In a word, the score 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 first thing viewers hear — the dominant sound ushering in the show’s establishing shots and dialogue for the next 10 minutes of the series before it finally 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 any good character, Finneas’ score contains multitudes. The 10-minute track, “Cold Open,” weaves between tranquility and the anxiousness of being on pins and needles, while “Music for Hospitals” is a bit more sinister and winding, like spelunking in a dark cave. “Vicious Thoughts,” by contrast, is pretty — and almost startling.
There’s a lot of music. The 32-song soundtrack is an hour and a half, and, according to Finneas, there’s plenty more that got left out. But it’s hard to give an exact descriptor for the lyricless, synthy score he put together for the show. It’s tense but whimsical, at some points almost fitting for a tech news 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.”
Those references were firmly planted in 2010s millennial nostalgia, which is reflected in the characters, particularly Oscar Isaac’s Josh Martin, the general manager of an exclusive California country club and a mediocre synth player who’s a huge fan of the English pop band Hot Chip. It shows in the needle drops, too, with Finneas ending his pieces in such a way that they seamlessly flow 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 Hot Chip in episode five.
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 of Beef for musical references, too, but ultimately leaned in to giving the series “a different flavor,” as season two isn’t a continuation of the 2023 debut storyline but rather has its own unique conflict anchored by Isaac and Carey Mulligan, a husband and wife whose marital issues are exploited by a younger couple, played by Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny, whose relationship has its own share of turmoil.
Beef isn’t Finneas’ first time scoring — he also composed the soundtracks for The Fallout, Vengeance and Disclaimer — though it’s certainly his biggest 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.”
In addition to the score, Finneas has a more front-facing impact on the series as well. First, “What Was I Made For,” the Oscar-winning melancholy track he co-wrote with sister Billie Eilish for the Barbie soundtrack, plays from the speakers of Melton’s meathead character, Austin, in episode two as he lounges around the apartment 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 in the Netflix series.
Courtesy of Netflix
Finneas also has a cameo in episode seven, playing a douchebag version of himself who bumps his own music that he wrote with Eilish as he hits the gym.
“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 learned from scoring Beef, figuring out how to work with “momentum in scenes,” was the biggest 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 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.