On X, a plethora of users are sharing their feedback using the #SpotifyWrapped2024 hashtag. They describe this year's listening history review as "boring," a "flop," "underwhelming," and a "disappointment." Despite this, people are still sharing screenshots of their Wrapped. However, a scroll through the hashtag reveals more complaints than praise at present.
For instance, one highly popular post calling Wrapped a flop has garnered over 108,000 likes as of now. This year, Spotify placed a heavy bet on a partnership with Google to transform users' Wrapped experiences into an AI-powered podcast, overshadowing other engaging details and features. One Spotify user specifically pointed out the absence of "quirky interactive bits" like the "silly personality assessments." Another noted that the new "Your Music Evolution" feature was "quite strange." (This latter feature had repurposed niche genres from Spotify's personalized daily playlist, Daylist, to describe musical taste changes throughout the year.)
Spotify states that users must have at least two top shows for Top Podcasts to be part of their Wrapped experience. A show qualifies if the user listened for at least 60 seconds of two unique episodes on two different days throughout the year. However, many users reported that they couldn't find their Wrapped 2024 playlist. It does appear in the Wrapped feed within the Spotify app as "Your Top Songs 2024," but the interactive Wrapped experience itself does not link to the playlist, which may be why some have missed it.
The AI podcast also had a divided reception. Those unfamiliar with Google's NotebookLM were impressed by the technology. However, some expressed unease with the feature. Spotify likely hoped that users would share their AI podcasts on social video apps like TikTok. Instead, a look through the #SpotifyWrapped hashtag on the app shows many complaints that the feature did not live up to the hype this year, with some suggesting that AI was to blame.
Although Wrapped is a year-end feature, it is part of Spotify's day-to-day operations to some extent. As the company told the press earlier this week, it has already begun working on next year's Wrapped. Teams from various departments, including marketing, product, music, podcasts, and audiobooks, contribute to the effort. However, Spotify declined to disclose the number of people working on Wrapped.
When asked about its decision-making process for this year's Wrapped, Spotify simply stated, "Every year we look to bring a new and exciting experience to Wrapped for listeners. It's part of the secret sauce of Wrapped."