Where are all the highly-anticipated music releases? In light of Beyonce's latest, Renaissance, is the classic album an endangered species?

The day saw the release of three classic albums - Nirvana's Nevermind, A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

The 43 days before it saw the release of Metallica's self-titled album, Pearl Jam's Ten, and Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and II. It was undeniably a great time for new music.

But will we ever see a month of music like this again? My gut tells me no.

Not that there are no such things as great albums anymore. Last week saw the release of the highly-anticipated Beyoncé album, Renaissance. And for the most part, it got rave reviews.

It's a reinvention of sorts for Queen Bey, with the songs keeping her firmly in the dance record category, celebrating the richness that club music can be.

The build-up to this album began a year ago when she told Harper's Bazaar that she was working on new music, before the official launch date was announced in June, with the musician sharing the words "act i ... RENAISSANCE" on her social media accounts, and streaming platforms posting minimalist artwork, offering the chance to pre-save the release. And so the anticipation started to build.

So much so that someone leaked the album two days before its release last Friday. Of course, Beyoncé being Beyoncé meant that her swarm of fans - affectionately known as the BeyHive - held the line, urging one another to hold off until the official release. It's a type of loyalty that is not often seen anymore.

Since the release, there have been two instances of re-dos on the album.

It was announced on Wednesday that Beyoncé would be removing the sample of Kelis' 2003 hit song Milkshake on her new song Energy. Kelis posted on her social media that she had not been contacted ahead of the album release that Milkshake was being used. When you look at the song credits, while Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes are credited (who wrote the 2003 song), Kelis is not.

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The biggest change of the week, however, was the use of an ableist slur. In the song Heated, the singer originally used the word "spaz" multiple times, which is considered to be a derogatory reference to the medical term spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.

And part of the reason it made such a splash was that Lizzo faced backlash for using the same word in her new single Grrls in June, which she also promptly changed on her highly-anticipated album Special.

And I think it says something about the two "highly-anticipated" albums of the past few months both have had to make changes post-release. But not because the audience is getting "too picky" - because the issues that were picked up are worthy of being changed.

No, what I think is interesting is that people still uphold some artists to a certain standard, whereas others - namely the ones who started their careers in a post-physical album era - can release glorified playlists? Because for the most part, they are just glorified playlists that we can (virtually) pick up and put down as we like, without having to invest.

TikTok isn't helping. The social media platform may help get new artists discovered, but it also gives the artist a "recipe" of what is and is not a great song, limiting creativity.

And this is not a new thing. The rise in streaming has meant that while our discovery rate has gone up, our attention span has decreased. There has to be something special about an album - or be done by an artist who already has a notable history - for it to stick.

We no longer have to go to a record store and stand with headphones on to pre-listen to an album before we decide if we fork out the money for it. And then we would get home and not only would we sit and intently listen to it, but we would often invite people over to listen to it with us.

It was an event. And I think the music produced during this time was better because of it.

The albums were curated, accordingly. You didn't just have the bangers slotted in between ballads. It told a story. It had almost had a soul. There was a reason why one song followed another. Why do you think Adele told Spotify to turn off shuffle for her latest album 30?

But will there come a time when these albums die out? Is the well-thought-out, curated album, an endangered species? Will there come a day when the music dies?

If TikTok has anything to do with it, yes.

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