EMMA O’CONNELL / ASST. A&C EDITOR

The annual release of “Spotify Wrapped” may be considered just as much a part of the holiday season as Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Eve. “Spotify Wrapped” is the result of one  year of dedicated listening: it celebrates artist and genre allegiance, calculates minutes listened and even determines how a user’s listening habits may reflect their personality and age.

Spotify posted a collage of different celebrities’ ‘Listening Age’ — the majority fell between 70 and 90 years old. Photo courtesy of @spotify/Instagram

The anticipation and excitement surrounding the “Spotify Wrapped” release should not be underestimated. USD sophomore Emmett Shinn described opening the music app to discover his year-end recap.

“Pure elation,” Shinn exclaimed. “I was so excited to play my daily morning music, and I was greeted with a lovely surprise of my ‘Wrapped’ being published.” 

Each year, Spotify surprises users with a new set of engaging features and descriptive statistics to summarize their listening habits.

Toreros seemed to enjoy this year’s new  “Listening Age” element. The “Listening Age” is based on what Spotify refers to as a “reminiscence bump,” or the tendency for a listener to connect most profoundly with music from their formative years (16-21 years). The “Listening Age” algorithm first identifies a five year span that a user listened to more heavily than other listeners of the same age. Then, Spotify playfully pretends that the five year music window corresponds to the listener’s own teen years. In other words, Spotify asks: “If someone’s formative years were when these songs came out, how old would they be today?”

  USD senior Lalita Arslan, the director for USD radio, was a part of the “Spotify Wrapped” debut in 2015; she compared 2025 to 2015 and gave the “Listening Age” feature a positive review.

“The age one was really cool,” Arslan said. “It’s like what era do you listen to most? It gave you a music age which I haven’t seen before.” 

While some Toreros, like Arslan, enjoy the lighthearted fun of “Spotify Wrapped,” others argue that this yearly musical celebration holds more weight. It prompts reflection, establishes a sense of community among listeners and helps them understand and communicate their interests. For USD junior Lilly Dow, “Spotify Wrapped” acts as a small-scale time capsule.

“[The recap] reminds me of certain memories or certain times in my life,” Dow recalled.  “Or people that I associate the music with in a specific way.” 

Spotify delivers a relatively thorough analysis of each user’s listening habits by always including “Top 5 Artists,” “Top 5 Songs,” “Top Genres” and “Minutes Listened.” As such, “Spotify Wrapped” can flesh out musical interests and preferences. USD sophomore Oliver Dortmund described what the release means to him. 

 “I think ‘Wrapped’ is a pretty big deal for those who are seriously committed to music and its culture,” Dortmund said. “It  allows people to dive into their interests and really express what they love and why they love it.”

Amidst the excitement surrounding “Spotify Wrapped” release, some Toreros have identified its negative underbelly. Certain features of this year’s recap invite competition and expose Gen Z’s obsession with “nicheness.” For instance, the “Spotify Wrapped Party” compares and contrasts two or more listener profiles in a game-like, interactive forum and awards superlatives like the “Rarest Listen” and  “Crate Digger.”

Further, “Spotify Wrapped” is designed to be shared on social media: it is aesthetic, formatted for a 9:16 Instagram story and easily recognizable. Ultimately, “Spotify Wrapped” makes Spotify users more aware of how their listening habits compare to those of their peers: it makes room for self-consciousness. 

USD junior Jillian Lange described her experience with the ‘Wrapped Party’ feature.

“The ‘Spotify Wrapped Party’ looked at the diversity and ‘undergroundedness’ of your music,” said Lange. “My stats didn’t necessarily make me feel good.”  

Lange is not the only Torero who felt that way. Shinn, even though he was excited to see his recap, seconds Lange.

“It makes us disregard why songs are actually popular in the first place: because they’re good,” Shinn added. “And people forget that for the sake of comparison.” 

Gen Z cares about being different, and, maybe more importantly, they want their uniqueness to be known. Listening to music, constructing playlists, developing preferences and sharing songs are all highly personal experiences, but some Toreros believe “Spotify Wrapped” can make these musical moments externally focused.

The annual “Spotify Wrapped” release is a Gen Z cultural staple and a celebration of every listener’s personal style, a reflection of their memories and, of course, an amusing way to connect. Many Toreros can agree, however, that these musical recaps can lead to a notable amount of competition between friends. At the end of the day, music is music: it’s all about the listener.

Spotify calculates listeners’ top artist and the percentage users fall within their global fanbase. Hailey Howell/The USD Vista