A Catchier Tune: Exploring Spotify Wrapped through Camino’s Ears

By Karola Vargas

18 December 2024

From familiar favorites to unexpected surprises, our Spotify Wrapped always brings a mix of revelations. At the end of the year, we’re all eager to see how our musical tastes have shaped up over the past 12 months. I spoke with a couple of friends about their Wrapped results—here’s what they had to say.

It is safe to say that Itati Azcona (gr.11) liked hers this year. Her top artist was Taylor Swift, which was not unexpected. But, she also started listening to jazz, by Spotify’s recommendation. 

“My top 5 artists were on point!,” she summarized it. I would agree, her music taste is really jazzy with a definite bent towards pop.

Another of my best friends, Danny (gr.10), thought the Spotify wrapped this year was purely AI. After Spotify teased listeners all around the world for almost a month, the Wrapped has been a bit controversial since listeners expected more, and some even said that Apple’s Music’s Replay was better. 

One article from TechRadar.com, for example, says that Spotify gave us only very superficial statistics about our music, and failed to come up with fun ways to categorize our habits like the “Listening Town” or the statistics about genres and albums listened to.

When Danny saw theirs, they laughed and thought it was really AI-ish. The rewind genres were really… different this year. Danny felt their artists weren’t really on point, but at least their first artist wasn’t inaccurate. It was “Rise Against”.

My third interview, Santino from 9th grade, talked to me about his favorite artist: Mon Laferte. He even went to see her live in Mexico City! He says that in his Wrapped, some things didn’t fit perfectly like in Danny’s case. 

He would like next year's Wrap to be about making a “trip” in the galaxy with it showing you different genres and songs. It would be very cool to see that eventually.

My own Wrapped was expected, with The Weeknd as my top artist (by the way, he is also the second most listened to artist in the world). My songs were probalbly a little off, since I was on the Weeknd’s top 0.005% of listeners. 

All of my top songs were Billie Eillish’s, especially from her new album Hit me Hard and Soft. I did listen to her a lot, but it doesn’t make sense that it’s her songs that made it to the top and not my actual top artist’s. I was a little confused with that. Overall, I liked it, but I would still have preferred something like 2023’s music burger, which I thought was funny. 

Year after year, Spotify Wrapped continues to be a cultural moment that sparks excitement, debates, and a lot of reflection about our listening habits. Whether it’s perfectly accurate or leaves us scratching our heads, it reminds us of the power music has in shaping our year. 

From pop hits to unexpected jazz discoveries, and from live concerts to AI-like surprises, Wrapped tells a unique story for each listener. As we look forward to next year, one thing’s for sure—our playlists will keep evolving, and so will the way we experience them.

Just for fun, here’s how my sources answered my questions about their Wrappeds:

¿Cuál fue tu artista más escuchado este año? ¿Te sorprendió o ya te lo esperabas?

Danny: “Rise Against, yes and no. It was expected”. 

Itati: “Taylor Swift, lo esperaba”. 

Santino: “Mi artista más escuchado fue Mon Laferte, no me sorprendió en lo absoluto porque durante 2 meses seguidos era lo único que escuchaba”. 

¿Qué canción lideró tu lista? ¿Qué historia hay detrás de que la hayas escuchado tanto?

Danny: “I’m not the one. 69 times in a day”. 

Itati: “You’re losing me by The Vault”.

Santino: “Tu falta de querer, de Mon Laferte”

¿Descubriste algún género o artista nuevo este año gracias a Spotify?

Danny: “No, but I did start listening to Primer 55 and Chem Lab”. 

Itati: “Jazz, por recomendación. An artist called Laufey.”

Santino: “Descubrí algunos artistas como Mon Laferte, Scott Bradlee Postmodern Jukebox”. 

¿Crees que tu Wrapped refleja bien tus gustos musicales o hay algo que no  encaja?

Danny: “Number 3 doesn’t fit. They’re on the top, but I haven’t listened to them since January.”

Itati: “Creo que refleja bien mis gustos. Las canciones en el playlist final quizás no, por que no las escucho mucho.”

Santino:  “No me puedo explicar como no apareció Postmodern Jukebox en mi Top 5 canciones mas escuchadas, aparte de no recuerdo haber escuchado tanto Milo Jota, Young Miko, y algo curioso es que no esta mi cancion favorita porque es tan especial para mi que solo la escucho una vez al mes, lo que hace que nunca va a estar en mi canción más escuchada.”

 ¿Qué te pareció el tiempo total que escuchaste música? ¿Te sorprendió para bien o crees que podrías haber escuchado más?

Danny: “64k. Accurate, depending on online or offline listening”.

Itati: “Sorprendió para bien”.

Santino: “Escuche por 11,825 minutos que la verdad podría haber escuchado más pero empecé a escuchar más música en septiembre porque de Camino y de regreso al escuela escucho música y a veces salgo al parque a escuchar en la noche”. 

Hay alguna “culpa oculta” que apareció en tu Wrapped y te dio risa o vergüenza?

Danny: “No, I laughed at the music evolution parts. Indie sleeve permanent wave garage rock. seemed very AI-ISH”. 

Itati: “Super Lady, K-pop”.

Santino: “La top 4 de mi top 5 porque es como una canción donde rapean dos personajes ficticios como en un combate de rap xd, no se que hace ahi pero me da gracia y pena”. 

¿Con cuál de los datos del Wrapped te sentiste más identificado?

Danny: “A lot of it was made by AI”.

Itati: “Top 5 artistas, on point!”.

Santino: “Mi artista favorita es Mon Laferte porque este mismo año fui a un concierto de ella, lo que me hizo más fan!”

Si pudieras elegir un tema para tu Wrapped del próximo año, ¿cómo te gustaría que se viera?

Danny: “Kinda one like last year, genre burger. More stuff like the 2023 wrapped”.

Itati: “Descubrir artistas nuevos”.

Santino: “Me gustaria el tema de el espacio, creo que ir viendo el Wrapped mientras recorres la galaxia sería”.