Why is controlling a HomePod so hard from iOS?

Idris, you know me. You know I know about Feedback and use it. So you know I am actually not complaining but rather, using a rhetorical device to find out if there is a proper way to play from HomePods, but control and start from iOS. Sans Airplay.

Regardless, it is a question! What is the proper way to start from and control a HomePod from iOS?

I do that all the time and have for as long as Airplay has existed. But I have a situation where I want to start it without voice, playing from the HomePod, sans Airplay. This is possible but, the way I am doing it is apparently not the right way and, from what I can tell, the right way is nutty.

Here is how to make it work but, it is nutty:

Go to control panel, choose Airplay (!) icon. Hit Control Other Speaker… button, choose the HomePod. Then go to Apple Music, do not hit the default HomePod play (unless it is what you want). Instead first choose what you want to play, like a station or playlist, when you do that, it changes on the HomePod control in Apple Music and you can hit play.

Ugh. Apple. Why? (Yes, Idris, I have sent this one in.)

Would it not make more sense to have this all in the Music App and have the user start the music and be able to easily and reliably choose the speaker? Instead, you start at the end for it to work.

The gold standard for UI and UX simplicity remains: Connect.

If I am missing something, that is the question I am posting here. No, it is not Airplay. Again, I am pretty much the master at that. I even have Airport Express v2 with older firmware playing from iOS and macOS to ensure it is 16/44 lossless. But, like with the HomePod, which is only Airplay 2, I also use that all the time plus, the ability for a HomePod to send Airplay 2 as 24/96 to better powered speakers I have. So I have Airplay covered. That is not the question here.