The categories in which Enfants Terribles were nominated were as follows:
Artist of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Collaboration of the Year, Single of the Year, Favorite Album, and Favorite Group.
Everyone was particularly focused on the results of the most prestigious award: Artist of the Year. The artists nominated alongside Enfants Terribles were the band Guns N' Roses and a rocker named Avril Lavigne.
"Wait, isn't that Axl Rose?"
Hide turned his head to look at Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and Avril Lavigne. They hadn't been around when he attended the Grammy Awards previously; it seemed they had made their debut while he was preoccupied with the world tour and album production.
As their eyes met, Axl Rose offered Hide a bright, beaming smile.
'Wasn't that guy... the one who absolutely loathed Kurt Cobain in my past life?'
From his perspective, a man like Axl Rose was impossible to forget. In his previous life, Guns N' Roses was known as the rival to Nirvana, and the conflict between the leaders of each band—Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain—was a legendary story that people still talked about even in the distant future.
Hide smiled slightly and waved back at Axl Rose. While the Kurt Cobain of his past life had hated Axl Rose, calling him a racist and a sexist, Hide personally held no ill feelings toward him. Of course, if Axl displayed the same exclusionary tendencies in this world, Hide would likely end up hating him just as Cobain did.
'By the way, Avril Lavigne is here too?'
Avril Lavigne was an artist that anyone who spent their teens in the 2000s in his past life would know. She was one of the few female rockstars and the empress who dominated the genre of pop-punk. Above all, she was the first love of countless men, leaving many hearts aching with her beautiful appearance.
'And I liked her, too... Honestly, wasn't there any teenage boy at that time who didn't?'
If Ai had heard what he was thinking, she would have pouted and gotten angry, but Ai was currently across the ocean in Japan. Besides, it was a liking born from being a 'fan' in a past life, so Hide felt he could be confident in his conscience.
"Shuji, you know who they are?"
"Leader, how can you not know them? They're the ones getting famous for playing music that's similar to ours but different."
"I don't really pay attention to that kind of thing, so I wouldn't know."
From what Shuji told him, Avril Lavigne had become an overwhelmingly popular singer among teens and twenty-somethings, just as she had in his past life.
And as for Guns N' Roses—the band that had spectacularly closed out the metal era in his previous life—they were gaining popularity as the American music scene's answer to the 'Enfants Terribles Invasion,' delivering a sharp, edgy sound distinct from the band.
Hide had inwardly thought that they were the only ones who would be playing rock in this world, but rock artists had emerged sooner than he expected.
"But how much did they sell to get nominated already?"
"Ten million copies. Both of them sold ten million with their first albums. Their sales figures are still climbing in real-time."
While they hadn't quite reached the heights of Enfants Terribles' debut album, they were already more than qualified to be called rockstars. The 'stars' he had looked up to in his past life were now throwing down the gauntlet to them.
"Leader, even so, I don't feel like we'll lose. They're still just wet-behind-the-ears fledglings."
Enfants Terribles remained serene in the face of the challenge. They lacked one thing: the feeling that they could lose.
"Shuji, didn't you start the band not that long ago yourself?"
"Leader! We had a magnificent teacher. We're different from those guys starting from zero."
In the midst of all this, Yokishi, the muscular black mixed-race drummer, was frozen stiff upon seeing the woman known as Avril Lavigne.
The reason was that Avril Lavigne had walked over to the Enfants Terribles' table. Shuji and Hide exchanged casual greetings, but Yokishi couldn't do the same.
He was a man who had thrown passes at all sorts of women, but he had always done so with a light heart. Since he had inherited his father's blood strongly, Asian features weren't really his preference to begin with.
"Hi? Your muscles are impressive."
Yokishi, responding to the greeting from a woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, replied with an awkward smile.
"You have beautiful eyes, miss."
Even he thought it was a pathetic, cheap flirting line, but the truth was, he was a total novice who had never spoken with sincerity to any woman other than his mother. For the record, Ai was excluded from that list. To him, Ai was like a younger sister he had gained late in life.
What kind of madman in this world would view their younger sister as a romantic interest?
"What's up, Musclemon? What was that cheap line? Don't tell me... you...?"
"What?"
Yokishi glared with murderous intent at the bald guy—Shuji—who was trying to tease him even in this situation. While he and the bald guy were bickering, the beauty named Avril Lavigne was already returning to her original seat.
"Baldy... I'm going to fold you in half..."
"Hee-eek!! It's actually scary when you say it! No, I mean, if you're fallen for her, then just charge in with no regrets! Like I do!"
Right. He would show her a killer performance today. It would be fine to reveal at least one new song here. He would pour his soul into the stage. To make his romantic endeavor a success, he absolutely had to do well.
Once the performance was a success, he would use the atmosphere of the moment to charge in without hesitation. Yokishi, the muscular mixed-race drummer, steeled his resolve while drinking his protein shake.
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