Spotify Wrapped: What Does the Data Say?
Every December, Spotify (and, subsequently, everyone’s Instagram stories) is taken over by the annual Spotify Wrapped: an array of slides and animations that summarize your year in music. Many people see that summary of favorite artists and songs, smile in agreement, and wear it like a badge of honor. But more often than not, Spotify Wrapped has a way of coming up with surprises. Suddenly, the punk rock guy who acts tough is revealed to be a Swiftie. That shouldn’t be, right? When these contradictions between what we expect and what the data and algorithms suggest arise, it raises the question: do we really know what we listen to? Which one is “correct”?
One side of this dichotomy is the music we say we listen to. When someone asks me to “play some music”, I panic. Sharing the wrong playlist, the wrong artist, or the wrong song is consequential. One wrong song and I might leave a lasting misrepresentation of myself. The fear of judgment and giving off “the wrong vibe” is paralyzing. Hence, I attempt to identify songs that will make me look good. For some, that may be acting as the “performative male” who plays Laufey, Beabadoobee, and music from niche genres on repeat. Or it might be the “frat bro” side of you who listens to enough dance music and rap to make a DJ set for a party. The music you choose to play with others transforms into the music taste that is associated with you. And because this becomes your go-to music when asked, you become tied to this carefully curated persona.
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But there is a difference between the music that makes us look good in the eyes of others and the music we enjoy for ourselves. Spotify is always listening with you. It listens to the late-night cries or the early morning workouts. The study sessions and the guilty pleasures. It tracks it all and records that as data to be fed through artificial intelligence models, creating an in-depth understanding of what your music tastes are backed by numbers and algorithms. This quantitative understanding of your music profile over a year's worth of data is the sum of your music in all situations. The music you listen to when you have a bad day. The music you listen to when you need a burst of energy at the gym. And the music you listen to when you feel like singing along with friends. All of it. Not just the music you select to play for others.
So if you think one thing and the data says another, which one is the authentic you? I think it’s a combination of both. Our interpretation of our music tastes tells a story of our aspirations. The music we share with others signals how we want to be seen, how we want to behave, and the traits we want to have. It’s a side of our music taste that we’re comfortable sharing and representing us. And the data-driven part of our music tastes shows the unconscious patterns of ourselves when we are alone and unobserved. The songs we play without a need to impress others. The songs we play for ourselves. Independently, these two parts of our music taste dichotomy are filled with holes and gaps that tell an incomplete story about ourselves. But when brought together, these songs combine our perceived and data-based music tastes to create a whole. Together, our songs, both alone and with the company of others, embody our moods and preferences at all times of the day. Spotify Wrapped attempts to capture this contradictory yet coexisting combination of the two.
So this December, when Spotify Wrapped throws up that song or artist that you disagree with, embrace it. You can be a frat bro who is also a Swiftie. That contradiction isn’t a flaw. It is proof that your music tastes cannot fit neatly into just one box. Our playlists are messy, contradictory, and always evolving just like us. It’s the complexity and individuality of our music tastes that make us authentic human beings.
