I’m not a big fan of holidays, but I am a big fan of music. One of my favorite days of the year is Dec. 1 because Spotify Wrapped is released. I love seeing the statistics for what I listen to and comparing it with my friends.  

This year I wasn’t a huge fan of the layout, and I thought that the introductions (such as “You always understood the assignment”) were a little bit tacky. The crossover with TikTok humor was welcomed because they have similar target audiences. 

While I am usually surprised by the music that comes up in my wrapped, I knew what was going to appear this year because of “Recieptify.” I am glad that recently Spotify has been releasing things about the user’s statistics that are accessible more than once a year. I have also spent a good amount of time looking at my Spotify color palette to check when it changes based on my listening habits.  

While I don’t always love how much my statistics fluctuate, I do like that they are reflective of what I listen to. I always find it interesting and somewhat upsetting when people say that their wrapped is not what they have been listening to. How else did it get there? 

I use other people’s Spotify wrapped as a gauge for their mental health. Only Phoebe Bridgers? Go to therapy, bestie. It is also a great tool for gauging what kind of person someone is. I am really interested in what opinions people hold and how that is reflected in the music they listen to.  

I am aware that sometimes there are outliers. My most listened to song of the year isn’t anything like what I usually listen to. Hell, even my best friend of 14 years asked why it was there, but the data doesn’t lie.  

I spend my whole year thinking about how my listening habits will show up. I had to temporarily disconnect my Spotify from the Alexa at home so that the songs played in the common rooms don’t affect my “On Repeat” playlist.  

The section that is most telling in my opinion are the top artists. You can have songs that are outliers, but not entire discographies. I was surprised that none of my top artists or songs fell into my top genre.  

My favorite parts are probably the memes and artist’s reactions that come out of the Spotify Wrapped. Twitter is so fast and accurate with their assumptions about Spotify users – I love it. I also adore hearing from artists and how it makes them feel connected to their listeners. 

Overall, it puts a lot of things into perspective and is really rewarding to interact with.

Maya Kurth is a sophomore public relations major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at mkurth@eiu.edu.