I get stuck on it as well, I'm probably wrong but to me "data" is the collective noun like "team" or "family". This is why I think it sounds wrong to use "Data

I get stuck on it as well, I'm probably wrong but to me "data" is the collective noun like "team" or "family". This is why I think it sounds wrong to use "Data are" when it is being used as the singular, eg the "data" being clear. If the data was unclear or split you would usually use something else to contextualize the difference. Eg, the time-series data disagrees with our event data.