What's up with this year's Spotify Wrapped?

For several years now, Spotify have blessed their users with a special treat between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Spotify Wrapped has become a highly anticipated event.

How else are we to prove to our friends that our music tastes are so much more elite than theirs?

This year, unfortunately, Spotify Wrapped turned into Spotify Wrath.

Not as good as usual

Spotify Wrapped is meant to be a cute product treat, something you can (mostly) share with friends, and, of course, generate a bunch of buzz for Spotify.

This year, Wrapped fell short of users' expectations:

• Some classic categories like Top Genre and Top Podcasts weren't part of the Wrapped (or only worked for some users).

• The graphics received bad reviews too, judged too basic and boring.

• Spotify usually create a bespoke playlist based on the user's Wrapped which, this year, appears to be missing for most users.

• Some criticism was directed at this year's innovation: an AI-generated podcast about their Wrapped. The podcast, created in collaboration with Google's NotebookLM, left users mostly unimpressed.

When the product treat isn't treat-y enough...

...things get complicated.

Spotify Wrapped is meant to be a short and sweet yearly gimmick meant to get users excited, sharing, and engaging. It may create a bit of buzz, but it's obviously not Spotify's main focus throughout the year.

Unfortunately, when the marketing stunt doesn't work as expected, the backlash can be disproportionate. Adding to users' disappointment is the fact that Spotify let 2,300 people go in 2023, which, some users argue, likely impacted the quality of this year's Wrapped.