Popular appeal is one of those things that remains quite resistant to dissection and scrutiny. Up to a certain point, measurable talent drives success, but at t

Popular appeal is one of those things that remains quite resistant to dissection and scrutiny. Up to a certain point, measurable talent drives success, but at the highest levels, the drivers of success become a lot harder to characterize. Why is pop star X so famous? Or pop star Y get so famous so quickly, but then fade from view? Or Z remaining a niche act, despite obviously superior talent? I've read a lot of retrospectively written narratives (that are suspiciously overfitted) but the drivers of fame are still poorly understood (partly because when one thing works, everyone tries that, and fame is zero-sum).