Eagle Era

Students at AHS review this year’s Spotify Wrapped and look back on their year of music listening

By Jonathan Wang

Spotify Wrapped is an annual summary of a user’s listening habits on the app over the course of a year, including top artists, songs, genres, and total listening time. In recent years, it has become a cultural phenomenon all over the world. Highly anticipated as November begins to wrap up, Spotify Wrapped prompts people to share and discuss their music taste every year.

The hysteria over a simple marketing campaign can be brushed off solely as a manifestation of the popularity and accessibility of music. However, the reactions from students reveal that their relationships with music hold deeper meanings.

Gabriel Wang (12) said, “Wrapped was pretty popular. Almost all my friends saw it and shared it on Instagram. It was cool to see everyone’s stats.”

New features from this year were generally well-received and seen as refreshing. Elina Fan (12) said, “I think the presentation was cool, especially the top artist display because they had a race and the fastest one was your most listened to artist.”

Ojas Patil (12) said, “I specifically liked the new listening age, so I could see what era of music I identified with. And I liked the game where you had to guess what your top song was.”

But some still felt there was room for improvement in terms of both content and aesthetics. Wang said, “I thought the presentation was okay, but there weren’t any super specific stats, and I think more could have been done. Compared to previous years, it was pretty on par.”

The color and design were also scrutinized. Fan said, “The gray scale theme this year was kind of boring compared to previous years.”

Beyond the presentation, the almost universal love for music among students that Spotify Wrapped emanates connection, the strengthening of friendships, and the appreciation and discovery of new art. Fan said, “The artists and genres I discovered this year were through recommendations from my friends.”

Elina Fan’s Spotify Wrapped showcased Shiloh Dynasty as her top artist and “Better With You” as her top song. She said, “‘Long Nights’ is a song my friend recommended, which I ended up really liking because of the beat and how it’s not super loud, but it still has lyrics” (Photo Credit: Elina Fan (12)).

Students’ emphasis on finding new music shows that they care to expand their listening. “In the future, I would like Spotify to make a brand new playlist of your future top songs next year—songs you haven’t listened to before that Spotify would recommend based on your taste,” said Patil.

This year, Spotify introduced a new feature called Wrapped Party, where users could join a virtual room to compare their listening statistics. Wang stated, “It was a good way for people to bond over music and find out more about their friends’ tastes and interests.”

However, many students view listening to music not solely as entertainment or bonding. With the pressures of schoolwork and other responsibilities of high schoolers, many rely on music for escapism. Fan said, “It’s comforting listening to artists I did in sophomore year, so I can feel the same vibe.”

Wang agreed, “Music is a way to lessen my stress. It acts as a distraction from school and lets me unwind.”