12 Best Hamilton Songs

12. What'd I Miss?

Kicking off this list is the song that kicks off Act 2 in some style.

After the War For Independence is over, Thomas Jefferson returns from France to become America's first Secretary of State. What'd I Miss chronicles this event, while introducing the flamboyant Jefferson to the audience.

Despite being the principal villain of the second act, opposing Alexander Hamilton at every turn, Jefferson is fan-favorite character, party because of the performance and popularity of Daveed Diggs, the original Broadway actor who played the dual roles of Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette.

He steals every scene he's in.

The style of this song deliberately calls back to old-school African American music genres like ragtime, funk and soul, to reflect how Jefferson's beliefs were more old-fashioned compared to Hamilton and his allies.

Like most of the musical numbers in Hamilton, What'd I Miss perfectly balances delivering lots of exposition, with plenty of humour and quotable lines:

"I've been in Paris meeting lots of different ladies,
I guess I basic'lly missed the late eighties...

Other songs such as Cabinet Battle #1 and #2, Washington On Your Side and The Election Of 1800, also do a great job at showing off Jefferson's ego but none are as memorable as his introductory number.