, I’m not media trained.” I laughed. “And turning to my husband was like turning to a blank wall because he’s not media trained either and he doesn’t care about the media or how the public perceives him.”
“He’s just like oh well?” Oliva offered. “That’s hilarious. He seems like the type.”
“Yeah. That first day he was just like, turn your notifications off and block all of the blogs. They’ll get the content from secondary pages but you won’t have to see the posts or comments and just leave it alone. He rarely uses social media,and when he does, he posts and gets off immediately. But he also isn’t like marketing the way we are.” I gestured between us. “A lot of producers are successful and make great money and people have no idea what they look like. Their faces aren’t their brand the way ours is; so I think that was a little bit of a disconnect there for a while, but it’s getting better, I think.” I looked between Retta and Charm. “How do you guys feel about it?”
“Uhm, like Myome said, it's a double-edged sword,” Retta said. “I mean, of course we want our music to do well but we want it to do well because people like it, not because Drix said to go buy it, you know? I feel like it feeds into impostor syndrome where we may get things and be like ‘do we deserve it or is it because of Myome’s husband and his connections’, you know? And uhm, at first the amount of comments we’d get about her relationship or even like her first interview wasn’t for the group, it was for her marriage. Stuff like that used to give me a bad taste when it first started.” She shrugged and crossed her legs at the ankle.
“On the opposite end, this industry is about networking and public perception, no matter how much people say the product will sell itself and Drix has been great,” Charm said. “He had us at that Bino party that happened recently and he loans us his producer ear and tell us when we need to move something around. He contributes positively to the group as a whole. Not to mention we’re both happy that Myome is happy.” Charm leaned her head on my shoulder briefly. “That’s the main thing. The people in the comments don’t know any of us. We know each other and see each other almost every day. As long as we”—she gestured between the three of us—“Know we’re putting out quality music, that’s all that matters. Everything will balance out and like Myome said Drix isn’t big on the social media thing so it’s not like he goes out trying to steal our shine or whateverpeople are saying. He’s just living and navigating this stuff like us.”
“And soon no one will be worried about me and Drix,” I added. “The music is going to be what keeps the supporters because the gossip and blogs are only going to care about us for so long.”
“I like this.” Oliva gestured between the three of us.
“Me too.” Alydia nodded. “I really like the dynamic. I like how you guys don’t seem media trained but like…” She paused while she tried to think of her next words.
“It seems like you’re all friends and not willing to throw each other under the bus,” Olivia said. “And that’s a great thing to have especially in a group, a girl group.”
“Yeah. It gets nasty. There are always people pointing out who they feel carries the group or who they feel is doing something wrong. They pick favorites. They say certain people would do better solo. It gets messy in groups. I’m glad y’all look like you’re all there for each other.”
“Before we move on, can I ask you a kind of personal question about your marriage? You can please the fifth and it’ll be no hard feelings.” Olivia slid forward on her seat.
I lifted an eyebrow and looked at Allison who was grimacing. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and nodded once.
“Sure.”
“Okay. So, you guys posted each other. The pictures were cute. You both look in love and everything, but I mean, after Monica posted that picture of her and Drix at that festival you guys performed at and flipped social media upside down, how did you handle that? Did you know Drix took that picture? Were you aware they were still friends? Like, do you want to clear any of that up? You’ve already said it’s complicated navigating marriage this publicly, but I know it can’t be easy reading the comments about your husband getting your name tattooed onhis face and people going from relationship goals last night to it’s because he cheated this morning. Do you want to comment?”
I blinked and cleared my throat. I had no idea about what she was talking about and it was obvious from the way Allison was tapping away on her phone she hadn’t known either.
“Uh, sure. I’ll speak on it.” I smiled. “My husband got my name tattooed because he wanted to. That’s it. There was no cheating or ultimatum given. He just did it because he can, and if you’ve met him in person, you’d know I can’t make that man do anything he doesn't want to do,” I said and the ladies giggled. “Uh, but yeah, as for him and Monica, they’re exes but we also all share this industry and I’m not trying to brag but Drix is one of the best and she has a project coming out so.” I shrugged. “I was aware they spoke. They did it right there next to the stage I was on. He told me about it. I could see them the whole time. I don’t feel any kind of way about it. I’m confident that what they had is done. I trust my husband, and if a tabloid took a picture of them talking, okay.”
“But she posted the picture herself on her page,” Olivia clarified. “That doesn’t upset you?”
“It’s more weird than upsetting,” I clarified. “But, like I said, she has an album coming out and all press is good press, I guess.”
“So when?—”
“We just talked about my marriage taking up precious Radiant Reverie time, so I’d kind of prefer if we focused on the group as a whole and all the amazing things we have coming. There’s tour dates being moved around for bigger venues and trending songs and choreography we’re perfecting and I’m focused on that right now. My marriage is fine. It doesn’t need extra attention.”
“Okay, okay.” She nodded. “Let’s move on then.”
I kept a smile plastered on my face and did my best not to look at Allison.
I’d done my best for being put on the spot.
I hadn’t thrown Monica under the bus. I’d tried to say she was being professional when I’d actually wanted to call her a thirsty ass bitch. I didn’t need anyone to think she and Drix were messing around and I was trashing her because I was mad. The bitch wouldn’t even get to look at my man’s dick again in life. I wasn’t bothered and the last thing I wanted to do was look bothered. I genuinely thought the picture she’d posted was to announce music or an album but hopefully saying we didn’t have beef would step on her promotion.
I adjusted how I was sitting and did my best to stay present in our interview and not replay my statement in my head. When we finished and the cameras cut, I hugged Oliva and Alydia and thanked them for having us. I kept my face intact until we’d made it out of the building.
I pulled my phone out and went to Skroll.
Sure enough, Monica had posted several photos of her weekend and performing at the festival. The last picture out of the bunch was of her and Drix. They were looking at each other but thankfully not touching. Both of their arms were crossed over their chests.
I didn’t need to look at the comments but I did it anyway and of course Monica was feeding into the drama.