Festivities, carols and music — the spirit of the holiday season is well set in as we draw to another year’s end. And one way to look back at the year that was is through music that has kept us going. For Spotify users, Spotify Wrapped comes as an easy way to round up the year as it shows top artists, genres, songs and podcasts that kept them hooked on to this streaming service platform. And interestingly, it also gives a peek into what their music taste reveals about them.
Spotify Wrapped 2022 was announced on 30 November. And, Without a doubt, this has been a big year for the global music industry. From Taylor Swift releasing a new album, Midnights to Justin Bieber embarking on the Justice World Tour and Lil Nas X dropping a new single “Star Walkin” in September, 2022 has been a great year for the app. And like 2021, Spotify Wrapped has a lot to offer this time as well.
Interestingly, it also reveals a great deal about your personality. It is believed that one’s playlist and what they are mostly listening to speak volumes about their mindset and what can be called their ‘audio aura.’ But before getting to that, if you are wondering what Spotify Wrapped is all about, we have you covered.
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What is Spotify Wrapped?
To put it simply, the Spotify Wrapped campaign is an annual marketing survey which comprises a tracking report sent to every Spotify app user at the end of the year. This is done with an idea of a throwback to what they tuned in the most.
Want to be the first to know when #SpotifyWrapped is here? ❤️ this tweet and we’ll remind you!
— Spotify (@Spotify) November 28, 2022
Filled with a lot of data and stats, the report is a deep dive into your listening habits and how many hours you spent listening to your top songs, podcasts and favourite genres. According to reports, such in-depth tracking begins on 1 January of every year and goes on till 31 October. However, there are other speculations about this.
All that’s happening in Spotify Wrapped 2022
Spotify Wrapped 2022 has introduced a new listening feature which assigns particular listening personalities to users. There are four broad metrics, each comprising a pair of juxtapositions that are denoted by single letters determining your listening personality — Familiarity (F) vs. Exploration (E); Loyalty (L) vs. Variety (V); Timelessness (T) vs. Newness (N) and Commonality (C) vs. Uniqueness (U).
Drawing cues from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test, Spotify categorises listeners into 16 personality types based on the kind of songs they listened to as well as their own individual listening patterns.
These personality types include the adventurer or someone who strives to discover underrated artists and unknown songs, the early adopter or someone who keeps up with the top songs as soon as they release, the deep diver or someone who goes to extreme lengths to find all the hidden gems and unknown songs when they like an artist or any top genres, and the devotee who is absolutely loyal to a particular artist and knows every detail about their music.
Spotify Wrapped 2022 also has a unique feature called ‘Audio Day’, which shows the changing nature of a user over the course of a day. From the kind of music that one listens to after waking up, to what keeps them going through the day and finally with what they end the day reveals a lot about one’s personality. This year’s edition is also a shout-out to your top genres as it displays them on a solar system-like template against a starry night background.
Who all soundtracked 2022 on Spotify?
This year, Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and BTS emerged as top global artists that kept listeners hooked to the app. Some of the most streamed songs of the year across the globe include “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals and “STAY (With Justin Bieber)” by Kid LAROI. The list of most popular global podcasts include The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy and Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain.
Spotify Wrapped 2022 campaign on social media accounts
Spotify did some intense marketing for Spotify Wrapped 2022 and posted teasers and images all over Twitter. On 22 November, the streaming service app posted the first teaser that read “Your 2022 Wrapped is coming soon…” and was followed by another teaser, which was captioned “If this Top 5 was a 2022 event…”
Interestingly, it sparked a row of conjectures as the post featured flag emojis of Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Tunisia, Mexico, Poland, France and Australia, and fans speculated that the Spotify Wrapped would probably be released when these countries played in the FIFA World Cup 2022.
On 23 November, Spotify dropped another teaser on Twitter. This time, it was a GIF of one of Lizzo’s hit songs “About Damn Time,” which was wittily captioned “Turn up the music… it’s almost about damn time for #SpotifyWrapped.” In other instances, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd and BTS’ “Butter” also featured in the teasers.
Here’s what Spotify Wrapped say about you
According to aura reader and host of the Know Your Aura with Mystic Michaela podcast on Spotify, Mystic Michaela, every person’s taste and liking in music is their signature style and identity. For the 2021 edition, the data collected for Wrapped was analysed and users were sent certain colour codes to help understand their listening habits and moods. For example, purple denotes a passionate music listener.
“Purple auras tune in to get amped up, entertained, and moving while they navigate the twists and turns of their day,” mentions the Spotify report.
Similarly, green signifies a calm, analytical and introspective mind. The report says, “These listeners gravitate toward complex music to tame their fast-moving minds.”
Pink, on the other hand, is for the romantics. “Often described as the hopeless romantics of the aura spectrum, pinks view the world with a sense of optimistic, childlike wonder,” states the report.
According to the host, “When listeners go into their Audio Auras, I really feel like they are going to be able to see more of themselves and have an inward conversation. You know, ‘Who am I and why do I listen to what I’m listening to? What am I seeking? What is my inner self actually saying?’”
Spotify Wrapped could also help in understanding one’s native culture and inclination, social background and what shapes their thoughts and mindset. While it is not a very accurate representation of one’s environment or situation, it does take a deep dive into providing an overarching analysis to a certain extent.
From punkers to metalheads and soft music lovers to those grooving to Bollywood beats, there’s something to tell about everyone. And most importantly, the advent and the soaring popularity of online media has really helped in cultural accent.
Cultural accent and individuality in fitting in
As borders tend to blur out in the digital world, it becomes natural for one to follow the ongoing trend and listen to things that are in. From playlists and easy access to almost every new release, we tend to imbibe certain aspects to fit in, which can be at the subconscious level as well. Whether we adopt that new thing and keep listening to it on a loop or move on to something else defines our individuality and cultural accent.
Spotify Wrapped is also a prime example of expressing one’s identity. Those who are abreast with social and current affairs might choose to listen to podcasts or politically charged rap songs by artists and bands like BROCKHAMPTON, Slowthai and Lil Nas X. However, they can also have a romantic side and listen to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
Reflecting identity and Spotify’s algorithm
Spotify Wrapped also sets each listener apart from others. Songs they listened to, new artists they discovered as per their liking, and what kept them going are reflected in this analysis. Hence, it also goes on to show that no two minds work the same way and what might be noise to one is music to the other.
While music searches and the kind of content consumed reveal a great deal about a person’s mood and interests, it must also be noted that Spotify Wrapped is curated by an algorithm. Hence, it has some predetermined parameters set that make the results.
Once you have listened to a song, chances are your Spotify wall will be filled with similar suggestions and out of curiosity, you might end up listening to a few more of the same kind.
However, that is not enough data to say whether you identify with the music. The music templates, suggestions and other online content play a huge role in tweaking someone’s Spotify Wrapped result.
(Main image credit: Juja Han/ @juja_han/ Unsplash; Feature image credit: Héctor Achautla/ @achautla/ Unsplash)
This story first appeared here.
