‘So LAZY this year’: The internet is furious that Spotify Wrapped embraced AI—and got boring

Before fully immersing yourself in the holiday spirit, there’s another yearly tradition to dive into: Spotify Wrapped day.

This annual event gives Spotify’s 640 million users a chance to celebrate, or cringe at, their music taste with friends, family, and strangers on the internet. Released slightly later than in previous years, many hoped the delay was a sign of some exciting new features. But after everyone’s Spotify Wrapped dropped yesterday, excitement quickly turned to disappointment.

“That @Spotify wrapped was boring as hell this year. No genres? Just that goofy equivalent to the daylist titles? No location info this year? No artist messages? Boo this man! Boo!” complained one X user. “Spotify wrapped is SO LAZY this year,” posted another. “They didn’t tell me whether that gay little town in Vermont still matches my music taste.” 

Topping the list of complaints were that the platform focused too much on AI features at the expense of its usual creative and fun elements. Instead of beloved features like music-personality quizzes, location-based taste matches, and “audio auras,” users were given an AI-generated podcast and a new feature called Your Musical Evolution. Here, Wrapped revealed up to three musical phases that defined users’ year in music. “June was your Pink Pilates Princess Roller Skating Pop moment,” read one post shared on X, with another reading, “July was your Coastal Grandmother Fingerstyle Yacht Rock season.” 

This year saw the streaming service partner with Google to transform the data from Wrapped into an AI-generated “podcast,” helmed by what Spotify calls “two dynamic hosts using generative A.I.” to talk through the user’s musical preferences. “Through the combination of Spotify’s powerful personalization technology and generative AI, we’ve created hyper-personalized Wrapped experiences that connect millions of listeners worldwide with the music and audio they love,” the company said Wednesday.

However, some users felt their Spotify Wrapped 2024 metrics seemed off, joking that AI might have “made up” the data. Spotify clarified that no generative AI was used to create Wrapped results or its design. A spokesperson confirmed to Axios that each recap was based entirely on users’ listening history for the year.

Others linked their disappointment to Spotify’s 2023 layoffs, which saw 2,300 employees let go. Fans speculated that reduced staffing, combined with a heavier reliance on AI, may have contributed to this year’s lackluster experience. CEO Daniel Ek had previously admitted the layoffs disrupted daily operations more than expected, though he wasn’t speaking to Wrapped.

Whatever disappointment users felt, they still shared plenty of screenshots. In the first 12 hours, 2024’s Wrapped is the biggest Spotify has seen, up over 26% compared to day one in 2023, according to statistics shared with Fast Company. This included a record number of individual shares at 309 million and the biggest volume seen across the entire experience. 

Love it or hate it, we’ll do it all again next year.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91241436/internet-furious-2024-spotify-wrapped-ai-boring?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss