Interpolations mostly signaled creative exhaustion rather than genuine reinvention.

Evidence

In rare cases, interpolations achieved an elegance in referencing tradition: Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” transformed The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things” into a trap anthem. For the most part, however, the practice suggested a total creative exhaustion, as though all possible melodies had been written. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 641

Categorization

• XREF: Feeds the reader’s goal of spotting the era’s signature — here Marx argues the signature is blank retromania.