Horrific tech inventions of the 2010s: advanced military drones, the Juicero, and music streaming services that keep track of and share your listening habits, so everyone knows how many times you played “Escape†by Enrique Iglesias during a particularly bleak spell back in February. Spotify Wrapped is back again for its definitive year-end lists: yours.
Here’s how it works: Open the app and scroll to the top of the homepage, or visit https://www.spotify.com/us/wrapped/ in your browser, and Spotify will give you a personalized rundown of how “your sound changed with the seasons,†which in my case induced Seasonal Affective Whiplash from summer’s “Want You in My Room†dominance to a Lana Del Rey autumn. Then, it will tell you which “lucky†artists were your most played. The “world citizen†feature tells you how global your tastes are, showcasing artists from different countries that made it into your heavy rotation. The app then assesses your genre fluidity through bar graphs, and turns your most-played songs into a 2019 playlist. The app prompts and encourages you to share your stats on social media, which would explain all of the screenshots on Kpop stan Twitter this morning. The whole thing is a harrowing journey of self-reflection. It’s humbling to know how many hours you spent with Mitski for the second year in a row.
To add insult to injury, Spotify Wrapped has end-of-decade features this year, so you can see the slow regression and narrowing of your taste since college. So give in to Spotify Wrapped and let it drag you for absolute filth. You can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape data aggregation.