The only thing I'll say about the conflict between my expectations for a
B2B season and the actual judging so far is that the judges are quick to
check a bitch if she outta line tell contestants to ~try something new~ as if everyone here has written 5 albums of the same material and is in desperate need for a change to boost their careers.
Joni Mitchell is the same kind of writer on Clouds ('69) as she is on Court and Spark ('74). Taylor started her confessional songwriting at the age of like 11 ('00) but perfected it on Red ('12). Songwriters can find their niche, then explore it
more fully and perfect it. Some (not all) of the judges this season seem to want to push people in opposite directions and trust me,
I get the purpose of that and have pushed writers myself in past seasons. Of course if someone seems lazy/comfortable, it's good to push boundaries a bit. But many of the writers express frustration that what they're doing (and like to do) isn't being appreciated/understood by the judges, and I think the best way to instruct is to work with what the writer brings to the table, not to tell them to throw it all out and do something completely different.
Basically, if a songwriter really thinks that they have identified their voice/aesthetic, I don't find it useful to say, "OK, enough imagery. Now write a rap song with concrete details!" or "We know you can write a good song using clever wordplay; now write a song with no internal rhymes and stark diction."
Instead, it should be, "You use a lot of imagery in your entries each week. This time, see if you can use more surprising images and rely less on typical water/fire imagery" or "We know you can write a good song using clever wordplay; now write a
great one by also working on varying the structure."
No shade but I think the impulse to make everyone change up everything is partly driven by a need to look useful as a judge. But I find it more useful to find what works and improve on it, not to find what works and throw it out the window to see if something else might also work. But that's it really, so nbd.
and yes I do think I'm one of the best writers/hosts here so it's not even an effective attack. I own it 
