Spotify Wrapped has transformed into an immersive experience for every Spotify user. Displaying things like the soundtrack to your life, which is a playlist curated from your 100 most played songs, your “audio aura” and much more, there’s something to interest everyone. But Spotify did not always have this much depth. Spotify Wrapped was first released in 2015, and all the features it included was the user’s total hours spent listening to music and their top songs and artists. With its release date in the first week of December, numerous social media platforms, Twitter especially, talk about and await its arrival every year.

Along with social media, Wrapped is talked about around school as well. Many students compare their top artists and debate on whose is better. Junior and avid Spotify user Julian Rabago’s top artists were, in order, Tame Impala, MGMT, TV Girl, Joji and The Weekend.

“I’ve had Spotify since about early middle school, and I believe I got it in seventh grade because I wanted to listen to it during school,” Rabago said. “I’ve been using it ever since. My friends and I all compared our Spotify Wrapped when they came out. At first, we compared the minutes listened to, but later we compared the types of music we like. This helped us recommend songs to each other and see what we enjoy.”

Whenever Wrapped is released, people post their results on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms, as Spotify gives you multiple chances to share the varying data it provides. The reasoning behind posting their results depends on the person, as there are instances when people are embarrassed by their Wrapped, but there are others who proudly post what they received.

“I thought the Wrapped overall was very overdone, like they took all of the Tiktok trends from the beginning of the year then that was all they used for your little catchphrases,” Young said. “Things like ‘You are the main character’ and I was cracking up. But I thought it was funny [to post the results]. Everyone else was doing it, and so I just thought that I would share that I love Machine Gun Kelly and Emo Rap.”

However, there are students who do not have Spotify, such as junior Brynn Boatright. According to her, though, she was not worried about missing out.

“I find Spotify really difficult to work with,” Boatright said. “I just think other music apps are easier to understand or easier to make playlists. Also, Spotify is very dark, which doesn’t really make me happy. I like the ambiance of the Apple Music app better, I think that it’s a lot easier to use and find music on. I think it’s a cool concept [Spotify Wrapped], but Apple Music does also offer that.”

Spotify Wrapped can also be used as a tool for those who listen to a variety of music. Due to one of the new features, showcasing a listener’s top five listened-to genres, one’s music taste can expand, according to junior Anthony Luparello.

“I do the Spotify Wrapped every year, but I used to have really bad music taste, so we don’t really talk about Spotify before 2020,” Luparello said. “It’s gotten so much better though, since my friends introduced me to so many new albums and artists that I’ve expanded with all of my genres and all that, it’s been great.”

Another feature is top five songs, and for junior Brady Allen his top five songs included “Snowy” by Toby Fox from the Undertale Soundtrack, “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L” by Panchiko is number two, number three is “Not Allowed” by TV Girl, number four is “When You Sleep” by my bloody valentine, and number five concludes the list with “Love Taste” by Moe Shop.

“Well if I had to think about it, I believe my favorite section would have to be ‘your top songs’,” Allen said. “What I most love about this list is how mixed it is. I never would’ve put these songs together off the top of my head, so it’s interesting to see them grouped together, just because I listen to them most.”

Even though Griffin might not have liked the word choice used by Spotify, she liked the information Wrapped provided. The feature displaying the total amount of minutes spent listening to music was her favorite segment overall.

“I thought my Wrapped was good, I feel like it was pretty accurate,” Griffin said. “I had Lil Baby as my top artist, which I don’t know how that happened because I listen to a lot of The Neighbourhood. And I don’t think they were even in my top five, which was weird. I think the newest segment that was like all of the genres was weird because mine said ‘Glee Club,’ and I definitely don’t listen to glee music. But overall, I feel that it showcased how my music taste has changed and I really liked the experience.”