Culture

Oh God, It’s Another Year Of Spotify Wrapped

"i can’t wait for my psych analysis (spotify wrapped)"

by Charles Rushforth  2 December 2022

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Deck the halls folks, because it’s officially that special time of the year when everyone takes to social media to show off their deep dysfunction — uh, I mean, their Spotify Wrapped rankings!

In a magical year that allowed musicians to leave their bedrooms and actually tour new releases for once, you can now see exactly where your precious cents in streaming royalties cents went courtesy of Spotify’s annual streaming ranking. Hooray!

Yes, Spotify’s iconic summary of your personal year in music is a treasured day for us here at Junkee. If not purely for the insights into the public’s music consumption habits; it’s a great day to be on Twitter.

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This year sees the streaming giant make some fresh adjustments to the now iconic ranking algorithm, which I personally have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, the graphic design of the Wrapped ranking already looks much better this year, but on the other I definitely did not enjoy having my music taste characterised as “Bogan Nostalgia”.

This sentiment was shared by many online who were already cringing in preparation for the hurtful words Spotify’s algorithm had in store to describe their music tastes.

Maybe the best thing about Spotify Wrapped isn’t even the music, but the wanton public bullying and humiliation that comes with essentially sharing a musical Rorschach test with everyone you know.

But spare a thought for those poor souls with Spotify algorithms twisted far beyond their control, who thanks to having to entertain small children or deliver unorthodox rodent infestation solutions are forced to reckon with a very unfamiliar presentation of music.

Well, that’s enough streaming cheer for me. I’m off to listen to Lana Del Rey repeatedly in an attempt to rehabilitate my fixation on ‘Bogan Nostalgia’.

Until next year!