Music Tournament Fairness

This is my first time playing a tournament for CC. I’ve been playing CC for over 6 years, but never bother to play the tournaments or at least play it seriously. Since the middle of the tournament, I’ve noticed I’ve been competing with other players in levels way below me. I’m on level 12400, but the others are on 3000 or 7000. I would get it if they were about a thousand or two level below me. I know there are many players around my level still in the tournament based on discussion/reddit. I just feel it’s a bit unfair considering the levels are harder and that there are more levels without the orange candy. Not to mention, the players I go against suddenly gain over 20000 points in a span of one of my game. Had I known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have bother spending so much time playing the tournaments. If there’s something I’m not understanding about how the whole game work, I hope someone can explain it to me. Thanks