Good
morning, Hollywood. Gossip Girl here. I've got some new gossip
coming out of LA and you're never going to believe what superstar makes
a cameo!
Elle Snyder is not exactly what I would call your typical rock 'n' roll
royalty. She doesn't drink, has never had a boyfriend and is in bed
every night by 10 p.m. Who would have guessed that her father was the
lead singer of one of the biggest rock groups of the 80's?!? Not
me---that's for sure. Anyways, Elle's mom died when she was young and
her father couldn't take care of her while he was on the road. So he
married a woman who had two children, Lindsay and Jessica, and left
Elle in her care while he left for his cross country tour.
Elle's new stepmother wasn't a beginner to the music scene. She is the
vice-president of Interscope records. Rumor has it, she scored the
record label in her first divorce in return for silencing a sex tape
about to surface containing her husband and an intern! But that's
besides the point. Her stepmother despised Elle, but had to play nice
for the sake of her rock star husband, so she made Elle an intern at
Interscope records. Sounds pretty cool, right? Not when your
stepsisters are the face of the record label and have just signed a
multi-million record deal!
Elle's job consisted of running errands for Lindsay and Jessica---not
exactly a dream job if you ask me! But Elle did it without complaining
and with a smile on her face. Unbeknownst to her stepmother, Elle had
ulterior motives. She loved to sing. Her audiences usually consisted of
shower curtains and bathroom tiles, but she dreamed of one day being on
stage in front of thousands of people, singing her music.
Well, one night she was the last one in the office and her curiosity
got the best of her. She went into an empty studio and put in a demo
that she had been working on in her free time. She slipped into the
booth, put on the headphones and got lost in the music. She was so lost
in singing that she was completely unaware that someone was listening.
That someone was Justin Timberlake, Interscope Records number one
selling artist.
Justin was an innovator in the music industry and with the help of
Interscope Records he had just launched a contest to become the
accompanying vocalist on his upcoming single. There would be try-outs
and the winner would
get to debut the single with Justin live on the Grammy Awards. Too bad
I'm not much of a singer or I would be first in line.
Sorry, back to Elle! Through her headphones she thought she heard
something in the hall, so she escaped out the back before Justin
could come into the room. All that she left behind was her demo CD
and her voice ringing in his ears. She was the voice he needed for his
new single!!
The next day were the try-outs but Justin knew they were pointless
because he already found the voice he was looking for. Regardless,
thousands of girls showed up and so he sat through audition after
audition. At the end of the day they had heard 2,358 singers but none
of them were the voice he heard in the recording studio that night.
Meanwhile, Elle was locking up the Interscope offices for the day and
decided to go looking
for her demo CD. She knew that if it got into the wrong hands, she
could lose her internship! She went into the studio and couldn't find
her CD for the life of her! She started humming the melody in hopes
that it would trigger her memory as to where she left the CD. Just
then, Justin was walking down the hall and heard her humming. He knew
that he had found her!
This time he was not going to let her get away. He ran into the room
and found Elle standing with her back to him, humming the familiar
melody in her beautiful voice. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her
around, but nothing could prepare him for who the owner of the
voice
was.
"Elle?" he asked. "You're the voice I've been looking for? I didn't
even know you could sing!"
Elle immediately turned a bright shade of red. She had known Justin for
years now, but she didn't know that he knew her name.
"Uhh, yeah," Elle stuttered. "I'm sorry I was in the studio. I know I
shouldn't be in here. I'll go now"
"WAIT!" Justin screamed. "You're the voice that I want for my next
single! Will you do me the honor of singing with me?"
What young woman would turn down the chance to sing with Justin
Timberlake? Well, Elle was no different, and she jumped at the chance.
So the rehearsals began- after hours, of course, because Elle didn't
want
her family to know what she was up to.
The night of the Grammy awards came around and Elle was nervous about
her
family's reaction, but she was also excited to be living out her dream.
She and
Justin debuted their single to rave reviews---she couldn't be more
thrilled!!
Her mother on the other hand, was humiliated that her ungrateful
step-daughter had hidden this from her and so she fired her from her
position at Interscope records. Which was fine with Elle, because she
became the first artist to sign on Tennman Records, Justin Timberlake's
new record label.
One last side note, Jessica and Lindsay's records just debuted- and
they bombed. Which resulted in the CEO releasing them from the label,
and firing their mother for her bad judgment in artist development.
Guess what goes around comes around.
Well, that's it for this week's gossip and scandal. Wonder who will
make
an appearance in next weeks episode? And who am I? That's one secret
I'll never tell. You know you love me. XoXo Gossip Girl.
Author's
Note:
I loved adapting Cinderella and making it modern! It was
so much fun! I'm having trouble with the word requirement because there
is so much that I want to say and sometimes a thousand words just isn't
enough! The most major differences in my adaptation are the shoe and
the presence of her father. In the Joseph Jacobs version, the
Cinder-maid leaves behind a shoe which the prince uses to try and find
out who she is. In my story she leaves behind a demo CD so that he
can hear her voice. If she left behind a shoe, it would not have made
sense in the context of the story. By her leaving a demo CD behind,
the "prince" can listen to her voice and know whether or not he has
found her. Another difference is in the Joseph Jacobs story the father
is present during the story. However, in my story I chose to have him
be out on the road. I felt that by having him out on the road, it would
give the stepmother opportunity to have more restrictions on Elle. If
her father had been present, he would have known about her talent and
it would have blown the story. I also chose to leave out when the
mother turns into a tree in the original Joseph Jacobs story. I just
couldn't find a way to take that and have it realistically fit into my
modernized story.
This story fits into the overall plan of my Storybook because it has a
strong woman who is not deterred by adversity or obstacles. Even though
her stepmother is using her as an intern, she still goes after her
dreams- even if she has to find another way to pursue them. This is
similar to Beauty and the Beast because both women are able to make
their dreams come true without having to lose who they are along the
way. They do not compromise their integrity or their beliefs in order
to get ahead. This story is a great representation of my theme
throughout the storybook and I think it does it in a fun way!
Bibliography
"Cinder-Maid"
by Joseph Jacobs, from European
Folk and Fairy Tales (1916). Web Source: SurLaLane
Fairytales
Image Information.
Gossip Girl Blog Logo. http://www.cwtv.com
Tennman Records. http://www.tennmanrecords.com/