"Hannah Montana," a series based on the Disney musical sitcom of the sa na, was similar to "Twilight" in that it targeted a teenage fan base.
Furthermore, the series starred the show's leading lady, Miley Cyrus.
On an open-air set at Disney Studios, Matthew t the popular teen idol, a very smiley and sowhat quirky girl.
However, he was in no mood to chat with a fifteen-year-old girl and imdiately headed to the nearest dressing room, eager to finish his role and wrap up the cao in half a day.
But when he erged from his trailer, Matthew realized the shoot had beco a bit more complicated. Still, he only had half a day, with other commitnts after lunch, and the crew had assured him they would finish everything that morning.
Disney had turned Hannah Montana into a massive teen brand, and to create the atmosphere for a country music concert in the series, they had invited several guests. One of them now approached him to say hello.
"Hi, Matthew."
A tall, blonde girl appeared before him. "Rember ?"
Matthew took a deliberate look at her. The girl had a distinctive appearance—high eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and a tall fra.
Of course, he rembered her. They had t before.
"Hello, Taylor," Matthew replied.
Taylor Swift stood before him and said, "I tried to get in touch with you, but then I realized I didn't have your number."
She pulled out her cell phone. "Can I get your number?"
Ahead, the crew was busy setting up tents, but the caras were not yet in place, so it was clear filming wouldn't start for a while.
And Matthew wasn't entirely sure about the specifics of the scene, other than the fact that he was playing a cao.
In any case, the crew wasn't in a hurry, so he wasn't either. "Of course."
Taylor handed her phone to Matthew. He typed in a string of numbers and gave it back. She imdiately hit the call button, and a phone started ringing in the bag of Bella, who was standing behind him.
Taylor glanced deliberately toward Bella. "Is that your work phone?"
Matthew smiled. "My personal number."
Taylor adopted a particularly serious expression and replied, "I'll call you directly next ti I need to reach you."
"Call anyti," Matthew said.
They chatted for a little while longer until an assistant director ca over and told Matthew the director wanted to discuss the scene with him. With that, Matthew headed onto the set.
Taylor Swift watched him walk away. Two years ago, her manager had suggested she sing the the song for "Pirates of the Caribbean," but no one had expected her debut album to beco such a hit. At the ti, she was too busy with promotional work, so the idea was dropped.
Her second album, released this year, was also a huge success, and as she began a new cycle of songwriting, she was desperate for inspiration.
An extraordinary man like Matthew was perhaps the best source of inspiration she could find.
Who among the world's most famous n, the top echelon of Hollywood, could compare to Horner?
She acknowledged her own talent; she just needed the key to unlock the vault where it was stored.
***
Soon, Matthew found the director.
"Hello, Matthew."
He was a middle-aged man with glasses who took the initiative to shake Matthew's hand. "It's an honor to work with you."
Matthew replied, "You're too kind."
Then he asked, "Could you tell
about my cao scene?"
The film was an extension of the musical TV series, and since it was based on episodes already in production, the entire tiline from preparation to filming and release was only six months.
With ti being limited, Rondell Sheridan got straight to the point. "Over the next two days, the crew is filming a country music concert set in Tennessee. Matthew, for your cao, you'll be playing yourself—a big star who cos to the concert, loves country music, and gets on stage to sing a song."
Hearing this, Matthew imdiately asked, "I have to sing?"
Rondell nodded hastily. "You're not a professional singer, so just singing any random country song will do."
For most Hollywood stars, singing was essentially a trivial matter.
But Matthew was definitely not one of them. He shook his head and said, "Director Rondell, I'd rather just be an audience mber. I'm no good at singing."
Rondell was a little surprised and looked at Matthew, who added, "I have an extrely poor sense of music."
"Well..." Rondell was at a loss. He couldn't force Matthew—the two of them were not on the sa level at all. After thinking for a mont, he said, "Taylor Swift will be singing on stage shortly. How about you go up with her as her companion?"
Matthew confird, "I don't have to sing, right?"
Rondell quickly replied, "No, but you'll still be playing yourself, as a friend and fan of Taylor Swift."
"Alright," Matthew agreed.
Rondell waved an arm across the set. "Taylor! Taylor, co over here!"
Taylor Swift saw the director calling to her and hurried over.
***
The set still wasn't ready, so Matthew and Taylor went to the stage in the center of the area, sat down under an umbrella in front of it, and waited patiently for filming to begin.
Taylor asked her assistant for an acoustic guitar and began to tune it.
"The director asked you to sing on stage, and you refused?" she asked, strumming the strings.
Matthew didn't hide it. "I have a rough voice, and I sing off-key. Johnny Depp invited
to audition for his band, and I ended up singing for less than thirty seconds before the entire band was displeased."
Taylor, however, said, "That's because they don't know how to teach."
"Really?" Matthew figured his lack of musicality was innate.
"Of course." Taylor gestured to the guitar. "I'll play a little lody, and you hum along with ."
She plucked the strings, and the pleasant, soothing sound of the guitar filled the air. It was a very simple tune, and even Matthew thought humming along wouldn't be too difficult.
Taylor played the lody once, then a second ti, signaling for Matthew to hum along.
But Matthew had only humd a few notes before she raised a hand to stop him. "This lody doesn't suit you. Let's change it."
After that, she switched to a light, fast-paced tune, but the result was the sa.
Taylor tried several different styles of lodies, one after another, corrected him again, and then had him sing a few lines of the simplest, most common Christmas song, "Jingle Bells." The result was just awful.
"Well?" Matthew wanted to sing better too; then he could start a band with Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp just for fun. "Is there any hope for ?"
"No." Taylor's expression darkened as she looked at Matthew. "Your condition is definitely congenital, which ans you have a complete lack of musical talent."
If her musical talent was first-rate, Matthew's was less than zero. It was a negative number.
Matthew frowned. "But you're a good teacher, right?"
Taylor shook her head quickly. "You can't be taught. In the music industry, your situation is called a physiological deficit in musical perception."
"You're exaggerating," Matthew said, surprised.
"You're truly hopeless when it cos to music." Taylor asked seriously, "Do you sing without any concept of tone, and when you sing a song, is it like you're just reading the lyrics over and over with a strange accent?"
"No." Matthew shook his head. "When I sing, I feel like I'm on beat, and I think I sound pretty good. But then I listen to the recordings, and even I get scared..."
Taylor nodded and handed the tuned guitar back to her assistant. "How about this, Matthew? From ti to ti, I'll co over and give you music lessons. I'll act as your music teacher for a while and see if I can teach you properly."
Matthew nodded cautiously. "Sure. Will you help
develop a training program?"
Taylor thought for a mont. "I'll call you when I've figured it all out."
Although, deep down, she believed Matthew's situation was hopeless even with the best music teacher in the world, she also knew this was a good opportunity to draw so creative inspiration.
As a pop singer, she had seen plenty of people with a naturally poor sense of music and rhythm who couldn't be helped by any amount of training. It manifested in how they would always fall out of sync with the lody when they played or sang, unable to reproduce it correctly.
But even those people were far better than Matthew Horner.
Matthew understood perfectly well that sothing like music was heavily dependent on talent.
However, Taylor was willing to teach, and he was willing to learn.
They chatted for a little while longer before the director brought an assistant over to make the final preparations for the shoot. Holding her guitar, Taylor walked onto the stage.
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