Adele's right – don't mess with an album's track listing

+ testing for COVID-19 during the holiday season US Edition - Today's top story: Grammy winner explains why Adele is right -- album tracks should not be shuffled [View in browser]( US Edition | 11 December 2021 [The Conversation]( I know Marvin Gaye’s album “What’s Going On” pretty well. From the chatter and sax ushering in the opening track to Gaye’s defiant final statement and soulful, meandering outro, I have listened to the LP countless times – and always in full. It is, after all, a carefully curated musical journey intended to be listened to in one sitting, with many of the tracks bleeding into the next. So when Spotify plays the album’s tracks out of their intended order, I am no longer lost in the music. I’m just lost. It is a problem that Adele recently addressed in requesting – successfully, as it happens – that the streaming service not randomize tracks on her latest release, “30.” University of Florida music professor Jose Valentino Ruiz shares Adele’s point of view. As a Grammy winner and the producer of more than 90 albums himself, Ruiz knows that [sequencing tracks is a crucial part of delivering an artist’s vision](. By randomizing the track order, “listeners might be missing the message as well as the audio journey that has been carefully created,” he writes. This week we also liked articles about [U.S. inflation](, the possible dangers of [synthetic food dyes]( and the cross-culturalism of [Cup Noodles](. Matt Williams Breaking News Editor 30, going on 33 1/3. Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images [Grammy winner explains why Adele is right – album tracks should not be shuffled]( Jose Valentino Ruiz, University of Florida Clicking ‘random’ on album tracks does the artist a disservice. It can also mean the listener is missing out, too. Early-onset colorectal cancer rates have been increasing since the 1990s. kajakiki/E+ via Getty Images [Colorful sweets may look tasty, but some researchers question whether synthetic dyes may pose health risks to your colon and rectum]( Lorne J. Hofseth, University of South Carolina Sixty percent of the Standard American Diet consists of ultra-processed food, which isn’t great for colon health. Researchers are looking into whether artificial food colors play a role. Used car and truck prices are up 31% over the previous year. AP Photo/David Zalubowski [Why is inflation so high? Is it bad? An economist answers 3 questions about soaring consumer prices]( William Hauk, University of South Carolina Inflation is rising at the fastest pace since Ronald Reagan was president. - [Women lead religious groups in many ways – besides the growing number who have been ordained]( Deborah Whitehead, University of Colorado Boulder A scholar of gender and US religious history explains how women are trying to make religious communities more inclusive. Women’s ordination is only one piece of this ongoing work. - [‘West Side Story’ may be timeless – but life in gangs today differs drastically from when the Jets and Sharks ruled the streets]( David Pyrooz, University of Colorado Boulder; James Densley, Metropolitan State University ; Scott H. Decker, Arizona State University Gangs have changed in the decades since ‘West Side Story’ first came out – they are deadlier, and their demographics are different – as are the means law enforcement use to control them. - [How Cup Noodles became one of the biggest transpacific business success stories of all time]( Alisa Freedman, University of Oregon See a package of Cup Noodles and you might think of dorm rooms and cheap calories. But there was a time when eating out of Cup Noodle’s iconic packaging exuded cosmopolitanism. - [Rapid tests play a crucial role in curbing COVID-19 infections – especially as people gather for the holidays]( - [Figuring out omicron – here’s what scientists are doing right now to understand the new coronavirus variant]( - [Political rage: America survived a decade of anger in the 18th century – but can it now?]( - [‘Zero Day’ for California water? Not yet, but unprecedented water restrictions send a sharp warning]( - [How Elon Musk can save big on taxes by giving away a ton of his Tesla stock]( Like this newsletter? You might be interested in our weekly emails: [Politics Weekly]( • [Science Editors' Picks]( • [This Week in Religion]( • [Weekly Highlights]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](