Are performance expectations getting unrealistic?

This is more of a rant, I guess, but I'm genuinely curious if others are feeling this. My last performance review felt like a huge jump from previous years. Suddenly, 'exceeds expectations' seems to require superhuman efforts, and 'meets expectations' is barely acceptable. It's not just about hitting utilization numbers, which are already high, but also about delivering on new initiatives, taking on extra responsibilities with no promotion in sight, and generally being a unicorn. It feels like they're setting the bar impossibly high, maybe as a precursor to... well, you know. Has anyone else noticed their performance metrics or expectations getting significantly tougher without a clear reason?