Netflix’s new musical drama Soundtrack is a deeply frustrating entry to the genre. Originally pitched as “Mix tape” for broadcast network TV, it uses a vague framework of “Love songs are good” to have its characters lip-sync existing songs by artists ranging from Demi Lovato to Joni Mitchell – at sporadic moments throughout the series. In two intertwining timelines, romantic leads Sam and Nellie – played with verve by Paul James and Callie Hernandez circle each other and express their frustrations. Though the series opens with Sam earnestly gushing to the camera about how “every song is a love song” and about the importance of finding music that speaks to your experience, the song selection tends to be either totally nonsensical or cloyingly literal. It’s often clear when a musical interlude happens just because the show wanted to see a performer tackle it, most notably whenever it features Jenna Dewan, a fantastic dancer who does her damnedest to nail the random numbers she gets. The less said about the discordant attempts at mash-ups, featuring songs that are nowhere near each other. For these reasons, it would be tempting to write Soundtrack off as a failed experiment. But it’s even more exasperating to watch these scenes flop because there’s plenty of good narrative material surrounding them. Even when the show takes some overwrought turns, the non-musical scenes, at least, sell the gravity of them with appropriate care. May be it wouldn’t get half the attention it might without all its big and sparkly musical numbers jazzing it up.