Could it be related to polishing some performance parameter for the fiscal year?
Such a big release gets lots of attention and most reviews I read and watched seem to praise the new version (mostly nearly literal copies from the evernote release pages). I recently even saw it being discussed in a few major German newspapers, which is quite rare.
So I am pretty sure that this media coverage leads to a considerable amount of new users, even though the release is a disappointment for long timers.
Just my two cents, but this might be their strategy.
Best regards.
PS. I would be really interested in seeing a serious rewiew somewhere, where these issues are addressed. Up to now, the only place I found complaints are in this forum and on reddit. All the bigger productivity youtubers and blogs seem to join in the official evernote narrative about a great new era.