Anyone using MySQL latest version?

I’ve had several issues with Kodi 17.3, at least one of these was definitely my own fault, but unfortunately I’m suffering some other inconsistencies which I think might even be a faulty version of MySQL.

I’ve got Server version: 5.7.18-log MySQL Community Server (GPL) on Windows 10, 64bit. I believe I have ALL patches installed from Microsoft up to date.

Kodi has been hard freezing on me, several times while trying to test 17.3, which is pretty frustrating.
Upon further investigation, it feels like MySQL is ‘locking up’

When attempting to just do a clean Kodi install to try more testing, I go into MySQL, with Kodi closed and I type.
drop database mymusic60 ;
and
drop database myvideos107 ;

These commands will clean out Kodi fresh.
What happens (inconsistently) is that MySQL locks up, entirely and simply does nothing. It’s on a PC with 2 cores, 2 threads, 8GB memory and an SSD, the machine is otherwise perfectly fine.

So long story short, are any MySQL (latest) users seeing either Kodi issues or MySQL weirdness?
(NOTE: Yes, I know, if I’m right, this isn’t a Kodi fault)