It’s time for feeling called out by your own tastes, trying to make bubblegrunge happen, and so many screenshots. We’re talking, of course, about Spotify Wrapped, which debuted for 2022 today — if you couldn’t tell by those colorful cards all over your social media. This year’s annual mass PR campaign cutesy data dump doesn’t have many surprises up top. Bad Bunny is the most-listened-to artist for a third year in a row, along with having the most-streamed album; “As It Was” by Harry Styles is the top song; the aesthetic theme is ~kaleidoscope~. Least surprising of all, though? There’s just too damn much of it. From Spotify’s own overwrought rollout to competitors’ attempts to replicate Wrapped’s success, the whole thing has gotten unnecessarily bloated, with no signs of stopping.
It all started even before Wrapped’s release, with anticipation rivaling a top-tier album drop. Spotify updated listeners after rumors about when tracking would end; even PopCrave tweeted about Spotify “teasing” the campaign in mid-October and asked followers for their “predictions.” But things really got out of hand when Spotify dropped Wrapped today. Yes, the time-based listening characteristics were pretty run-of-the-mill, even if you’re left wondering what the hell “Cottagecore Pumpkin Spice Bittersweet” means. But you’ll notice later into Wrapped that Spotify redid the Myers-Briggs test to be about your listening habits; like the test, the results are little more than alphabet soup. And Spotify’s data-driven identity quantification comes as the platform has only gotten more self-aware since last year — just look at this “Little Miss can’t stop posting her Wrapped results …” graphic provided to press:
(Remember the Little Miss meme? From what feels like five years ago?) As if that’s all not enough for you, here’s one more big number: Spotify got 40,000 artists to record video messages for this year’s Wrapped to thank fans. Sweet, sure — but a bit much, compared to the 100 videos the company had last year.
Even off Spotify, Wrapped is inescapable. Apple Music gave its Replay feature a face-lift this year, garnering some good reviews in the process (and, smartly, launching a day before Wrapped took over the discourse). So did YouTube Music — betcha didn’t even know YouTube Music had a wrap-up! — with a campaign that even features its own versions of Spotify’s listening personalities.
Those competing forces will only make Spotify go bigger and sillier next year, locking us into some sort of Wrapped arms race till the end of time. Not that users are even asking for more gimmicks — as social media makes clear year after year, most just want to see their own, as well as their friends,’ top songs. Anyway, see you next year, when Spotify will try to calculate how many tears you cried to your top ten. Oh, and don’t forget to throw a merch order to your top artists, who surely aren’t making enough money from your Spotify streams — unless, of course, it’s Taylor Swift.
