From Bloc Party to Iggy Azalea to Natalie Imbruglia, countless artistes have seen their second albums flop in comparison to their first. Music journalists sometimes call this the “sophomore slump”.

But a study published in the journal Psychology of Music argues that this phenomenon has more to do with critical bias than with a genuine decline in musical quality.

Gregory Webster of the University of Florida and Lysann Zander of the University of Hanover investigated this phenomenon, analysing hundreds of album reviews written by music journalists or music fans.

They found that, while both groups acknowledged a slight decline in album quality over time, professional critics were significantly harsher than fans in this respect.

“It’s only critics that show substantial evidence of a ‘sophomore slump’ bias, whereby they give artistes’ second albums unusually low reviews compared to their first and third albums. Fans show no evidence of a ‘sophomore slump’ bias,” Webster highlighted.

In their study, the researchers suggest that critics’ behaviour reflects a certain propensity for social conformity. Their familiarity with the concept of the “sophomore slump” potentially leads them to apply the concept disproportionately in their work.

“If every music critic has heard of a ‘sophomore slump’ and everyone knows it happens, they might be convinced to overapply it in their reviews,” Webster noted.

All the evidence suggests that fans are not subject to the same social norms as professional critics. Fan reviews tend to reflect a more reliable consensus on the musical quality of second albums, according to the researchers, and their opinions are less biased.

Beyond the clichés of the “sophomore slump”, this study questions the role of professional critics in the perception of musical works. Do they disproportionately influence public opinion, or are they themselves the victims of their own expectations?

As fans gain influence in the industry thanks to collaborative platforms, a future could emerge in which artistes are freed from the shackles of traditional marketing and promotion.