This is exactly what I thought too. From what the author described, it seems that they were just using REST incorrectly. When a view wants tags from a playlist,

This is exactly what I thought too. From what the author described, it seems that they were just using REST incorrectly. When a view wants tags from a playlist, the solution is not to include tags in every other request. You can simply include a query parameter instead: GET /playlists/ID?tags=true This lets the server knows to include the extra information for that request, keeping your original endpoint clean. We don't know all the details, but from what the author wrote, it seems they were shortsighted to switch to a shiny new tech instead of looking for better ways to refactor what they currently had.