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.

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