In recent years, Spotify (the app) has always been a favorite among FWPA students when it comes to music platforms, whether it be because they found Spotify first, it lets them listen with their friends, or simply because of Wrapped. Many Spotify listeners have wondered what genre of music they listened to most, or been curious about how long they listened to music throughout the year. If you use Spotify, then you know you have the option to view your Spotify Wrapped at the end of every year. This event packages all music-related data, and presents the best parts of your year in music.
Spotify Wrapped is a marketing campaign that began in 2016, which tells the user what their music data was like over the past year. For example, it can tell someone how many minutes they listened to music on the app, or which songs and artists they listened to the most. Spotify also presents a slideshow that gives insight into some of the user’s top genres and podcasts.
Spotify stands stronger than many other music streaming platforms. “My family had just always used Spotify, so when I got a phone I used Spotify,” Milana Polivoda, an 8th grader, replied. The relevance Spotify maintains amongst its youngest users is what keeps it such a popular option in today’s musical world.
Wrapped is something that is always highly anticipated, although this year, some things about it were different. Wrapped arrived on the 4th of December, making it the latest it has been since 2019. Once it was finally released, there were mixed reactions to this year’s edition. “It felt worse than last year,” said Maya Fraley, an 8th grader. “Plus, it was late, so that was annoying.”
In addition, one feature—which named the type of music the user listened to that month—was criticized by multiple students due to its lack of originality and meaning. “I feel like these options they gave me as my genres of the year were really stupid,” commented Nicolas Gonzalez, a 9th grader.
Even though there appeared to be more negative reception to this year’s Wrapped, most of the thoughts on it remained positive. For such, despite others finding inaccuracy in their music statistics, many more also found theirs to be very accurate to their tastes. Wrapped, even with many new additions, did what it had always done—it kept itself simple, pretty, and to the point. Overall, Spotify Wrapped continues to be a solid summary of people’s musical year and a cultural icon in music, and 2024’s Wrapped continues to reflect that.
