Little Pink Starfish

In the past, radio and podcasts were purely audio-based broadcasts.

But as time passed and visual radio formats emerged, many podcasts began to adopt dual-channel formats.

They maintained the traditional audio-only podcast while also streaming live video through YouTube.

However, the hosts of Sound Fact, who went by the pseudonyms Ronnie and Bonnie, continued to run their show with only audio.

Their reasoning was simple: since the identity of the show was to evaluate sound, visuals would only get in the way.

And they weren’t wrong.

The same song might sound better if performed by someone who’s visually striking.

Just like how a guitarist playing the same notes might seem more impressive if their movements are flashy.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Sound Fact completely rejected video.

After each audio-only episode, a video version was uploaded within 48 hours.

And the quality of these videos was quite high.

Sometimes conversations in podcasts veer into irrelevant territory, but the way Sound Fact edited and condensed those parts was impressively sharp.

They also enhanced musical storytelling with supporting visuals.

After all, Ronnie and Bonnie were human too—sometimes their memory was fuzzy, or they referenced a song they couldn’t play on the spot.

Because of this, even though the core of Sound Fact was audio, many people only encountered it through video.

Plenty of people never once listened to the podcast, but still subscribed to the channel and watched the videos.

Of course, longtime fans who had followed Sound Fact since its early days still preferred the podcast.

One of those fans was Jamie, a devoted listener from Florida.

The show had started when she was twenty, and had been with her for five years now.

Her current job in audio-related work was entirely thanks to Sound Fact.

So the moment the podcast began, Jamie picked up her iPhone and listened to Part 1 with great interest.

Part 1 of Sound Fact typically covered new releases from the past week.

If there wasn’t a full-length album worth discussing, they would bundle together multiple singles instead.

In this episode, the track that got the most airtime was Players.

Players had shot onto the Billboard Hot 100 out of nowhere, but little was known about its band GOTM or the artist SBI.

The promotion was carried mostly by Chris Edwards’ fame, and the only public appearance GOTM had made was a single interview with Billboard Magazine.

It was through them that people learned Zion, the composer of the track and figure in an ongoing documentary, was behind the song—and that SBI was the team he belonged to.

But, as always, Ronnie and Bonnie weren’t interested in the artists’ characters or backstories.

They only cared about a singer’s story when a full-length album blew them away with a cohesive message—then they might dive into the artist’s life to understand the meaning more deeply.

So they had no particular interest in the singer of Players, and instead spent nearly 20 minutes focused solely on the sound.

Most of it was praise.

So much so that even the parts they criticized had nothing to do with the actual composition.

[Only two things bothered me about this track.]

[First: the mixing sucks.]

[Not the overall quality, but they purposely pushed the sound’s high end dangerously close to the edge of the compressor.]

[Oasis pulled this off back in the day. They had to sing lyrical songs that still got people hyped.]

[That was Owen Morris’ handiwork—he produced Oasis’ first three albums.]

[I’m not saying Owen Morris is washed. Oh no, I respect legends.]

[But it’s 2018 now.]

[It’s outdated.]

[Even without checking the credits, it’s obvious. Probably someone like HR Corporation—companies that worship traditional white sounds. Interscope wouldn’t have done this.]

[The track needed to accentuate the original flavor.]

[Feels like a master-crafted blade that got dulled down just to be more sellable.]

[Second: the band clearly lacks performance experience.]

[I don’t know this team, but I bet they haven’t been a band for long. Probably haven’t even played underground gigs.]

[A group with this much personality needs to grind it out at the bottom before they’re fully formed. That experience is missing.]

[Must’ve had a very charismatic producer, huh? If not, I’m guessing the band members played separately and the engineer just stitched it together.]

[That’s not a band.]

[They lack unity. The performance was good—but I’ll definitely check out their next track.]

Jamie found it strange that Ronnie and Bonnie only had two criticisms.

Usually, their commentary went something like: “This part is good, that part is decent. But everything else is absolute trash.”

And even the criticism here wasn’t about the song’s core quality—it was more about external production choices.

Must be really good, Jamie thought, since she hadn’t heard the track yet.

But in truth, Ronnie and Bonnie’s comments were surprisingly accurate.

HR Corporation had remixed and remastered the track to align with traditional North American tastes.

And during the recording itself, Han Sion had directly demonstrated the “answers” to GOTM through his own performance.

That moment had deeply impressed and shocked the band—leading them to follow his lead.

Without that charisma, it would’ve been nearly impossible to bring such a strong-willed group like GOTM into unity, just as Ronnie and Bonnie had pointed out.

Of course, the public didn’t know this.

Even Ronnie and Bonnie didn’t realize just how precise their comments had been.

They weren’t always right—but they often came pretty close.

Still, Han Sion—waiting to appear in Part 2—was a bit surprised as he listened to the podcast.

Ronnie and Bonnie roasted most of the songs they covered in Part 1, except for Players and another track called Rudeless.

But while Rudeless got moderate praise, Players received nothing short of glowing acclaim.

Whenever Sound Fact praises a song this heavily, real-time searches spike on Spotify and Apple Music.

And that was happening now.

[Okay, since we wrapped up Part 1, let’s listen to Players like we mentioned earlier.]

They even played the track at the end of Part 1.

After two songs finished playing, Part 2 began immediately.

[Alright, time to earn some money.]

[You know the Colors Media Group, right? They gave us a ton of cash and told us this:]

[Preview this genius.]

[Fuck. Two things I don’t like already. One: the word genius. Two: the amount they offered.]

[It’s not that it wasn’t enough—it was a lot.]

[But if someone’s a real genius, why throw so much money at us just to put them on air?]

[Who knows? Anyway, here we go. Dammit, Colors Media didn’t even give us a name. Told us to call him Question Guy. QG?]

[Come in, Queen’s Gambit.]

[What the hell is that?]

[Haven’t you read the novel? I heard Netflix is turning it into a show.]

One of the fun things about Sound Fact was how openly they acknowledged when a gig was paid.

Even when reviewing full-length albums, they were clear:

“We got paid for this. We’re obligated.”

“But if we’d known it was going to be this kind of album, we’d have charged more.”

Many media groups hated this attitude—but audiences loved it.

People appreciated that Ronnie and Bonnie, even when accepting paid gigs, never compromised their sincerity for good music.

So if Bonnie praised an album that they’d been paid to review and Ronnie agreed, no one doubted it.

The duo had earned that trust over five years of blunt honesty.

In a way, it was a smart strategy.

Had they sold out a few years earlier, they wouldn’t be where they are now.

Just then, as Bonnie called out, the Question Guy stepped into the studio.

---

Ronnie and Bonnie were caught off guard by Han Sion’s appearance.

They hadn’t been told the “Question Guy” was Asian, and there’d been no pre-show meeting.

It may have been a form of unconscious bias, but they hadn’t expected a rising talent from Colors Media to be Asian.

But what startled them more was what he said next.

“Hola.”

His greeting was in Spanish.

Bonnie, whose grandfather was Spanish and who spoke the language fluently, responded.

“Es usted español? (Are you Spanish?)”

“Necesitas saberlo? (Do you need to know?)”

“What’s he saying?” Ronnie asked, confused.

Bonnie shrugged. “I asked if he was Spanish. He told me to shut up.”

Han Sion smiled slightly and switched to English.

“Spanish and English are both my native languages. No need to worry.”

His English was native-level—and carried a bit of a West Coast tone.

Probably California.

But he didn’t look mixed.

Maybe he was an Asian adoptee raised in a bilingual household?

Regardless, Ronnie and Bonnie weren’t interested in his backstory.

“Okay. Where you’re from doesn’t matter anyway. You could be an alien and it wouldn’t mean anything on this show.”

Bonnie rolled her shoulders and continued.

“So, Colors Media gave us a bunch of cash and no info. Just threw you in here.”

“What exactly do you want to do?”

Their timing was spot on—even without prepping lines, they flowed seamlessly.

Han Sion smiled at that too.

Bonnie felt something unusual in that smile.

They’d had countless musicians on their show over the years.

It was Iobin that really catapulted them into fame, but many had followed.

Some were relaxed, others nervous.

But none had shown the attitude Han Sion had.

Hard to describe, but if she had to put it into words…

He’s looking down on us.

This Asian guy was looking at them from above.

Interesting.

Ronnie must’ve felt it too, because he rolled his shoulders in the same way.

“Alright. Tell us. What do you want?”

“I’m going to play you some songs I composed. Some I sing in, some I don’t.”

“And?”

“I’d like you to point out areas for improvement. Convince me.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Okay, then let me ask just one thing. Have these songs been released?”

“Some have, some haven’t.”

“Interesting. I like it.”

“Besides, people don’t usually like Part 2 anyway. Our listeners hate when we’re making money.”

“Let’s get started, then?”

As they spoke, Han Sion handed them a USB drive.

It contained six tracks.

The first was Selfish.

But it wasn’t the version sung by Drop Out.

It was the original version Han Sion had released on the Billboard charts.

Naturally, the lyrics were in English.