Preface

Despite the winter season, it was a sunny afternoon in Beverly Hills. By now, Mercedes Jones had gotten plenty used to having this pleasant of weather at this time of year; a far contrast from the frigid winters back in Lima. But it had been years since she'd spent a freezing winter in Lima—eight to be exact. Like many of her former Glee clubbers, she had no plans of staying in Lima for the rest of her life. Two years following graduation, while visiting some California university campuses, Mercedes was approached by an agent for Warner Bros. record label. Her voice was heard during a UCLA music scholarship competition, and while she had not received the scholarship, she was offered the start of her rising success as a recording artist.

Those same final two years in Lima, fellow McKinley alum Sam Evans enrolled in the local community college, taking music and writing courses. His initial pursuit was songwriting, but over time he grew more interested in the aspect of creating audio rather than writing lyrics. In his second year of attending classes, one of his music professors noticed his knack for creating unique rhythms and music samples. After Sam revealed his dyslexia, his professor suggested that he might have been subconsciously using it as a tool for approaching music composure, rather than considering it a disability. As he increased his knowledge of arranging sheet music and using pro tools and mixers, he also maintained a strong relationship with Mercedes. Upon Mercedes' news about departing for California, she and Sam wondered if they could make their relationship work long distance. Neither of them wanted to end things as they had before the start of their senior year, but back then they were only a few hours from each other. Could they handle being in entirely different time zones?

Blessings seemed to befall them during this window of their life because they hadn't spent more than a few months apart following Mercedes' move to LA. Sam saved up to fly out and visit her while she was in the midst of recording her first record—an album entirely of covers, humorously titled, "Mercedes Jones: Under the Covers". While in the studio, Sam and Mercedes bumped into famous composer Danny Elfman. He chatted in the studio's main hallway with the star-struck young adults and by the end of the conversation, Sam had charmed Mr. Elfman and later earned himself a job, assisting with the score for Tim Burton's latest re-make.

Their ten years following graduation had not all been smooth-sailing however. As Mercedes' career started to blossom in LA, her biological father had surfaced and tried to connect with her. His impromptu appearance in her life brought on an irritable amount of stress for herself, her older brother and her mother—who had re-married two years after Mercedes moved to California. The tension of his presence and the media circus that he was conducting, threatened to tarnish Mercedes' new arrival on the music scene. Eventually his harassing escapades escalated to three different restraining orders being issued to him by the family he walked away from, many years ago.

For Sam, his greatest struggle hit him, seven years after he joined Mercedes in LA and pursued his own music-making career. It was hard for both of them at first—being so far from their families—but he wasn't prepared to be told his mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The severity of the disease wasn't determined, but they did know that she would be having surgery soon. The weeks following that news, he grappled with staying in California and moving back to Kentucky for good. At the age of 27, he'd acquired a greater income than he ever imagined he would have at that young of an age. And every day he was grateful because it allowed him to fulfill his dream of providing for his parents. Some days he would tell himself that staying in California and sticking with his work was the best way to help his family. On other days, he was convinced that being physically close to his parents and siblings would provide them better support. Between his family, Mercedes, Ms. Jones, and their friends, Sam had been talked into staying, but all of them encouraged him to visit often.

Through their strife, Mercedes and Sam stuck by one another and provided support for each other, allowing them to pull through together and continue thriving in their relationship as well as their careers. Sam was able to earn the job of scoring the second and final Avatar sequel by the year 2018—another dream come true for him. He received praise from the Academy, nominating his work for best score at the 2019 Academy Awards. Although he hadn't won, the nomination put him on an intangible high. And though music composure and production was his main focus, he still carried his love of comics and voice impressions with him and was occasionally offered voice-acting parts in various animated films. Mercedes released her cover album, as well as three other albums over the past decade. She toured around the U.S., and Europe for her first two albums, and then expanded her tours to Australia and Asia for her last two albums. Collectively, her albums earned her nine BET Awards, four MTV Moon Men, seven Teen Choice Awards, and five American Music Awards. Tonight, she was attending what had been the most important night of her musical career to date.