Not defending them, but I think their hyper-perfectionism is what drives them to delays, cancellations, changes. Here's my unique theory on just Lioness, ignoring the other tour cancellations, album lies, etc:

They scrapped Safe With Me because they weren't happy with it. They're not dropping Lioness because everyone wanted the Ushuaia/Big Slap version, but they probably think the drops sound too empty without the flutes (I dig it though), so they added the flutes for Bogota, but they still thought it was too simplistic for their standards, so they added TOTLA drums to it in Las Vegas in November (no one liked it so they took it out). For Coachella they returned to the Bogota version, and they sent it out for release but overthought it, once again being like, this Bogota flute version is too simple for SHM! So they added this new kick to the Brooklyn version, and they were probably going to release it this month, but people are not liking the Brooklyn version either (I don't either, it sounds too harsh against the flute) (Co-producer Yaro is on this sub, so he definitely relays the boys what the fanbase is thinking about versions), so now they're at an impasse where what the fans want is different from what they want. All this "wrong master" and "takes time to re-schedule a release" talk is an excuse for them still being conflicted about the release version.

This is also why they removed "New York, you heard the final version now we are ready!" from their Instagram post addressing the delays. Check it out for yourself. It was there at first.

I'm also a Garrixer, and something similar is happening with his Alesso collab, which is in purgatory because the two can't agree on a version to release. Garrix first played it at Ultra 2023, but it didn't sound like Alesso at all, just pure Garrix style like IWEBR or No Sleep. So Alesso started playing his own version at shows, including at Tomorrowland 2023, high pitched, new Alesso drums, but now that version sounds 100% Alesso 0% Garrix. There is no middle ground. Third, fourth versions, even with a new vocalist, just sounded awkward and we never heard those again. Garrix even stopped playing the song at his shows because they are just not happy with the result. A lot of the fanbase is waiting for the song, but personally, I find it average. Garrix and Alesso are two of my favorite producers and I know they can do so much better (Steve TOTLA crowd? :) ) They should just go back to the drawing board and make a new song from scratch.

So what now? I think they'll try a 5th version of Lioness (after Ushuaia, Bogota, Vegas, and Brooklyn) at Ultra Korea. If they get a good response, they'll release it that week. If not, then I think they'll relent and release the Bogota version despite them clearly not loving it, because if they scrap it after announcing a date, they risk completely losing the rest of their fanbase. I like the Ushuaia and Bogota versions, but for some reason they don't like it, and their wishes are their wishes.