Musicians refer to it as 'the difficult second album'.
The sense of profound pressure in following up a storming debut with a release of equal commercial and critical success.
Overcoming this phenomenon is a daunting challenge. One that often proves insurmountable, condemning many a promising artist to the ignominy of obscurity or, even worse, the ranks of the pub quiz answer book.
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Such fears are pretty common in sport, too, of course. Football is littered with examples of stunning success punctuated by dismal failure. It's precisely for that reason so many players and coaches are implored to 'never go back' when the opportunity of relighting old flames arises.
In fairness, Sheyi Ojo's debut stint at Cardiff City was more cult classic than platinum best-seller, but his return to the Welsh capital has nevertheless seen him arrive under a reasonable weight of expectation.
The former Liverpool winger, who made his second debut against Cheltenham Town at the weekend, proved a hit during the dying embers of the Neil Harris era, but saw his influence wane under Mick McCarthy, much to the frustration of many fans, who due to the pandemic were forced to watch on through a TV screen.
But absence makes the heart grow fonder and, after flirting with relegation last season, fans in the capital clearly prefer to remember the good times.
And there were good times. Indeed, at his best, Ojo was a formidable force at this level. A tricky winger with the real ability to turn defenders inside out and make things happen in the final third. The trouble is, after taking the rose-tinted glasses off, one has to begrudgingly admit it didn't quite happen often enough.
After a nomadic career of numerous loan moves, the time has come now to settle down and get serious.
At 25, the winger has, he would hope, finally found a permanent home, which will hopefully give his career lift off. But there are other reasons why he might well feel he has a point to prove.
While tough for Cardiff, last season was a massive struggle for Ojo, too, with a tortuous loan spell at Millwall yielding precious little in terms of tangible positives. The winger made just 12 starts for the Lions without netting a single goal.
Richard Cawley, Millwall writer at the South London Press , admits it perhaps wasn't the best of fits at The Den.
"I think one of the issues straight away that he had was that he's more of an out-and-out winger and Gary Rowett tends to play quite narrow," he says. "He likes the 5-2-3, with the wing-backs pushing on and within that, he'll have two forwards slightly more narrow alongside a main striker.
"They could have played Ojo as a wing-back, but even then there would have been problems because Danny McNamara on the right-hand side is the first choice and the left is Murray Wallace or Scott Malone.
"So, he was never going to play as a wing-back, and with that being the case you've got to play up in the front three, but even there, there was plenty of competition.
"In the January window, Rowett strengthened his forward options further. He obviously really liked Oliver Burke and he started playing a lot more. There was Mason Bennett, too, so there were a lot of attacking options. Someone like Tom Bradshaw's form kind of forced his way into the team, too, while Benik Afobe was much improved during the second half of the season.
"There was just so much competition up front. Because of that there were always going to be people that would miss out and in that second half of the season that was Ojo . I'm just not sure he blew people away enough."
It's a tale that's slightly similar in trajectory to Ojo's opening spell at Cardiff, although this time, it seems there were few positives to cling on to. No real highlights to look back on, and nothing like the effervescent opening gambit seen during his first few months at the Cardiff City Stadium.
"Put it this way, you never heard anyone ask why Ojo wasn't involved," Cawley continues. "They never really saw the player that might have been at Cardiff.
"The one thing I would say is that when he got injured against Crystal Palace he did miss 11 league games, and the last seven of those Millwall were in a very good run of form."
Ojo's back injury against the Eagles was effectively the final nail in the coffin and, while Millwall's form surged, he became an increasingly forgotten figure.
Cawley adds: "I think you can certainly make the argument that had he not got injured would he have benefitted from the team getting stronger, as well? Would we have seen more from him and would he have then carried on and chipped in with those goal contributions?
"But when it comes to attacking players, stats are king and he just didn't quite have that."
It was a chastening experience at The Den, but Ojo's experiences in south London have surely compounded his desperation to go out and set the record straight over the coming campaign. That can only be good news for Steve Morison, whose revamped squad has shown some real signs of encouragement this summer.
As the player himself admitted, Ojo has some 'unfinished business' to attend to.
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