The Best is Over

Tony Soprano once said; “"Lately I’m getting the feeling that I came at the end and that the best is over”.  There is no better way of explaining the current state of the contemporary entertainment landscape.  Tony perfectly explains the deep cultural anxiety, and in some cases reality that the best is over and what is left is merely a grasp at redemption, an imitation, or in some cases a sharp decline.  Two clear examples are Taylor Swift, whose reign over the music world has fans divided with her latest album Life of a Showgirl, and the beloved Netflix series Stranger Things, whose newest season left audiences feeling like the best is over.  Though two different businesses, both works parallel how with massive success it leaves little opportunity for a fresh surprise as audiences expectations are idealized from past work.

Taylor Swift and Stranger Things have one major thing in common and that is that they both have extremely dedicated fan bases and super high expectations. Stranger Things was beloved for its nostalgic 80’s feeling, tight suspenseful storytelling, strong relatable characters, perfect blend of genres, and its emotional depth. Whereas compared to the latest season fans were saying the plot felt bloated and overly complex, there were pacing problems, inconsistent character development, and tonality shifts.  Having the expectations so high made it almost impossible for Stranger Things to live up to what was expected, because deviation felt more like disappointment rather than experimentation.  Similarly Taylor Swift was known for her music having relatable storytelling, emotional authenticity, and a cohesive sound and style.  Whereas her new album Life of a Showgirl was less emotionally vulnerable, the lyrics felt self-referential, and there were overly dense and fragmented themes.  After decades of hits any new album is compared to her “golden era” work, so even solid songs can feel disappointing if they don’t meet fan nostalgia.  In both cases, audiences are not necessarily rejecting the quality of the work itself, but reacting to the feeling that the creative peak has already occurred.

Tony said it best, it is not about ignoring the quality of greatness that both have achieved.  It is about the timing of arriving after the moment of the greatest peak has passed.  Stranger Things, and Taylor Swift fans are feeling similar at this moment that they have witnessed a cultural phenomenon and their current releases exist in the shadows of their earlier excellence.  At the “golden age” of television and music artists would come to a natural ending point.  For the Sopranos that was a cut to black, for Frank Sinatra it was retirement.  However we exist in an age of capitalism where streaming encourages artists to continue beyond that natural end point for brand recognition and money for these massive streaming platforms.  In the music industry, artists are expected to constantly reinvent themselves while simultaneously delivering the emotional familiarity fans crave. The criticisms of Stranger Things and Taylor Swift are not signs of collapse, but symptoms of cultural saturation. Like Tony Soprano, audiences are dealing with the discomfort and anxiety of realizing that what once felt revolutionary has become familiar. The downfall, then, is not artistic failure, but the collective mourning of a peak that can never fully be relived.