AI Gives Us Unwrapped Spotify Presents

Every December, Spotify Wrapped arrives like a gift for music lovers, just in time for the holidays. Spotify Wrapped shows users their listening habits over the past year, including top artists, songs, genres, and how much time they spent listening to music. To many, it’s more than just a summary of their year in music—it’s a tradition, a badge of honor shared across Instagram stories as people compare their personalized stats. Spotify Wrapped has even infiltrated the public sphere, with U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer faking his Wrapped stats to be more “Bruce Springsteen-forward.” He stated that he did this because he shares his account with his kids. It’s a common trend among music enthusiasts to want to seem more “indie” among their friends, therefore changing their stats to achieve a false sense of sophistication. Clearly, Wrapped is a big deal for millions around the globe, but this year, something felt off.

The 2024 edition of Spotify Wrapped, created with the help of AI, left fans disappointed. After Spotify laid off more than 1,500 workers—17% of its staff—in December 2023, the platform has only been going downhill. Spotify has always used AI as the backbone of its platform; from generating personalized playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar, algorithms have been at the core of Spotify’s success. These AI tools have always been quietly working in the background, helping users discover new music and celebrate their unique tastes. But 2024’s Spotify Wrapped openly integrated AI not just for data processing but as a central feature of the experience. The result has been widely criticized as uninspired and impersonal.

One of the biggest letdowns of this year’s Wrapped was the removal of the quirky and niche features from previous years. In 2023, Wrapped included personalized stats like the city you “belong” in based on your music taste. This year, users reported bland visuals, missing top genres, and forced or recycled descriptions. For example, the new “Monthly Eras” feature, designed to categorize your listening habits by month, left many people confused. One Masterman student commented, “They said March was my ‘chill football rap’ phase, but that doesn’t even make sense how it’s related to football.” What is a football genre, anyway? Another student shared, “It felt like it just mashed random words together, and so many people got the same results.” 

“It was low effort and disappointing, especially when I pay for Premium.”

To gauge student reactions, 66% of Masterman students surveyed said they preferred last year’s Wrapped over this year’s AI-focused version. Additionally, 53% described the 2024 edition as “slightly worse,” citing the Monthly Eras segment as particularly incoherent. 

Spotify Wrapped has long been a cherished tradition, offering users a chance to reflect on their year in music. But 2024’s edition is plain boring, with AI-driven features failing to live up to the charm and creativity of past years. Some listeners are even questioning their loyalty to Spotify altogether. Let’s hope that Spotify Wrapped 2025 learns from this year’s reception!