Radiating excitement across the entire school, Latin students scrolled through the songs that soundtracked their year as the annual “Spotify Wrapped” data was released on Dec. 4. Laughter and gasps bounced from wall to wall as students compared top artists and favorite genres and debated the surprises and snubs of their yearly music data.
Spotify Wrapped, a system set up by the music streaming service Spotify, creates a slideshow at the end of every year displaying each user’s most listened-to artists, albums, tracks, and even genres. Wrapped also provides users with valuable screenshots about their specific listening activity, many reposting their top artists and songs onto their Instagram stories for others to see.
Many Latin students amble through school with AirPods in (or over) their ears, streaming their favorite songs on the go. One of those students is sophomore and avid music listener, Genevieve Ramsey.
“I listen to music 99% of the time,” Genevieve said. “I listen to music while working out, doing homework, studying, etc. I’m always finding a way to work music into my life, so I was very excited for Spotify Wrapped.”
Despite having an invested audience, Wrapped disappointed many this year. Some students even doubted the accuracy of their personal Wrapped.
Senior Jeremiah Wheatley is one of the doubters. “I think my Spotify Wrapped did not capture my personality, as I don’t agree with the top five songs,” he said. “I personally think [Spotify] could’ve done better.”
Genevieve agreed with Jeremiah. “I think that sometimes it’s inaccurate because it stops counting your streams during November and December,” she said. While Spotify has not released an official statement on when their data collection window ends, many listeners speculate that the cutoff is sometime in early November.
Despite the possible inaccuracy, students still enjoy their Wrapped. Jeremiah’s favorite element was seeing how his taste in music changed throughout the year.
Once Wrapped was released, Genevieve shared her Wrapped, including many of her top artists like Future and Brent Faiyaz, with her close friends. “I think it’s fun to compare and contrast our music taste and what we listened to throughout the year, but I usually don’t feel the need to post it on Instagram,” she said.
The Forum polled 520 Latin Upper School students about Spotify on Dec. 6; 98 responded. Students answered up to five questions about their Wrapped, specifically which of the top-10 most streamed artists, songs, and albums they listened to the most.
While many students saw similar genres in their top-streamed artists and songs, some students’ Wrapped included different music genres in each category of their most-streamed data.
For Genevieve, rappers controlled her top-streamed artists, while country songs rose to the top of her most played. “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves was her top-streamed song, however “SOS” by SZA was her top-streamed album.
While many students use Spotify, faculty enjoy Spotify Wrapped as well. Upper School Chorus teacher Phillip Brownlee said, “I feel like Spotify Wrapped is always fun to see because it’s a really good metric to remember what you do listen to and assign some data points to the songs that you listen to.”
Mr. Brownlee noted that Spotify allows him to access every genre of music quickly. “[Spotify] helps me to listen to classical music, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and then something else that I enjoy like Beyoncé,” he said.
As a strong music enthusiast, Mr. Brownlee knows how widespread the genres at Latin can be, so he tries to explore as many different genres as possible in his classes.
“I have a senior in my [music technology] class who is very interested in house music, another senior who writes and composes his own music, and one who is interested in the rap and hip hop genre,” he said. “So they all complete [the] same projects but tailor them to their own interests and backgrounds.”
While most members of the Latin community only have a listener’s Wrapped that includes their most-listened-to data, artists themselves receive their own customized Wrapped. An Artist’s Wrapped features everything from the total seconds streamed to the number of countries they reached to their most popular song.
Latin senior Marlo Leik received an Artist’s Wrapped this year. She released her first two songs in July and August. “As a starting new artist, it was really exciting to see the statistics, because seeing the numbers on the Wrapped screen is definitely validating,” Marlo said.
While both of Marlo’s songs explore different genres of music, she aims to release her own album soon, containing tracks similar to her first song, “Fall Again.”
While Marlo writes her own songs, she takes inspiration from artists on her Wrapped. “My current genre and style definitely relate to how I am as a listener because some of my favorite artists are Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift,” she said.
From pop sing-alongs to rap anthems to country hoedowns, no two students have the same music taste. But Wrapped provides listeners with a simple way to define themselves in the music scene.
“I think that if you appreciate it for what it is, it’s great,” Mr. Brownlee said. “Spotify Wrapped is one layer of your musical identity.”
