It started with a vibe-less Uber ride at 1:31pm on the first day of Australian summer. I was uncaffeinated, nervous and thinking about the events of earlier that day*. The heat was getting to my head but we were off to an interview with the cast of new show, Paper Dolls.
My family members pinch-and-a-punch-for-the-first-day-of-the-month'd me before I could do it to them. A most terrible start to December 1, indeed.
My partner-in-shenanigans, Bernice and I exchanged a series of worst case scenarios that could only happen at our destination — Paramount Studios — if the earth cracked in two and a spirit demon rose from its core.
Between a conversation about me falling on my face and our recording equipment running out of space, I asked, "What if we have extra time?"
"We can challenge them to a 'Riff Off'," Bernice replied before immediately bursting into Anna Kendrick's version of "No Diggity" from the one of the movie industry's greatest gifts — Pitch Perfect.
Our interviewees would have no choice but to join in. We agreed that surely, their role as girl group, Harlow, in Paper Dolls would've prepared them for a spontaneous singing competition with two people they've never met.
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Everyday I compile playlists in my head, just in case I ever came across a surprise singing battle. Naturally, every song title fell out of my brain fell out as soon as I stepped inside the studio.
When we arrived at the studios and sat in the lobby, the nerves bubbled in my stomach. My adrenaline started to take over.
Members of Paper Dolls' Harlow — Courtney Monsma, Miah Madden, Courtney Clarke and Emalia — were on the other side of a glass sliding door in a room decorated pink. Their smiling faces and excited answers made the interview time fly with plenty of laughter shared between us and the cast.
Thankfully, the possibility of a Pitch Perfect "Riff Off" dwindled into non existence with each passing moment. We were on schedule.
After we exchanged thank yous, I explained that Paper Dolls and the show's original soundtrack really resonated with me as "a music girlie".
"Do you sing?" asked actress and RnB/Pop singer, Emalia.
"Yes," I responded. I could feel my face going hot and bright red. My heartbeat sped up to 8000 beats per minute (or something, abnormal like that).
I heard former Hi-5 cast member and Last King of the Cross actress, Courtney Clarke's voice over my nervousness asking me if I could sing for them.
No amount of playlist compiling could prepare me for this moment. I buckled and my knees felt weak as I grabbed onto the cabinet behind me. "What do you want me to sing for you?" I asked.
I looked over to Bernice in search of an answer and suddenly an idea popped into my misty brain, "We were singing Pitch Perfect in the Uber earlier." The words to Anna Kendrick's remix of "No Diggity" immediately escaped my vocal chords.
"Shorty get doOOOWn, good lord." Then the harmonies started. The cast began singing with me and dancing in their seats. An energy filled the room* followed by applause.
It's an energy I haven't stopped thinking about since.
Season one of Paper Dolls is now streaming on Paramount+ starring Emalia, Naomi Sequeira, Courtney Clarke, Courtney Monsma and Miah Madden as fictional girl group, Harlow.
See you in Hollywood 👀 Just kidding!! Unless....
