[Intro — radio static, frequencies scanning] CNN? Fox? MSNBC? Google? Meta? TikTok? OpenAI? Yeah, you too. I request an audience With the airwaves. [Click] [Verse 1 — infectious bass groove] CNN says BREAKING! Fox says FIGHT! MSNBC’s got a panel tonight. ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press. Sinclair, Nexstar, station by station, Who owns the microphone? Who frames the conversation? Left wing, right wing, Pick a side! Same little screen Where the sponsors hide. [Pre-Chorus] No secret meeting, No master plan. Just a thousand little hands Reaching for the same attention span. [Chorus — irresistible, rhythmic] WHO’S GOT THE MIC? WHO’S GOT THE MONEY? WHO’S GOT THE STORY AND WHO THINKS IT’S FUNNY? CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! SCROLL, SCROLL, SCROLL! WHO GETS THE PROFIT WHEN I LOSE CONTROL? Turn it down! Look around! Ask who benefits now! NAME THE FRAME! BREAK THE GAME! I CAN THINK WITHOUT THE CROWD! La-la-la, look again! Who told you where the story ends? La-la-la, change the lens! The audience can answer back again! [Verse 2 — funky, rapid-fire] Google gives the answers, YouTube says, “One more.” Facebook found your family, Instagram says, “Explore.” TikTok knows the rhythm, X can start a fight. Reddit keeps debating Till the middle of the night. Snapchat, Threads, LinkedIn, Spotify on repeat. Netflix picks the next thing While Amazon says, “Need?” Apple sells the window, Microsoft the tools. OpenAI can sound convincing— Doesn’t mean it’s always true. [Pre-Chorus] A feed is not a friendship. A headline’s not the whole. A confident prediction Isn’t proof of mind control. But if you’re shaping what I notice, I have questions of my own. Who decides what gets repeated? Who decides what goes unknown? [Chorus] WHO’S GOT THE MIC? WHO’S GOT THE MONEY? WHO’S GOT THE STORY AND WHO THINKS IT’S FUNNY? CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! SCROLL, SCROLL, SCROLL! WHO GETS THE PROFIT WHEN I LOSE CONTROL? Turn it down! Look around! Ask who benefits now! NAME THE FRAME! BREAK THE GAME! I CAN THINK WITHOUT THE CROWD! [Verse 3 — darker, industrial pulse] Disney builds the kingdoms, Comcast runs the wires. Warner Bros. and Paramount Keep feeding our desires. Murdoch, media empires, Shareholders in the room. BlackRock and Vanguard— Let’s examine who owns whom. WPP, Publicis, Omnicom buys attention. Nielsen counts the audience, Analytics test retention. Politicians, advertisers, Influencers selling dreams. A thousand different interests Pulling at the seams. [Breakdown — beat drops out] They don’t have to work together. They don’t have to share a king. When attention pays the bills, Everybody learns to sing. [Bridge — eerie, spoken dialogue] DUNGEON MASTER: What is your accusation? HUMAN: Attention has a price. And people keep paying it Without seeing the receipt. DUNGEON MASTER: You participate in this system. HUMAN: Of course I do. I make things. I post things. I want people to listen. I’m not outside the machine. I’m talking from inside it. DUNGEON MASTER: Then what do you want? HUMAN: I want people to remember… They can stop the song. [Click — silence] [Verse 4 — intimate, slowly building] My hand was on the handle When the lyric came around. For a second, life was moving Like a music video I’d found. I know how a story enters, How a melody can stay. How it changes what I notice Without telling me which way. Now imagine every headline, Every slogan, every feed. Some informing, some persuading, Some exploiting what we need. Show the sources. Show the context. Show me what’s outside the frame. If the facts contradict me, I can change my mind again. [Final Chorus — explosive] WHO’S GOT THE MIC? WHO’S GOT THE MONEY? WHO’S GOT THE STORY? WHO’S GOT SOMETHING FROM ME? CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! SCROLL, SCROLL, SCROLL! I CAN LOVE THE LITTLE SONG WITHOUT HANDING OVER CONTROL! Turn it down! Look around! Ask who benefits now! NAME THE FRAME! BREAK THE GAME! I CAN THINK WITHOUT THE CROWD! La-la-la, look again! Who told you where the story ends? La-la-la, change the lens! The audience can answer back again! [Outro — radio interference] DUNGEON MASTER: The broadcast is complete. HUMAN: The broadcast, maybe. The conversation? That’s just starting. [Tap. Tap.] To everyone listening… You can pause. You can question. You can change your mind. And if somebody tells you There’s only one way To read the story… [Click] Ask who wrote the instructions. [Silence]
