Spotify is back with their annual Spotify Wrapped, an event launched in 2015 which releases a compilation of individual users’ yearly data from the platform. Initially titled “Year of Music,” Spotify has had great success with their Wrapped campaign that allows users to view their most memorable listening moments of the year and share it on social media. With Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped released on December 1, Harrisites rushed to the Spotify app to find out this year’s listening summary and took to social media to share the results.
This year’s Spotify Wrapped includes a breakdown of the following categories for each user: Your Top Songs 2021, Your Artists Revealed, My 2021: The Movie Soundtrack, Your Minutes Listened, Your Top Song(s), Your Top Artist(s), Your Top Genres, Your Audio Aura, and Playing Cards. The Your Top Songs 2021 is a playlist of the user’s top songs from the year for easier access to the person’s favorite songs. 2021 Wrapped also compiled general playlists for Spotify users: The Top Tracks & Artists of 2021, Best New Podcasts of 2021, The Best of 2021, Best Episodes of 2021, and A Look Back at 2021.
Some new features added to Spotify Wrapped were the Your Audio Aura and Playing Cards. Sophomore Eduardo Calero said that out of the new features, “my favorite one [was] the aura [feature].” To create this feature, Spotify worked closely with an aura expert to analyze the user’s music moods and develop an individualized aura of two colors. Sophomore Kaylah Rouzier, whose top moods were comforting (green) and wistful (blue), said, “it was pretty cool [to] visually see what my listening habits were like.”
The Playing Cards feature is another addition to this year’s Spotify Wrapped. The feature provides three statements: two truths and one lie. The statements revolved around the user’s most binged artist, most listened to song, and other facts about their listening habits. Students were able to play the game and share their music interests with their friends.
Music has been widely present in Harrisites’ daily routines, as many listen to music while commuting to school or during their free bands, a tendency reflected for many in the Your Minutes Listened figures. Sophomore Evan Diep said, “The thing that stood out to me the most was the number of minutes I spent listening…because I never realized how much I use it throughout the day.” Spotify additionally provided a percentage of how much the user listened to in comparison to the rest of Spotify’s United States listeners.
Harrisites shared their most listened to songs of the year. Freshman Rubi Kim shared that her Top Track of 2021 was “December by Ricky Montgomery.” Eduardo said, “My most listened to song was Townie by Mitski, I streamed it 255 times.” Senior Cherry Leung was in the top 0.05% of Mitski listeners. Cherry said that “ [it’s the] emotional connection” of Mitski’s music that drew her attention, also adding “her music is spoken poetry”.
With the year coming to an end, Spotify Wrapped has left many Harrisites with a meticulous overview of their listening habits, paving the way for yet another year of music.
Artwork by Annie Park
