Editor’s Pick: Ratatouille the Musical’s scrumptious soundtrack
For a musical comprised of songs from TikTok, the music in Ratatouille the Musical—a musical reimagination of the similarly titled Pixar film—is surprisingly well written even with its few duds. While the format of minute-long videos definitely shows through due to the unfortunately short runtime of many songs, each song’s take on what a Ratatouille musical would look like is delightful. That said, not every song is worth a listen, and it’s important to know which to avoid and which to put on repeat.
Genre Deep-dive: Getting jazzed about jazz
Jazz is a genre frequently overlooked due to being too “difficult” to listen to, or even for being too “same-y.” Like most any other generalization about music, though, this is a complete misrepresentation of the genre, and given there being so much more time to listen to music nowadays, it’s fair to give jazz another chance. Regardless of whether you come out of this with a newfound appreciation for the genre or not, taking that risk is enough: some music simply doesn’t click with some people. These are five songs that are well worth the time it takes to listen to them, and I hope that even the most vehement jazz-doubters can find something they like in these.
Editor’s pick: best and worst albums of the decade
It is hard to be objective in art, especially music, because everyone has a different taste. When it comes to good albums and bad albums, arguments often break out. But there’s a difference with great albums and terrible albums: an instant classic is always incredible, and the worst songs can sound like nails on a chalkboard. With that said, here are Beat’s picks for best and worst albums of the decade.