Nice writeup! You present some valid points–I do agree overall the redesign streamlines things relatively well. However, I'm still unfortunately in the "or not" (re: better UX) camp. 😅 There are three critical shortfalls of the redesign I keep running into time and time again.

First, the search field has been limited to the "Search" tab in the navigation, rather than a globally-accessible element as most searches are. Though you get some visual organization, you limit the accessibility of this critical function. I'll also mention, considering all the genres and moods are contained here, is "Search" really a better label than "Browse"? It's like renaming Shop All Departments to Product Lookup.

Second, once you're within Search, it seems the "Browse all" tiles have lost their signature quick-to-recognize iconography. They've been replaced with playlist artwork, making them much less scannable and unfamiliar. I myself was a big fan of the trumpet for Jazz, cozy chair for Chill, and the like. Very sad to see those go, and now I need to read each label when scanning Browse categories. Expensive cognitive load add.

Finally, and perhaps more nitpicky 😅, is the play button on each line item of a track table. With the loss of any circle border, you lose the defined target area of the play button. When I'm juggling tracks looking for one I like, I find myself mis-clicking and missing this button. I wish they took the same solid style that you called out and applied it to individual tracks. The triangle icon is too small!

Anyway, thanks for writing this! Your writeup is well-organized and written. Particularly love you asking "why" to further critique supposed improvements–design is never done! Would love to hear your thoughts on the points I've raised here.