One
Call it over
Call it whenever
But for one night
We’ll be together
‘Call It’ fromThe In-Between
Three, two, one,’ we chorus in unison, watching the timer on my laptop screen tick down.
Spotify refreshes and there it is, each greyed-out song title changing to shiny tappable white: Rose Conrad’s new album,The In-Between.
All three of us scream. Kira grabs me. ‘What are you waiting for? Let’s put it on!’
I immediately press play, listening with heightened senses. It’s impressive how awake I feel, considering it’s midnight and it feels like I’ve been up forever at this point. At least Rose Conrad released this during the summer holidays, so we could listen to it all night.
At this exclusive listening party are Kira, Faye and me. And by exclusive, I mean I didn’t invite anyone else because right now are all I need are these two. We’ve been Rose Conrad fans since Year 7, when her first album came out. In fact, I think it’s thereason we’re all friends. I had a pin of her signature rose symbol on my blazer and Faye shyly asked me about it, and then Kira loudly asked me about it, and it’s been the three of us ever since.
The first listen, we sit in near silence, only quickly speaking during the outros.
‘Ooh, that one was good.’
‘The chorus isbrutal.’
‘Oh wow, did you see she’s announced a tour for this?’ This is followed by more screaming.
Then on the second listen, more raptured comments.
‘I think this one is about that year she spent in Paris,’ says Faye.
‘She mentioned it in the Vogue interview,’ says Kira.
‘Your words are sharp as diamonds, but as dark as coalis a line.’
‘“Call It” as a single doesn’t describe the complexity of this whole album.’
Around the fourth listen, we’re all getting sleepy. I turn off the music, and we all clamber into my bed. Only-child privileges means my king-size bed can safely fit all three of us.
‘You know why I love Rose Conrad?’ I say. I catch a glimpse of us in the mirror next to my bed. We are certainly an ethnically diverse British collection: myself, Indian; Faye, Irish; and Kira, Ghanaian. Kira likes to call us the Neapolitan.
‘Is Selena Pia, the world’s biggest Rose Conrad fan, only going to give us one reason?’ says Kira, yawning and nearly smacking me in the face. Okay, maybe this king-size bed doesn’t work for three.
‘Yeah, can you say anything about Rose Conrad without bursting into a speech?’ says Faye.
I roll my eyes and continue. ‘It’s because every time she releases a new album, I feel like something pivotal is going to happen in my life. The last time she did, it was our GCSE year, remember? Faye, you had that thing with Eric—’
‘We shall not mention his name,’ says Faye, holding up her hand.
‘And Mum’s arthritis had just got worse, and the album really helped me through it.’
‘Ahem,’ says Kira.
‘Oh, and Kira was really worried about not having the top GCSE result in our year,’ I say, deadly seriously, and this time she hits me on purpose.
‘The point,’ I continue, ‘is that Rose Conrad always releases an album at the moment something new is happening. And we’re going into upper sixth this year. It is a big year. And this album is going to be the soundtrack to the year.’
