Spotify Wrapped, an annual cumulative analysis of users’ listening habits on Spotify, was released on Wednesday with new features to enhance the experience. Not only was the design concept changed with monogrammed designs being at the forefront, but there is the added element of users being assigned a listening personality.
Whereas previous drops of Spotify Wrapped gave users the hard data– their most listened-to artists, their most played songs and how many minutes they spent listening to music– Wrapped 2022 delves into a deeper understanding of each individual user by giving them listening personalities. Resembling the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Spotify’s personalities are based on four unique metrics: familiarity vs. exploration; loyalty vs. variety; timelessness vs. newness; and commonality vs. uniqueness.
Each Spotify user receives an enneagram-style personality with four of these letters. Going off these metrics, a variety of different personalities can be assigned such as the “Early Adopter,” the “Adventurer,” the “Deep Diver” and the “Devotee.”
Spotify went beyond a simple regurgitation of gathered data this year in order to personalize the experience and students are taking notice of it now more than ever. Michael Newman, a sophomore studying real estate development, appreciates the technology behind the experience, while also seeing its faults in providing accurate information.
“The algorithms do a really good job, but at the same time I think it could not be accurate sometimes based on just the algorithm not always being correct,” Newman said. “I think it’s a really cool and new way for technology to tell people a little bit more about themselves that maybe they may not have noticed based on their music tastes.”
The audio streaming company has many loyal customers and continues to gain more every year in light of its trending Spotify Wrapped feature. Samantha Salem, a sophomore studying public relations, looks forward to the release of the holiday feature each year.
“Spotify Wrapped is my favorite Spotify feature and it gets me excited for the end of the year,” Salem said. “I love seeing who my favorite artists are and if there are any surprises.”
Despite Spotify Wrapped’s large fan base, not every user looks forward to the release of Spotify Wrapped. Brianna Graham, a senior studying human biology, wasn’t impressed by her listening data this year.
“I feel like it’s a little overhyped and I’m just so used to getting it every year at this point that I’m kind of over it,” Graham said.
The success of Spotify Wrapped inspired its top competitor, Apple Music, to release Apple Music Replay. The two streaming companies battle in popularity with one another, although when it comes to end of the year data compilations, Spotify appears to be the trending source for listeners’ annual summaries.