  Early observations with JWST indicate an over-abundance of bright galaxies at
redshifts $z \gtrsim 10$ relative to Hubble-calibrated model predictions. More
puzzling still is the apparent lack of evolution in the abundance of such
objects between $z \sim 9$ and the highest redshifts yet probed, $z \sim
13$-$17$. In this study, we first show that, despite a poor match with JWST
LFs, semi-empirical models calibrated to UVLFs and colours at $4 \lesssim z
\lesssim 8$ are largely consistent with constraints on the properties of
individual JWST galaxies, including their stellar masses, ages, and
rest-ultraviolet spectral slopes. We then show that order-of-magnitude scatter
in the star formation rate of galaxies (at fixed halo mass) can indeed boost
the abundance of bright galaxies, provided that star formation is more
efficient than expected in low-mass halos. However, this solution to the
abundance problem introduces tension elsewhere: because it relies on the
up-scattering of low-mass halos into bright magnitude bins, one expects typical
ages, masses, and spectral slopes to be much lower than constraints from
galaxies observed thus far. This tension can be alleviated by non-negligible
reddening, suggesting that -- if the first batch of photometrically-selected
candidates are confirmed -- star formation \textit{and} dust production could
be more efficient than expected in galaxies at $z \gtrsim 10$.
