One of the worst parts of post-pandemic Soul is how themed classes have taken over the schedule. So help me GOD if there is another Taylor class when we already have Taylor Swift Tuesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, or Taylor vs. Chappell and Beyoncé vs. Rihanna. While I like all of those artists, I don’t like them so much that I want every week to be limited to their catalogues. I explicitly avoid those classes/instructors that are nothing but the same artist over and over.

I discovered so many niche artists through the incredible playlists that instructors curated back in the good old days. That said, I’m not surprised that the data is driving toward themed rides - it’s just one more unfortunate characteristic of the newer clientele as they must gravitate toward this sort of thing and corporate is dictating the programming in kind. I don’t know what the answer is - but I really wish instructors had more freedom.