Spotify Wrapped: the gift that doesn’t fit under the tree
For the holiday season, students have been able to unwrap their music taste with Spotify Wrapped. Students are able to see their most listened to genres and artists, as well as receive notes from artists they listen to most.
December 9, 2022
Anxious fingers tap at screens.
The green icon flashes before the eager viewer’s screen.
Immediately, they are greeted by a pop-up.
It’s been a year of waiting, of listening, and a year for Spotify, the popular music-streaming app, to collect data and present the listener with a boisterous slideshow filled with top songs, artists, and genres. Spotify Wrapped is the most anticipated gift of the Christmas season for some students, and it doesn’t even fit under the tree.
For casual listeners and music connoisseurs alike, Spotify Wrapped is a big deal. It serves as a sort of recap of one’s year, reminding listeners of the memories and experiences of the past year through their listening habits.
“I was surprised by one of my top genres as well as one of my top artists,” senior Riya Khosla said. “My music taste typically shifts throughout the year so some of the [statistics] represent my music taste at the beginning of the year, which is not the same as it is now.”
The presentation utilizes data of streams from Jan. 1 through mid-November and includes a user’s top artists, songs, and genres, in addition to how many artists and genres they listened to. However, some users believe that Spotify Wrapped was not able to capture the full scope of their music listening throughout 2022.
“I noticed that my minutes listening to music were way lower than I expected,” senior Sherry Hu said. “I guess that’s because I started collecting CDs and listen to those more often now.”
Spotify Wrapped is also exciting for many listeners in a social aspect by posting their Spotify Wrapped overviews onto their Instagram stories. However, not everybody shares their overviews due to embarrassing artists or songs.
“I personally am not embarrassed by my Spotify Wrapped because I think all the songs there are bangers, but if somebody else saw it they would probably be embarrassed for me,” senior Jiya Surywanshi said. “My number three song is “Mon Cheri” from Emily in Paris, one of the theme songs. It’s a really good song but if anyone else saw it they would laugh at me.”
Although Wrapped rolled out in 2013, Spotify added a new feature this year, Personalized Messages, where the top percentage of an artist’s listeners were able to receive personalized messages from those artists. Artists such as Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo created videos thanking their fans for the endless support, and millions of streams.
“I really liked [personalized messages] because Lauv was one of my artists and it was nice because it was like he was talking to me,” Surywanshi said.
In addition to being an entertaining graphic to view, Spotify Wrapped has allowed listeners to learn more about themselves and how their music statistics over the year contribute to who they are.
“My most surprising [statistic] was probably that indie pop was #1 over rock or maybe that bossa nova wasn’t one of my top 5 genres, but other than that I would say everything was pretty me,” junior Judith Aluga said. “I want to know how much my taste has changed and just see the evolution of my music.”
