On Nov. 29, Spotify released its annual “Spotify Wrapped” to all of the platform’s users. When viewing the feature, users are able to view their top five artists of the year, top one song and the total minutes of music they listened to in the year. Other features like a message from one of your favorite artists, your aura—your personal energy signature—and your genre of music, were given.
Many students at Bonita Vista High (BVH) received this feature as many listen to music on a daily basis and use Spotify to do so. Freshman Elena Atwater anticipated for the day Spotify would release the Spotify Wrapped feature as she sees it to be an exciting thing to view every year.
“I really love music and seeing Spotify Wrapped just feels refreshing and nice. It’s a fun thing that they do. It’s my favorite holiday and every time it’s over I’m sad that I have to wait a whole year [to see it again],” Atwater said.
Like Atwater, others feel as if Spotify Wrapped is an interactive feature that allows listeners to review their music and reflect on it. Junior Micah Cancel feels that Spotify Wrapped sums up who you are as it did for him. His top artists were SZA, Rocco and Daniel Caesar.
“I think it reflects my personality a lot. I’m a loving guy and SZA and Rocco are [all about] love. To be honest I wasn’t surprised [to see my top five]. Most of my days are [filled with] music [since] I listen to it in my class because it helps me get through my day,” Cancel said.
Although music can represent an individual, it can also represent a community’s culture. Sophomore Maya Delgado believes that music represents student culture as it correlates to what they listen to and how many people are affected by their music tastes. Her top three artists were The Backseat Lovers, Noah Khan and Panic! At The Disco.
“It’s become part of our culture to be listening to music a lot and it shows people’s personality. As well, the diversity of the different tastes. To be honest I listen to a lot of random music so there’s a lot of different artists [and tastes that I have],” Delgado said.
Alongside Delgado, Atwater views music as a symbol of connecting people based on shared experiences. Having Mccafferty, The Front Bottoms and Mom Jeans as her top three artists, she believes that the “Midwest Emo” genre fits her music and personality very well.
On the other hand, it seemed prominent in Spotify Wrapped that some genres and music were inaccurate, as it did not represent the user’s taste. For instance, Atwater expresses confusion on why she received a different genre then what she was expecting.
“Music represents student culture because music is an embodiment of you. What you listen to doesn’t define you, but it describes your preferences and it is a part of your personality,” Atwater said. “As well, why did everyone get POV: Indie? It’s weird because my top genre was definitely Midwest Emo.”
Beyond reflecting student culture, Spotify Wrapped has demonstrated ways music influences individuals in everyday activities. Atwater has had a total of 250,000 minutes listened to, Cancel having 107,000 minutes and Delgado with 17,000 minutes. This reveals how music is a part of students’ everyday lives.
“I benefit from music because it helps me get through my day. Especially with studying and—I know I shouldn’t—but sometimes, I listen to music during tests because it helps me calm down,” Cancel said.
As Spotify Wrapped again comes to an end, students and listeners have gained a deeper understanding of themselves through their music. Spotify has wrapped the personas of Atwater, Cancel and Delgado, who all believe it is a feature that can be used to describe the community and themselves. Delgado believes music can do more than just represent someone, but also create a space to avoid difficult events in her life for a short amount of time.
“It’s cool to listen to music and to see your progress throughout the year. Music serves as a kind of a distraction to the real world,” Delgado said. “Whenever I’ve had a rough day or something is going on in my life that I don’t want to deal with, it’s nice to put my earbuds in and relax, not worrying about what’s going on. Sometimes life is too difficult to deal with and having music as a distraction has been very beneficial for me.”
