Since its launch in 2016, Spotify Wrapped has turn into an end-of-year staple that individuals deal with like a vacation custom. But this 12 months, Spotify Wrapped sucked the enjoyment proper out of the start of the month with a lackluster knowledge dump that disgruntled a number of customers on-line.
In the previous, the characteristic has gone viral for its artistic mix of popular culture references, aesthetically pleasing shows, and concrete knowledge on how individuals hearken to music. After all, who doesn’t love getting personalised info on their very own music tastes? Even if individuals have been embarrassed by their very own tastes, the characteristic has at all times been a key factor of Spotify’s attraction as a streaming platform. This time round, Spotify Wrapped lacked its ordinary appeal. Instead of offering an individualized present for its customers, the entire expertise felt extra like getting socks for Christmas.
Listeners turned to social media to level out why 2024’s particular Spotify Wrapped felt like an enormous letdown. First and foremost, the streaming big not noted a key knowledge level from customers’ individualized Wrapped knowledge set: prime genres. Spotify didn’t share the quantity of genres customers listened to, because it has up to now.
Another enjoyable side of Spotify Wrapped that the streaming platform not noted was “Sound Town,” which was a characteristic final 12 months that paired listeners with totally different cities based mostly on their prime artists and genres. In a earlier 12 months, Spotify Wrapped additionally included a personalised Audio Aura that matched listening habits to particular moods. These obvious one-off options weren’t included within the 2024 version, to the dismay of many.
People have been additionally crucial of the characteristic’s total presentation. In previous years, the visible facets of the marketing campaign have been almost as vital because the contents, with brilliant colours and daring graphic designs. This 12 months, the one-dimensional visuals saved some customers from eager to share photos of their outcomes on social media. One X consumer took issues into their very own arms and solely shared a cropped model of their prime artists, writing, “Spotify wrapped graphic design is so hideous this 12 months that I had no selection however to crop.”
A rep for Spotify didn’t instantly return Rolling Stone‘s request for remark.
Spotify’s official Instagram was flooded with upset customers commenting on a number of posts asserting what the streamer known as “the most effective day of the 12 months.” One consumer wrote, “Something feels fishy and sloppy with this 12 months’s wrapped… It was very brief as effectively..?” Some commentators even threatened to depart the streaming platform for its opponents. “One hour to present us prime genres earlier than I swap to Apple,” wrote a consumer beneath Spotify’s submit celebrating Global Top Artist Taylor Swift.
Some individuals on-line blamed 2024’s underwhelming Spotify Wrapped on the current layoffs on the firm. In December 2023, simply days after that 12 months’s Spotify Wrapped launch date, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek introduced mass layoffs which affected 17 % of its workforce, as much as 1,500 individuals. One consumer wrote, “Spotify Wrapped is a bit…underwhelming this 12 months. Less unconventional knowledge viz moments like in earlier years (like town matches, zodiac indicators, and so on). It was all very apparent. The layoffs actually present right here.”
Others speculated on whether or not synthetic intelligence was used to create this 12 months’s Spotify Wrapped. A consumer on X wrote, “if the dearth of enjoyable info in Spotify Wrapped this 12 months taught us something it’s that the world wants much less AI and extra chronically on-line knowledge analysts with a way of humour.” Another consumer concurred with the AI speculation: “Spotify Wrapped is underwhelming and reeks of AI… there appears to be actual lack of effort this 12 months from the boring visuals to the lacking genres and quirks.”
“More than ever, Wrapped is in every single place on Spotify — a large effort showcasing the exhausting work and creativity involving a whole bunch of Spotify crew members annually,” the corporate stated on its web site.
This article was up to date to make clear that “Sound Town” and Audio Aura have been one-off options from earlier years and to incorporate Spotify’s assertion on its web site about Spotify crew members’ participation in Wrapped.
