Wow, this novella is like a little work of art, the writing is lush, the characters are complicated and feel real, the social commentary is so nuanced with varying perspectives. A really fascinating work discussing friendship and rivalry, how artists of color are treated by the music industry/fans/white people, art and ownership... it really digs into a lot in a short amount of time. Given that one of the characters is said to be trans I did wonder why that wasn't included in later critiques related to this character, but given the depth and amount of nuance the story already had maybe that just wasn't where the author wanted to put the focus. The audiobook was great, but the quick pace of dialogue and changing POV's did make it a bit hard to follow at times, I picked up my physical copy a few times to get my bearings. 

I wasn’t super invested in this book or the characters. It has an excellent theme about the issues in media and artistry today. Systematic racism infecting all that we do every day is important to examine and this book does it well! I just needed more character building so I would root for them ❤️