In a phrase, the rating for the long-awaited second season of Netflix’s chaotic comedy-drama Beef is inescapable.
From the opening moments of episode one, the music is the very first thing viewers hear — the dominant sound ushering within the present’s establishing photographs and dialogue for the following 10 minutes of the collection earlier than it lastly reaches a notable halt.
“It wasn’t until I was on the mixing stage for episode one, which was pretty near the end of the whole process of scoring the show, that I realized it,” says mononymous singer-songwriter Finneas. “We were watching episode one, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There’s so much music in this series, and it’s used so prominently. Sometimes a score really is a background character.”
Like every good character, Finneas’ rating accommodates multitudes. The ten-minute monitor, “Cold Open,” weaves between tranquility and the anxiousness of being on pins and needles, whereas “Music for Hospitals” is a little more sinister and winding, like spelunking in a darkish cave. “Vicious Thoughts,” against this, is fairly — and nearly startling.
There’s quite a lot of music. The 32-song soundtrack is an hour and a half, and, in accordance with Finneas, there’s a lot extra that bought overlooked. Nevertheless it’s exhausting to offer an actual descriptor for the lyricless, synthy rating he put collectively for the present. It’s tense however whimsical, at some factors nearly becoming for a tech information podcast.
“I agree with the ambiguity that you feel,” Finneas admits. “Whether you love something or you don’t is your personal opinion — whether it’s good or not, that’s subjective. But I think that originality is fairly objective. And I think that Sonny’s [Beef creator Lee Sung Jin] shows are very original. And with that uniqueness, ultimately, the music kept getting weirder and more and more different from our references.”
These references have been firmly planted in 2010s millennial nostalgia, which is mirrored within the characters, notably Oscar Isaac’s Josh Martin, the final supervisor of an unique California nation membership and a mediocre synth participant who’s an enormous fan of the English pop band Sizzling Chip. It reveals within the needle drops, too, with Finneas ending his items in such a means that they seamlessly stream into tracks like indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll” and satirical lyricist Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby.”
Oscar Isaac’s character Josh Martin (second from left) performs with the band Sizzling Chip in episode 5.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Sonny had written those into the screenplays, which I appreciated and loved, so that gave me an idea of the referential era of this show being these cool things from the 2010s,” Finneas explains.
The producer revisited season one among Beef for musical references, too, however finally leaned in to giving the collection “a different flavor,” as season two isn’t a continuation of the 2023 debut storyline however moderately has its personal distinctive battle anchored by Isaac and Carey Mulligan, a husband and spouse whose marital points are exploited by a youthful couple, performed by Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny, whose relationship has its personal share of turmoil.
Beef isn’t Finneas’ first time scoring — he additionally composed the soundtracks for The Fallout, Vengeance and Disclaimer — although it’s actually his greatest small-screen gig. He likens getting used to composing to adjusting to a jacuzzi’s temperature.
“It’s like, ‘Whoa, it’s a little hot in here, maybe I have to get out.’ And then you stay in for a bit, and you’re like, ‘I’m never getting out of this jacuzzi, I’m gonna be in here till I die.’ The thing that’s really satisfying about it is that you start to narrow the bull’s-eye and it gets into focus. By the time I was ripping through episodes seven and eight, I’d amassed all these tools, versus episodes one through four, where I was still looking for stuff to grab onto.”
Along with the rating, Finneas has a extra front-facing affect on the collection as nicely. First, “What Was I Made For,” the Oscar-winning melancholy monitor he co-wrote with sister Billie Eilish for the Barbie soundtrack, performs from the audio system of Melton’s meathead character, Austin, in episode two as he lounges across the house he and his girlfriend, Ashley (Spaeny), share.
“It cracked Sonny and I up that Charles Melton’s character is having that kind of day,” Finneas says. “The kind of day you clearly must be having if that’s the song that plays when you’re lying on the couch.”
Charles Melton stars as Austin within the Netflix collection.
Courtesy of Netflix
Finneas additionally has a cameo in episode seven, enjoying a douchebag model of himself who bumps his personal music that he wrote with Eilish as he hits the health club.
“I relish it,” Finneas says of his less-than-positive portrayal. “I would so much rather play a bad version of myself than the best possible version. That’s almost more embarrassing. I wouldn’t listen to ‘Bad Guy’ in the gym when I’m working out. I don’t think I’d get pumped up off of something I made. But that version of myself who’s a narcissist totally would. It cracked me up.”
As for what he realized from scoring Beef, determining how you can work with “momentum in scenes,” was the largest takeaway, says the musician.
“When we got to episode eight, I told Sonny, ‘If you wrote another eight episodes of these characters, I could do it faster than I did these eight since I know where I am now,’ ” Finneas says. “But that’s the magic: being confused and stumbling around in the dark.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone situation of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click here to subscribe.
