An unexpected occurrence of mood affiliation was when I saw the musical Hadestown. I enjoyed it and looked forward to the tax of listening to the soundtrack on repeat for the next few weeks. But interest dwindled after just a couple days. At least in my bubble this is a recurring theme. One hypothesis is that it's because the songs shift moods much more than most[0]. And because most people are looking to recreate a single mood or emotion when listening to a song, this results in a musical that's less easy to consume after the fact. This is in sharp contrast to other musicals[1] Here's a question: how should a creator prioritize the tradeoffs of something something better in performance, vs. more easily consumed afterwards?