And, That’s A Wrap With Spotify
Photo by NITISH GOSWAMI on Unsplash.
If you’re an avid music listener like myself, Spotify’s ‘Wrapped’ report is something I look forward to every year. Will they remember I went through an Ariana Grande phase, or will they bring up a song I listened to once? The early days of Spotify Wrapped were a little wonky and you never knew if it was going to be authentic, but lately the platform has refined their algorithm to a delightful level of personalization.
This year Spotify hit us with a new slide: the ‘audio aura.’ Drawing from the genres you listened to most during the year, it will show you an abstract, globular splash of colors to describe your style, whether it’s bold and confident with reds and pinks or mystical and grounded with greens and purples. I have noticed the slides are usually duo-toned, but they were nonetheless a fun visual addition to the Wrapped report, and scary accurate I might say.
Another new feature I didn’t notice in previous years was the refinement of the ‘story’ line. Spotify created an entire end-to-end piece highlighting all of your music stats, complete with tidbits about ‘what your fight song’ would be or the song ‘you’d kiss someone in the rain to.’ You could share it on your Facebook or Instagram Stories, but the whole thing truly was – a story, taking you on a customized journey into your musical world. I didn’t even know they placed a soundtrack over it until I got home to play it again.
My only big criticism of the Wrapped report this year was it changed if you played through it multiple times. The general statistics stayed the same (for example, I was in the top one percent of listeners for Lil Darkie… sponsor me?) but some of the smaller elements would have some degree of variation, especially with the story telling parts like ‘what your soundtrack would be.’ I’m assuming there’s more of a randomized algorithm there, considering the thousands of songs and statistics that probably matched or came in neck-and-neck.
Some of my smaller critiques would be that if you listened to a particular group while meal prepping or reading or while you slept, that would certainly skew the results versus the ones you consciously seek out. For example, the reason why artists I reach for like Lil Darkie, Heilung and Chevelle came up on top in my lists are because I have them on my ‘Workout’ playlist (I like to let out my rage at the gym, okay? Don’t judge me). My top playlist in contrast was ‘Chill Vibes,’ because I listened to it the most while I was doing chores at home. So, the musicians you would rather hear when you want to dance or hang out with friends often gets overshadowed by the ones you incorporate into your daily routines for Spotify Wrapped (although it’s very clear that I’m obsessed with Lil Darkie, but I did mention that, right?).
All in all, here was the rundown for Funk Punk Lives for 2021:
Top Artists:
Lil Darkie
Chevelle
Ariana Grande (like I said, I went through a phase).
Benee
Heilung
Top Songs:
From Dog To God by Prayers
Kali Ma! by Lil Darkie
Hamrer Hippyer by Heilung
Mars Simula by Chevelle
AMV by Lil Darkie
Top Genres:
Bedroom pop
Alternative metal
Indie pop
Scream rap
Punk
Amount of genres listened: 84
Amount of artists listened: 778
Amount of time listened total: 26,709 minutes, more than 80 percent of other listeners in the United States.
Funk Punk Lives audio aura: bold and confident
Screenshot courtesy of Spotify.
Whether you blasted punk all year or soothed your mind with new-age EDM, Spotify’s Wrapped report is something to look forward to. You can find Funk Punk Lives’ top 100 below if you’re curious or share yours with me through the contact form here.
Happy New Year, from Funk Punk Lives!
My personal Wrapped playlist: “Your Top Songs 2021.”
UPDATE: The above link/playlist has been retired as of November 2022. Check out my latest blogs to stay on top of my most current music recommendations.
