The beloved day when Spotify breaks down the yearly individual listening habits of users in their annual Spotify Wrapped is something almost everyone looks forward to. It usually gives the internet a field day, where people post, discuss, and make memes about their personal data and collective trends. When Spotify Wrapped dropped in 2023, listeners were wowed with new features like Peak Listening Month, in which one could see the month they listened to the artists from their Top 5 the most, and Sound Town, where Spotify matched one’s individual taste to a real-life location that shares similar favorite artists and trends.
This year, Spotify Wrapped was much anticipated, especially since it was released slightly later than usual. When the moment arrived on the morning of Wednesday, December 4th, listeners opened their Wrapped with high expectations. It started off with the usual data, such as minutes listened, top songs and artists…almost everything listeners expected. Spotify disappointingly left out top genres and albums this year, and instead had some new yet somewhat controversial additions. These included AI podcasts that broke down listening habits, and while Spotify has been open about incorporating AI into their work, having it influence Spotify Wrapped was completely unexpected.
Another addition was Music Evolution, which took up four out of the fourteen slides. This was a feature where Spotify gave listeners three niche micro-genres based on their listening habits for three different months. This left many on the internet confused, and people quickly noticed the overly recycled labels such as ‘Pink Pilates Princess,’ which took shape in ‘Pink Pilates Princess Roller Skating Pop,’ ‘Pink Pilates Princess Throwback Pop R&B,’ and more. Helina Mulualem ’25 told the Register Forum that her Music Evolutions were “‘Pumpkin Spice Hollywood Pop,’ ‘Vampire Football Rap,’ and ‘Hallyu Catwalk K-pop,’ which genuinely didn’t make any sense to me when they described my most listened-to artists during those eras.” When asked if she had any strong feelings, she said, “Not really, I just thought it was kind of random and lazy. It felt like they were trying to appeal to our generation but did so miserably.”
Mulualem’s feelings seem to be shared by most, as the Music Evolution feature didn’t seem to express the data in a way that made people feel excited. Most just seemed perplexed and let down by this new feature, reminiscing about the content of Spotify Wrapped 2023. Many also suspect their data is inaccurate due to possible AI usage beyond the podcasts.
Spotify Wrapped is usually something small and carefree for people to look forward to, but this year it felt like a representation of everything trending on the internet that people were seeking to escape. All the discourse on AI and its overwhelmingly negative usage has seeped into almost everything and was inescapable in this year’s Spotify Wrapped. The Music Evolution feature seemed to be a low-effort grouping of buzz words that felt like a grab for content to trend on TikTok or Instagram. On top of it all, Spotify Wrapped 2024 was shorter than in previous years, all making it feel like a procrastinated project.
This article also appears in our January 2025 print edition.
