On the morning of Nov 29 millions of listeners around the world rushed to check their Spotify Wrapped, which provided an overview of their listening activity for the year. Spotify Wrapped is Spotify’s trademark rewind program that allows users to view everything from their top artists to their most played genres and songs. Many West Ranch Wildcats were excited to see their listening activity from the past year.
Sophomore Mishal Ahmad was one of the many students who eagerly awaited her overview for this year. She shared, “I like Spotify Wrapped because it’s something fans often look forward to, and it’s fun to see how people develop and grow over time with their music tastes.”
As Spotify tracks listening history over time, it also keeps receipts of listener’s top genres. For Ahmad, this meant a look into her diverse listening activity. Having an overall mixed music taste, Ahmad explained the versatility of different genres.“I like R&B, soul, hiphop, and rap. I like R&B and soul because you can listen to it during any time and really apply it to any situation. It’s just relaxing and versatile and I like the way it sounds,” she elaborated.
Wrapped integrates users’ listening statistics through a jazzy flow of early-internet-inspired graphics. Wrapped’s look has changed over the years to help constitute its new features, and this year Spotify integrated an artificial intelligence DJ, audio listening rooms, an assigned “Me in 2023” and a “Sound Town” that matches users to a city based on their listening.
Freshman Samantha Merjanian’s “Me in 2023” was “The Time Traveller” which represented her interest in listening to different styles of rock music from the ’80s and 90s. Users can be assigned one through 12 different characters based on their listening habits.
With 154,000 minutes on Spotify, Merjanian expressed how music has become a key aspect of her life. “I listen to music at all times. When I’m at school, when I’m in the car, when I get home, when I’m eating. Like at all times.”
Junior Kayleen Kim also shared her allocated listening hours. “I listen the most to music when I’m driving or doing self-care routines. I like listening to music because it’s really calming.”
Spotify Wrapped also records the user’s most played artists. Kim’s top artists included Beabadoobee, SZA, Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean and Kali Uchis. Spotify Wrapped not only provides top artists, but also reflects a percentage of how a listener compares to the artist’s listening base.
Using all the listening activity from 2023 and arranging it into a single slideshow was a difficult task for Spotify and it received a lot of criticism due to inaccuracy with its statistics from this year. Ahmad acknowledged some of her own issues with the program this year.
“I’ve heard online and from my friends that the listening activity isn’t very accurate, and I definitely experienced that this year. I wish that Spotify took data from the whole year and that the song listings were more accurate,” Ahmad observed.
Ahmad also proposed some future improvements for Wrapped: “I think it would be cool to see them add more playlists based off of listening activity, like most listened to songs for each of the four seasons.”
Additionally, Merjanian shared, “I would add a feature where you could see who has the most similar music taste to you, like in the country.”
Wrapped has been Spotify’s annual tradition since 2016, and the program has steadily gained a devoted following. As the number of Spotify listeners continues to increase exponentially, the significance of Wrapped in the lives of its users is immensely important. For many West Ranch students, the role of music as a therapeutic tool to decrease stress and relax has been vital. Countless students rely on music to get through their daily routines, and for them, Spotify Wrapped was the perfect gift to wrap up the year.
