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I don't care if I sing off key
I found myself in my melodies
I sing for love, I sing for me
I'll shout it out like a bird set free
- Sia, "Bird Set Free"
Ah, Simone Blake. Who doesn't love a good story of celebrity self-destruction?
Simone burst into the public consciousness in 2011 with her self-titled debut album. Critics praised it for Simone's crystal clear soprano, in particular the contrast between it and the grittier rock stylings it was overlaid on. Commercially, it was also a success, with two of the songs (and the album itself) charting. Even now, the local alternative stations will sometimes play "By the Water" or "Don't Wait Up," her two hits.
Then things started to go bad. There were rumors of an affair, a breakup, and drug use. Tabloids loved it, and the deeper Simone sunk, they more they ate it up. Just a few years after her hit debut, the main thing she was known for was stumbling drunkenly down the red carpet, vomiting in the street at 9 AM, and pissing herself during a show. There was a stint in rehab in 2014, but it didn't seem to amount to much.
The next year, she released a second album, Because It's There. She must have been high for the entire recording, because it was absolutely terrible. The songwriting was lazy, the lyrics were awful, and Simone's once crystalline voice was a raspy mess. Her record label dropped her. She's known to have returned to Prospect, where she was born and raised, and is reportedly giving music lessons to children and hooking up with a local politician.
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RP Hooks
| Fame 4: If you're even sort of familiar with pop music or celebrity culture, you know Simone's name and appearance. Probably also what her nipples look like, after that one drunken fall at the People's Choice Awards.
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| Music Lessons: Simone teaches voice at a small local academy, and also offers private lessons to dedicated students. Most are older teenagers or young adults, but she'll teach anyone who is sufficiently serious.
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| Beaches: Simone is a regular at the local beaches, although her main activity there seems to be watching the waves.
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| Prospect: Simone grew up in Prospect, in fact. Maybe you knew her before she was (in)famous.
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| Los Angeles: She's spent the last nine or so years in Los Angeles. Perhaps you met.
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| Eminence: Amasiel, member of the Silver Legion, made a small name for herself during the War. The minor mortal flock that she and several others watched over invariably came into conflict with equally small bands of loyalist humans, and her favored tactic was to use her voice to terrify and demoralize the enemy.
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Contacts
| Arec: A friend, somehow.
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| Balance: Okay, look, I'm not a fan of the snobbery, but his passion for music is admirable.
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| Brody: I will not be driven away from the ocean.
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| Cross: A good man. Would that everyone were like him - I mean, without the disrespectful and willful ignorance.
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| Larry: I can't begin to say how much he means to me.
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| Leila: Actually, yes, my taxes do pay your fucking salary.
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| Maggie: Where've you been? I liked hanging out.
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| Martine: She needs to leave my students and Larry out of this.
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| Zack: I used to think he wasn't as big of an asshole as he pretended to be.
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