Last year’s Spotify Wrapped was a success with everyone cheerfully sharing their personalized recap. Suffice it to say, that the excitement was real this year too. Spotify also stated that this year would be their “best and boldest Wrapped yet,” which further fueled the hype train. But, it seems like the train has derailed with the release of Spotify Wrapped 2024, and users are taking to social media to call it a MASSIVE disappointment.
What’s In Store for Spotify Wrapped 2024
This year’s Spotify Wrapped arrived a bit late, finally making its way to the Spotify app on December 4. As usual, it starts with your total listening time, number of songs played, and top songs this year. All this is accompanied by flashy and colorful animations and transitions. It showcases listening preferences in specific months, followed by your top artists and a short video from them.
There is also one new Wrapped 2024 feature this year, where Spotify users in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and Sweden are greeted by two AI podcast hosts. They will talk users through the highlights of their Spotify Wrapped 2024. This was a result of a partnership between Spotify and Google’s NotebookLM, which we covered before the Wrapped dropped!
Wait…Something’s Missing Here
If you have looked at your own Wrapped then you may be left scratching your head wondering where is top genres, the fun trivia about your favorite songs or artists, and why did not have a section for top podcasts. To that, I say that you’re not alone.
Many people have the same problem with this year’s Wrapped, and they took to online spaces to voice their opinions. It was not only the fact the key metrics were completely glossed over but that this year’s Wrapped just felt a bit dull and very by the numbers. There were no interesting trivia, facts, or fun takes on their musical preferences.
Every year #SpotifyWrapped gets even less detailed 🫤 smh we used to get a whole website with hella pages you know— Jollof Papi🇬🇭 (@OfficialEnam) December 4, 2024
Some users also felt that the animations looked lackluster and speculated whether they were AI-generated. It looks less visually appealing than the previous year’s Wrapped and doesn’t seem to have any personality to it. They blamed Spotify’s layoff of its employees for this poor presentation, while others pointed fingers at the excessive use of AI these days.
#SpotifyWrapped is lame this year and stinks of AI all over it and its ugly design. Literally only top artists, tracks and minutes listened. No fun playlists, no interesting niche facts. Unless it's better when it drops in the app, this was not worth waiting for. pic.twitter.com/pmiHYkX7Zt— aes (she/her) (@strengthtodream) December 4, 2024
One user also compared the number of slides of Spotify Wrapped 2023 with this year proving the lack of details that people are complaining about.
spotify wrapped 2023 // 2024 😐😐😐 pic.twitter.com/NoVdyhkiQD
— palo 9 & 12/11 (@cherryatt_) December 4, 2024
On the topic of AI, many users were not uncomfortable with their new AI hosts. They found them to be a bit creepy. But a bigger issue was most of Spotify’s global audience didn’t even get to experience this new AI feature. That’s because it was limited to select regions, the one I’ve mentioned above.
The Wrapped AI Podcast feels spiritually evil in a way I can’t really put into words pic.twitter.com/4X3cvJrjBd— Gina Raimondo’s Wins (@RaimondosWins) December 4, 2024
The notion is the same whether you visit Spotify’s Instagram page, X (Formerly Twitter), or Reddit where users have started a Megathread listing out all the missing features in Spotify Wrapped 2024.
Was Spotify Wrapped 2024 a Let-Down?
I can say for sure that there was a lot of hype for Spotify Wrapped this time around, but I wouldn’t fault it for the poor reception. There are some major Spotify stats like genres that are missing here, which third-party tools can tell you about. It also doesn’t feel as quirky and fun as last time and my Beebom colleagues share the same sentiment. I do have a daft piece in the works as I publish this, expressing my frustration for the lack of the new AI Wrapped features, and AI features, in general, in the Spotify app in my region.
Honestly, I enjoyed the unofficial Netflix Wrapped I covered a few days back more than the official Spotify Wrapped. And now with other music streaming services, like YouTube and Amazon coming up with their own take on Wrapped, Spotify needs to step up their game for next year. But what are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.
Anshuman Jain
