“No one asked for this.”
TikTok creators Jessica Hong and Sandra Sanchez both used those words in the captions for their videos discussing their opinions on 2024 Spotify Wrapped and its use of generative AI to create a sense of personalization.
Spotify Wrapped synthesizes users’ annual listening habits into engaging and shareable content. Each year offers a slightly different spin, like 2021’s “audio aura,” which paired users’ year in listening with color palates, and 2023’s “sound town,” which told users locations where listeners had similar tastes to theirs.
For some Spotify users, the changes to this year’s Wrapped stirred controversy and dampened their excitement. Here’s why.
‘What’s the truth?’ Some users say their Wrapped highlighted the wrong songs
The main function of Spotify Wrapped — independent of the new features that Spotify adds to Wrapped every year — is to show users their top artists and songs.
This year, many swear that these stats just looked … wrong.
“I know for a fact that I did not listen to those songs when they said I did bc I didn’t know they existed at that time,” wrote X user @luouxyo.
“My top songs, my numbers — I don’t think they’re accurate,” TikToker @survivorswiftie said in a video about why this year’s Wrapped felt different.
TikTok content creator and small business social media manager Jessica Hong, @smallboba on TikTok, tells TODAY.com that although Spotify recognized artists she had on repeat, she did not feel like they plucked her true favorites.
“(Wrapped) didn’t really connect me to the community that it did in past years. And it just felt like it was definitely missing something,” Hong says.
For another perspective on her year in listening, Hong took to stats.fm, a third party platform offering insights into users’ Spotify stats. This app, which has stats available year-round, showed her an entirely different set of songs and artists than her Wrapped did.
“I know my top artist — in my heart — is always BTS. Spotify Wrapped said (it was) Still Woozy, but when I used stats.fm, it said BTS, so I’m like, ‘What’s the truth?’” she says.
Content creator Joël Edelmann on TikTok offered up a theory when reflecting on his own list. “I think Spotify prioritizes big names, because I listen to a lot of smaller ones, and they don’t show up here,” he said in a video.
Spotify has not shared how it tracks listening statistics or the metrics it uses to lead to Wrapped. TODAY.com has reached out to Spotify for comment. An article on the website says the creation of its annual roundup is “truly art and science working side by side.”
A new AI-centric approach to Wrapped
Beyond the confusion that users felt when Wrapped presented them with their listening metrics, many were wary of new features that incorporated artificial intelligence.
Spotify presented 2024 highlights to users via their “AI DJ” feature, first introduced to the platform in February 2023, and also offered a “Wrapped AI Podcast.”
This podcast is a collaboration between Spotify and Google NotebookLM, an AI-powered tool meant for summarizing documents and data. The result is a unique armchair discussion between two voices that sound uncannily human for every individual Spotify user, discussing their own year of listening.
TikTok users posted videos of their AI podcast hosts poking fun at them, like when one AI voice asked, “What were you going through?”
“She didn’t have to drag me like that,” TikToker @commagray commented.
Others zeroed in on moments when the AI podcast hosts didn’t have the tact human podcasters would.
TikToker @babbity.kate shared a clip of her AI podcast hosts remarking on a day she listened to seven hours of music.
“Let’s not forget September 11th. Looks like you had a pretty epic day,” one AI voice mused in her podcast. The other voice responded, “What was the occasion?”
Content creator Sandra Sanchez, @lavenderxhive on TikTok, tells TODAY.com she felt this year’s Wrapped fell short of doing what she says Spotify Wrapped normally does so well, in part because of the AI feature.
“The reason Spotify Wrapped has always been so exciting is we get to learn about ourselves and our music taste,” Sanchez says. “This year, I felt like I didn’t learn anything. With the use of AI, it felt like a lack of personality and joy. It just felt like word salad.”
René Sultan, a machine learning engineer who worked on Spotify’s AI for Content Safety initiative throughout summer 2024, shares insight into the creation of the podcast.
“The personalization department leverages generative AI to create really personalized, tailored experiences for the user. They use cutting-edge technologies internally like GoogleLM and OpenAI to do this,” Sultan says.
Despite criticism of the execution, Sultan thinks Spotify’s use of AI remains consistent with the goal of Wrapped and sets Spotify apart.
