Jaylen Riaz

Jaylen Riaz, a character in the Platinum book, is your character's fellow competitor. She is first seen in Chapter 2.

Appearance
Jaylen has brown eyes, shoulder-length dark brown hair and an olive skin complexion. She wears a red v-neck shirt under a black leather jacket. You note that she is about your age.

Personality
Fiona says Jaylen is the starstruck, sweetheart ingenue who came from nothing. It is a failsafe story that America will vote for. However, you see a different side of her depending on if the cameras are watching. According to record executives that Rayleigh overheard, Jaylen's real personality is pretty abrasive and she went through multiple personas (including vintage indie queen, and good girl gone bad) to find one that would fit a public image and expectation.

Background
She is the first contestant on this week's One In A Million. She camped out since 9pm the night before to be first in line. This is her fifth time auditioning; she also auditioned in Des Moines, Milwaukee and Tulsa. In Chapter 3, when she films her backstory, she says she entered her first tap-dancing competition when she was 2 years old and her parents did not believe in her; so she aims to prove them as well as everybody else wrong, that she has what it takes to become a star.

Series/Book: Platinum

 * Chapter 2: Headlines
 * Chapter 3: Lift Me Up
 * Chapter 4: On Fire
 * Chapter 6: Knockout (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: Can't Stop
 * Chapter 8: Down To The Wire (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 10: Hurricane
 * Chapter 12: Crossfire
 * Chapter 13: How To Start Again
 * Chapter 14: On The Horizon (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 15: Fly Higher
 * Chapter 16: Who I'll Be

Your Character
In Chapter 2, when Avery suggests you sit in the back of the auditorium to get a feel of the audition process, you watch Jaylen perform first. When she catches you exiting the auditorium and you tell her Avery invited you, she tells you that she won't let you ruin her chance. In Chapter 3, Fiona tells you that Jaylen has 100% of the America's Sweetheart quota so even if you want it, you need another backstory.

In Chapter 6, you find out that even though you won One In A Million, she was recruited by a rival company, Astral Records, and remains your competition. Her debut album is scheduled to drop on Friday because her songs were written by ghostwriters. In Chapter 7, she also interviews with Tim Schenectady on the same day you do. If you impress him, you end up on the cover of Manhattan Magazine; if you fail to impress him, Jaylen is featured on the cover.

Ryder Kohli
During the auditions for One In A Million, Ryder chooses Jaylen as his pick to mentor for the week. In Chapter 4, the producers show footage of her during the rehearsal week and you discover that she and Ryder chose to have her perform the same song as you and Avery, a cover of Avery's iconic track, 'How to Start Again'. Whether or not that was intentional by her and Ryder is unclear, but the producers love the drama that it creates.

Trivia

 * The name Jaylen is of Hebrew origin and means "thankful".
 * The surname Riaz is of Arabic origin and means "meadow" or "garden". It's a variant of the surname Riad.
 * In Chapter 7, her first single Firecracker is released and airs on the radio.
 * In Chapter 9, Jaylen's album is in the Top 20 according to Fiona, but she has had several weeks of leadtime ahead of you. Fiona attributes this to Jaylen using ghostwriters.