va_name variable not consistenly applied

[Gwouigwoui]

Problem

Importing files part of compilation of various artists or running mbsync on those files result in albumartist_sort and albumartists_sort being written as "Various Artists", not following the va_name override defined in the config file.

Setup

• OS: Ubuntu 25.10 (WSL)
• Python version: 3.13.7
• beets version: 2.5.1

My configuration (output of beet config) is:

directory: /mnt/music
# --------------- Main ---------------

library: /mnt/c/Users/xyz/Music/musiclibrary.blb

# --------------- Tagging ---------------

per_disc_numbering: yes

# --------------- Performance ---------------

threaded: yes
original_date: no
va_name: Artistes divers

import:
    write: yes
    copy: no
    move: no
    resume: ask
    incremental: yes
    languages: fr en
    bell: yes

# --------------- Plugins ---------------

plugins:
- bpmanalyser
- plexupdate
- filetote
- convert
- importreplace
- inline
- info
- fromfilename
- fetchart
- edit
- embedart
- ftintitle
- lastimport
- lyrics
- badfiles
- duplicates
- missing
- artistcountry
- autogenre
- lastgenre
- summarize
- chroma
- replaygain
- mbsync
- musicbrainz
replace:
    '[<>:\?\*\|]': _
    \": _
    '[\\/]': _
    ^\.: _
    \.$: _
    '[\x00-\x1f]': _
    ^-: _
    \s+$: ''
    ^\s+: ''
item_fields:
    multidisc: 1 if disctotal > 1 else 0
paths:
    default: $albumartist/$album%aunique{albumartist album,albumdisambig releasegroupdisambig label,[]}/%if{$multidisc,$disc-}$track $title
    singleton: $artist/Album inconnu/$title
    comp: Compilations/$album%aunique{}/%if{$multidisc,$disc-}$track $title

ui:
    color: yes
    colors:
        album: [blue, bold]
        albumartist: [yellow]
        artist: [bold, yellow]
        title: [normal]
plex:
    host: 192.168.2.11
    port: 32400
    token: REDACTED
    library_name: Musique
    secure: no
    ignore_cert_errors: no
llm:
    api_key: abc
    model: gpt-3.5-turbo
    base_url: https://api.openai.com/v1
    search:
        provider: ollama
        model: qwen2.5:latest
        ollama_host: http://localhost:11434
        searxng_host: http://your-searxng-instance.com
        exa_api_key: your-exa-api-key
        tavily_api_key: your-tavily-api-key
plexsync:
    manual_search: yes
    use_llm_search: no
openai:
    api_key: abc
    model: gpt-3.5-turbo
google:
    model: gemini-pro
    api_key: abc
    service_json: ~/beets.json
ftintitle:
    auto: yes
    format: (feat. {0})
    drop: no
    keep_in_artist: no
replaygain:
    backend: ffmpeg
    overwrite: no
    auto: yes
    threads: 16
    parallel_on_import: no
    per_disc: no
    peak: 'true'
    targetlevel: 89
    r128: [Opus]
    r128_targetlevel: 84
missing:
    format: $albumartist - $album - $title
    count: yes
    total: no
    album: no
chroma:
    auto: yes
    search_limit: 5
    data_source_mismatch_penalty: 0.5
bpmanalyser:
    auto: yes
    dry-run: no
    write: yes
    threads: AUTO
    force: no
    quiet: no
acoustid:
    apikey: REDACTED
badfiles:
    check_on_import: no
    commands:
        ogg: myoggchecker --opt1 --opt2
        flac: flac --test --warnings-as-errors --silent
        m4a: ffmpeg -v error -f null - -i
        mp4: ffmpeg -v error -f null - -i
fetchart:
    auto: yes
    minwidth: 500
    maxwidth: 0
    quality: 0
    max_filesize: 0
    enforce_ratio: no
    cautious: no
    cover_names:
    - cover
    - front
    - art
    - album
    - folder
    sources:
    - filesystem
    - coverart
    - itunes
    - amazon
    - albumart
    - cover_art_url
    store_source: no
    high_resolution: no
    deinterlace: no
    cover_format:
    lastfm_key: REDACTED
    google_key: REDACTED
    fanarttv_key: REDACTED
    google_engine: REDACTED
lyrics:
    auto: yes
    google_API_key: REDACTED
    sources: google lyricwiki genius
    translate:
        api_key: REDACTED
        from_languages: []
        to_language:
    dist_thresh: 0.11
    google_engine_ID: REDACTED
    genius_api_key: REDACTED
    fallback:
    force: no
    local: no
    print: no
    synced: no
importreplace:
    replacements: [{item_fields: title artist artist_sort artist_credit, album_fields: album artist artist_sort artist_credit, replace: {'[\u0027]': "\u2019"}}]
extrafiles:
    patterns:
        all: '*.*'
        artworkdir:
        - '[sS]cans/'
        - '[sS]can/'
        - '[aA]rtwork/'
        - '[aA]rt/'
        - '[cC]over/'
        artworkfiles:
        - '*.png'
        - '*.jpg'
        - '*.jpeg'
        - '*.gif'
        - '*.pdf'
        datafiles: ['*.log', '*.cue', '*.CUE']
    paths:
        artworkdir: $albumpath/Artwork
        datafiles: $albumpath/Data/$filename
        artworkfiles: $albumpath/Artwork/$filename
musicbrainz:
    external_ids:
        discogs: yes
        bandcamp: no
        spotify: no
        deezer: no
        tidal: no
    search_limit: 5
    data_source_mismatch_penalty: 0.5
    host: musicbrainz.org
    https: no
    ratelimit: 1
    ratelimit_interval: 1
    genres: no
    extra_tags: []
filetote:
    extensions: .cue .log .txt
    pairing:
        enabled: yes
        pairing_only: no
        extensions: .*
    paths:
        ext:.log: $albumpath/$artist - $album %if{$multidisc, CD $disc}
        ext:.cue: $albumpath/$artist - $album %if{$multidisc, CD $disc}
        paired_ext:.lrc: $albumpath/$medianame_new
        pattern:artworkdir: $albumpath/artwork/$old_filename
    patterns:
        artworkdir:
        - '[sS]cans/'
        - '[sS]can/'
        - '[aA]rtwork/'
        - '[aA]rt/'
        - '[cC]over/'
    session:
        operation:
        _beets_lib:
        import_path:
    filenames: ''
    exclude:
        filenames: ''
        extensions: ''
        patterns: {}
    print_ignored: no
convert:
    delete_originals: yes
    format: flac
    never_convert_lossy_files: yes
    dest: /mnt/c/tmp
    auto: yes
    copy_album_art: yes
    pretend: no
    link: no
    hardlink: no
    threads: 16
    id3v23: inherit
    write_metadata: yes
    formats:
        aac:
            command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec aac -aq 1 $dest
            extension: m4a
        alac:
            command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec alac $dest
            extension: m4a
        flac: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec flac $dest
        mp3: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -aq 2 $dest
        opus: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec libopus -ab 96k $dest
        ogg: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec libvorbis -aq 3 $dest
        wma: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -acodec wmav2 -vn $dest
    max_bitrate:
    auto_keep: no
    tmpdir:
    quiet: no
    embed: yes
    paths: {}
    no_convert: ''
    album_art_maxwidth: 0
    playlist:
disabled_plugins: []
pathfields: {}
album_fields: {}
edit:
    albumfields: album albumartist
    itemfields: track title artist album
    ignore_fields: id path
embedart:
    maxwidth: 0
    auto: yes
    compare_threshold: 0
    ifempty: no
    remove_art_file: no
    quality: 0
lastfm:
    user: REDACTED
    api_key: REDACTED
lastimport:
    per_page: 500
    retry_limit: 3
duplicates:
    album: no
    checksum: ''
    copy: ''
    count: no
    delete: no
    format: ''
    full: no
    keys: []
    merge: no
    move: ''
    path: no
    tiebreak: {}
    strict: no
    tag: ''
    remove: no
autogenre:
    auto: no
    pretend: no
    all: no
    force: no
    lastgenre: yes
    xtractor: yes
    from_title: yes
    parent_genres: yes
    genre_rosamerica_strong: 0.8
    genre_electronic_strong: 0.8
    genre_electronic_prepend: 0.5
    genre_electronic_append: 0.45
lastgenre:
    whitelist: yes
    min_weight: 10
    count: 1
    fallback:
    canonical: no
    source: album
    force: no
    keep_existing: no
    auto: yes
    separator: ', '
    prefer_specific: no
    title_case: yes
    extended_debug: no