This season doesn't have a budget because of COVID

Season 1 was made before Covid so they made sure to get the best judges, the best production and use artists who were semi-established.

This season is 5 years later which is a long time for a follow up so I'm pretty sure Netflix was like "We don't know how popular this show still is so why spend the same amount of money on something from the past?". I'm pretty sure the producers of Rhythm & Flow had to fight to get the show back on the air.

If this season would've dropped in 2020 or 2021 right off the popularity of the initial season, things would be a lot different.