Page 21 of For The Record

Nope. Publicity pays well enough for me to make rent and utilities and groceries, not enough for me to have actual savings that would last me through an architecture internship.

Horowitz and Wilson. Architecture Firm. Position wanted: secretary.

I groan, scrolling to the next one. Just as I hover over the LinkedIn profile, my laptop dings.

I’ve set Tweet, Google search, and YouTube alerts for every time Ryder Black’s name is mentioned in a celebrity news context. This one is fromFanPop.

Here’s A List of Everything We Know About Ryder Black’s Ex!

1. Her name is Skye Holland… yes, she’s one of those Hollands. Her older sister is Isabelle Holland (actress), her older brother is Aaron Holland (director), and her father is Samuel Holland (movie executive). To top it all off, her mother, Leticia Holland, is also famous (actress, singer, AND author). Talk about a black sheep!

2. BUT, she’s not that famous. Instead, she works as a publicist for Winston & Wong publicity.

3. Recently, though, it looks like she’s switched over to working for Volume Records, where Ryder was just signed. Can you spell drama?

4. She and Ryder met in college at UCLA, where she majored in Communications and Architecture. They were together for two years according to his Instagram pictures.

5. Based onthis pictureof them together, it looks like they met when she ran track and field and he was a hurdler.

6. She’s best friends with Ryder Black’s sister, Poppy, who works forLa Mode.

7. Her favourite colour has to be green. Literally, there is not one pic of her on the interwebs where she isn’t wearing green. Is she trying to camouflage?… Or is she trying to hide something? FanPop is ready to find out!

Okay, clearly not that important. I click on the next notification fromJustJared, ready for my brain cells to keep rotting until the day I find a well-paying, entry-level architecture job that won’t require subsisting on ramen and the rats running around a fifth-floor walk-up. Or, you know, the day hell freezes over.

JustJared: Is Ryder Black cancelled? Check out his controversial Variety magazine interview, involving misogynistic statements about the doxing of his ex-girlfriend.

I read every word of that interview. First of all, if what they took from that interview is that Ryder Black hates women, then wouldn’t I, his ex-girlfriend, be the first to speak up? Second of all, I was not doxed. Not really. People know where I work. But that information was always available to anyone who had the use of Google. People know who my family is. But almost everyone who’s anyone in Hollywood knows who my family is.

Should I let this die down? Or should I write up a pre-emptive apology for him to blandly read while talking about ‘doing the work’ and ‘learning to do better’?

JustJaredis hardly the most reputable news source, and all the outrage seems to be coming from a handful of BTS stans. Nope, time to let this one go.

I go back to my architecture applications, which seem about as useful as scrolling through Wish.com ads for things I will never buy. All the positions require at least one year of experience, or the desire to work for no pay.

I bite my lip, looking at my credit card bill. My bank account. My credit score. I am about two thousand light-years away from being able to borrow from the bank, because, you guessed it: student loans. The only loan I could get would be from my father. I still haven’t paid off the guitar that Ryder bought under my name. I’ve been paying interest on that for eight months. I am in the worst place possible to be looking at architecture applications.

Should I? I hover over the apply button with one hand, my other hand about to call my father.

But I don’t. I close the door on that dream and slam it shut on my family. I have some pride to keep, after all.

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@TheRyderBlack: So excited for everyone to read my interview with Variety: Link below: @RyderBlackSource: CHECK OUT RYDER’S VARIETY INTERVIEW

@VarietyMag: We interviewed Ryder Black about Kentucky, his influences, and much more! Available now to view!!

Variety Magazine Interview

RYDER BLACK OPENS UP ABOUT GROWING UP IN KENTUCKY, AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, AND THE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL

It’s a surprisingly chilly Tuesday morning in Los Angeles when Ryder Black makes his appearance, wearing his now signature black leather jacket with the unexpected addition of a Lexington Legends baseball cap. Still, when you listen closely to his voice and hear the faint — very faint! — Kentucky twang, the headwear becomes less surprising. Growing up in a small town with his younger sister, Poppy, who also works in L.A. at a fashion magazine, the two siblings had big dreams for themselves that seem to finally be coming to fruition.

This mix of homegrown, Midwest down-to-earth guy and major pop star finds its form in a lot of young singers these days. From Shawn Mendes and his small town outside of Toronto to Justin Bieber’s equally Canadian success story, it seems like everybody and their momma is posting covers on the now-defunct Vine, TikTok, and YouTube hoping to make it big. But for Ryder Black, we could say that his first fifteen minutes (and hopefully longer!) of fame all started on America’s Got Talent.

Or, more specifically, when he sang what some call a power ballad, others call a diss track, and still others consider a heartfelt confession about his ex-girlfriend, who promptly trended on Twitter for two days under the hashtag #WhoBrokeRydersHeart. Because, of course, this is the twenty-first century. Below we have the full, unedited interview between Marlee Wilson, resident entertainment and music journalist, and Ryder Black, rising pop star.

MARLEE WILSON Hi, Ryder, we’re so glad to have you here at Variety! Tell me, have you adjusted to life at Volume Records yet? How’s everyone treating you over there?

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