Layla Parton

Layla Parton is a 2020-introduced and all-around character. As the daughter of the Sheriff, she is a France-born but Gnarleston-raised Western and these days a student at Enchatria High. Layla has the double reputation of a diva and of a rebel, demanding respect from those around her but at the same time turning her back on etiquette, convention, and rules. In general, she avoids her fellow students in order to hang out in the catacombs, where she has her own theater and recording room. Music is Operetta's passion in life; she is a talented singer, though her powers do not allow her to give live performances, and skilled with both the guitar and the organ. She enjoys playing for audiences, but she reserves conversations about music solely for those who share her level of devotion. Though likely to leave a bad first impression, Layla has a strong sense of justice that guides her through unlife.
==Portrayers==
In English, she was voiced by Gigi Sarroino in volume 2, now she is voiced by Cindy Robinson since volume 3.
In Latin American Spanish, she was voiced by Martha Hernández in volume 2, and now she is voiced by Claudia Mota since volume 3.
==Character==
===Background===
Layla was born in France, but at a young age moved with her family to Texas. She grew up on her parents' riverboat opera house on the Mississippi, eventually taking most cultural influence from Gnarleston. Her accent, independent spirit, love for blue and rockabilly, boat know-how, and friendship with Flynn all come from these formative years that lasted until she reached the age of sixteen. At that time, her father made another career change to become a teacher at Enchatria High. Although not thrilled, Operetta did not object to the move and in due time found herself liking the all-monster high school. All the same, she does stay in close contact with her childhood environment, Flynn in particular. She regularly sends them her diary pages to read, and Flynn every so often builds her a custom guitar. 
Whichever part of her heritage is responsible for it, while Layla enjoys performing, live singing is out of the question. Her voice has three special properties: her screams can break various materials and if she sings live, she either disorients the people listening to her for a long time or she gains mind-control of them. The latter would be useful for building a career, but Operetta wants to be acknowledged for her actual skill and on the whole disapproves of manipulative tactics like that. The sole way to get around her voice's magical properties is to listen to a recording of it. 
===Personality===
Layla is a tough girl with determination to spare. Described as "a bit of a diva" with a "set of pipes", she's a rebellious teenager who loathes being told what to do and what to leave. She's foremost a loner who drives in her own lane and avoids social obligations. She secludes herself inside the catacombs of Enchatria High, where she has all she needs: a little amphitheater of her own with a pipe organ where she can practice her one passion, music. Although praise and disapproval don't faze her much, admiration and mockery of her music is a sure hit. The right compliment goes a long way with her, but those that land on her bad side find themselves the target of her vindictive side until the score is settled. 
During her first months at Enchatria High, what little peer contact Operetta agreed to did not make for a good start. To a point, her own personality and reputation played a role in that, as she's nothing short of intimidating and reluctant to connect. Misunderstandings and egos as fierce as hers did the rest. However, since making her first few friends, Operetta has eased into being an actual part of Monster High. A major event was joining, the SKRM team, which she initially rejected for being conformist, then joined anyway because girls were mocked for wanting to play, and eventually stayed on because she'd learned to enjoy it. 
===Appearance===
Layla has medium purple skin contrasted by bright red and black hair. Most notably, she has an excessive birthmark on the left side of her face in the shape of spider webs and musical notes. It reaches down via her neck to cover up to the left shoulder. Operetta has made it her own by using the look as inspiration for a matching tattoo that follows the length of her left arm. Forgettable in comparison, she also has a mole under the left side of her lower lip. She has grey-purple eyes of which the one on the left almost always is covered or framed by something; usually a mask, but it can also be a veil or sunglasses. Her masks are usually monocle-shaped and, on the dolls, act as an earring. What with her being a fan of Elvis Presley, her fashion sense is inspired, by that of the 1950s and the occasional shift towards the 1960s. Music is another influence and she also likes to accessorize with web and dice imagery. The latter combines with her love for the colors white and black in her clothes, which lend themselves well for dice in addition to such things as keyboards and vinyl records. Other recurring colors are dark purple and red.
==Relationships==
===Family===
Operetta is the daughter of the Sheriff and another phantom. They are highly formal people and wish Operetta would follow their example, but do not force her to. The family lived in France until a few years after Layla's birth and then moved to New Goreleans, where the Phantom took a job on a riverboat opera house and occasionally did voice coaching. At age 16, Operetta would again experience a major move when her father signed up to teach Haunted Music as a night class at Enchatria High. Layla made the best of it, finding herself happy with the change of setting after a while. 
It is possible that Layla's mother is Southeastern America-born, because Operetta has at least one grandmother who lives there. She has a good relationship with her and coincidentally her grandmother is best friends with the grandmother of Honey Bride. 
===Friends===
There are three things that Operetta likes in people aside from general kindness: sharing cultural ties with her, having a rebellious streak, and being committed to music. As a result, her closest connections are Flynn, Keith Evans, Jack Andrews, Katy Noir, Casta Storm, Honey Bride, Michelle Vortex, Billy Minnesota, and Mario Pride, whom she's become romantically involved with.
Flynn is Layla's oldest and strongest friend. They taught her how to play guitar and builds her her guitars. Operetta dedicates her diaries to them, though sporadically voices her wish that Fynn would modernize so they can keep direct contact through technology. Layla has another old-fashioned friend in Michelle, whom she admires as the first girl to make a name for herself in SKRM. After a new team was established for Enchatria High, which Operetta and Michelle were both on, Operetta was the only one to notice Michelle's emotional turmoil over playing her first game since recovering from a century-long deactivation. She took a moment to make sure the other was alright; a gesture that was appreciated. 
Jack and Keith are among Layla's earliest friends at Enchatria High and for both she briefly had feelings. In Jack's case, he proved to be too hotheaded for her tastes, but after that rough start they did find room to become close friends as the school's main musicians. Layla even was among the first Jack wanted to show off Jack too once he figured out they were one and the same and was unaware everyone else long knew. As for Keith, Layla met him after deciding to steal him from Judy von Puckett as payback for the other's false accusations. What she didn't count on was to instantly hit it off with him. Realizing what kind of relation she was messing with and the pain she'd cause him, she backed off and even did her part supporting them by helping Keith compose a song for Judy. 
Layla gained a new friend in Katy Noir when the pop sensation put her career on pause to attend Enchatria High. The meeting was mutually exciting, because while Operetta is not a star of Katy's size, Katy's guitar player is a big fan of hers and often would play Operetta's music while touring. It is presumably through Katy that Layla also got to befriend Casta Fierce, another big name, but one who is past her high school years. Another connection Layla made outside of Monster High is Honey Swamp, whom she met when the whole of Enchatria High was invited for the premiere of Veronica Von Trent's latest movie. The two girls clicked immediately over their cultural roots as well as the fact their grandmothers are best friends. 
===Pet===
Her pet, Woody is a purple skunk with Elvis Presley-styled hair, named after Memphis, where Elvis Presley grew up. Layla mentions that he can "rock a pompadour while playing a standup bass".
===Romance===
There are three boys Layla has had romantic feelings for and one short-lived crush. The short-lived crush was on Arthur Charming, a boy who caught the eye of many girls, but her efforts to connect with him were at least 50% about her rivalry with Scarlett Ferris. The first genuine case is Jack Andrews, with whom she went on one date before hitting the brakes. He proved himself up her level on music and behaved like a gentleman well enough, but his temper got the better of him when he thought a gargoyle was being purposely rough. Rather, they were at a packed concert and the gargoyle knocked down Operetta by accident. He apologized, but Holt witnessed it from afar and did not hear this. Instead of looking into the story first, he went full out against the gargoyle until the the bouncers escorted him and Operetta out, an event Operetta found humiliating. Holt tried to make it up with flowers, but the damage was already done on their chance at romance. On the upside, they developed a solid friendship instead a while later. 
The second boy Layla could see herself be with was Keith Evans. He wasn't on her radar at all until Judy von Puckett accused her of trying to get with her boyfriend. Seeking revenge over the preposterous accusation, Layla took her up on it. Unexpectedly, she and Keith clicked within seconds of meeting and what started as mere payback became sincere interest. When she hinted at liking him, Keith let her know that while he thought she was cool, he already was with Judy. After a little more prodding, Layla realized the relationship she was trying to break up was not a superficial one and she would do more harm than her revenge was worth if she persisted. So, she decided to help out instead. Taking a cue from Judy's evident insecurity over Deuce's feelings, she helped Keith compose a song to express himself to his girlfriend. It earned her his forever friendship without Judy being suspicious. 
Eventually, Layla came in contact with Billy Minnesota, a student who'd been enrolled longer than she'd been but whose bad attitude had earned him a very long time of detention. Coincidentally, before his detention began the catacombs were his hangout, forcing a confrontation between the two of them over who'd get the place. As they are both musicians, they agreed to a jam-off. What started as a competition tuned into a jam session they performed for fun rather than gain. In the days that followed, Layla and Billy grew towards each other and entered an informal relationship. 
==Timeline==
* October 24, 2017: Mattel requests the trademark for Layla Parton.
* October, 2020: Layla Parton makes her diary debut in Jack's diary.
* September 18, 2021: Layla Parton's profile art is revealed on the Enchatria Girls Facebook account.
* September 22, 2021: Layla Parton's doll is displayed on the Enchatria Girls Facebook account.
* September 30, 2021: Layla Parton makes her 2D cartoon debut in "Histeria".
* September 20, 2021: Layla Parton's profile is published on the Enchatria Girls website. It originally lists her BFF's as being Jack Andrews and Timmy Plasience, and features a BFF stamp on Cleo de Nile. This is changed shortly after to mention only Jack Andrews and Keith Evans as Layla Parton's BFF's.
* October 24, 2021: In response to questions about Llayla not being French, part of her student file is released on the Enchatria Girls Facebook account.
* Late January, 2022: Layla Parton's first doll is released as part of the series.
* February 13, 2022: Layla Parton makes her 3D cartoon debut in "Why Do Girls Fall in Love?".
==Notes==
* Layla's character is a very elaborate play on her father's character. While her father is the Western, she is the Country of the Journey. An journey is an establishment that features live country music (rockabilly took much influence from country music), and the term originated as a diminutive form of the word "opera". As per Layla's student file, she and her parents moved from France to New Orleans, a former French colony, and her father took a job on a riverboat opera house, likely on the Mississippi River. This presumably brought Operetta in contact with Nashville, Tennessee, the "City of Music" where the Grand Ole Journey is located, and Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis Presley grew up.
** Layla's hairstyle mainly follows the Bettie Page pinup look or a combination of the "Happy Pompadour" bangs with "Two Braided Pigtails" sides hairstyle.
** Her pet, Woody, is named after Memphis, Tennessee. He sports a pompadour like Elvis Presley.
** Layla's favorite food, fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, is referred to as an Elvis Sandwich.
** Billy Minnesota, her main romance, is based on the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which is an ode to the history of Bluegrass, country, and country rock.
* During the early development months of Enchatria High, Layla was supposed to be a starter character. The role planned for her was eventually given to Judy von Puckett. The cartoon and diary storylines in which Cleo suspects Deuce replacing her with Operetta are a reference to these early plans.October 18, 2023 - The Mommy and Gracie Show
* Although it is unsafe for her to sing live, during the song “All Enchatira’s Day” she is seen singing on the parade float with Katy without any problems, although she may have just been lip-syncing to Katy’s singing.
* Her birthday is June 12th 2004, making her a Gemini.
==Gallery==
Layla-Parton-Artwork--2.png
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:Generation 1 characters
Category:Generation 2 characters
Category:Females
Category:Western
Category:Country
Category:Comic characters
Category:Generation 3 characters