Please release me: pop's brightest stars learn to take fans by surprise

After months of drought, with no clearly defined "song of the summer", the music industry has delivered a downpour.

- Evan Moffitt

Thank heavens for Big Album Autumn: the past six weeks have seen splashy releases from Taylor Swift, Florence + The Machine, Lily Allen, Rosalía, FKA twigs and Dave.

Experts say the cultural climate has grown increasingly erratic as artists struggle to keep up with attention spans ruined by TikTok, and even the biggest stars have started looking for unconventional ways to promote their work - including leaning into the element of surprise.

"What feels particularly notable this autumn are the major pop albums using more dynamic, less traditional rollout strategies," says Emma Snook, director of marketing at Partisan Records.