If there’s one term that’s been used more than others when describing this year’s Spotify Wrapped, it’s this: flat. The New York Times said it. So did TikTokkers. Between its “Pink Pilates Princess Roller Skating Pop” phases and AI-generated mini-podcasts, lots of listeners took time away from the time-honored tradition of posting their cringiest Wrapped stats to say that this year’s offerings were milquetoast at best.
“Spotify Wrapped is a bit … underwhelming this year,” wrote one X user. “NOT worth the hype,” offered another. The annual tradition “lost what made it so dynamic in the first place,” wrote a third, citing things like locations- and music-based Sound Towns that rolled out with Wrapped in previous years. “Which is to say that PEOPLE make things better. Those layoffs are showing.”
Quite a few frustrated Spotify users referenced layoffs at the company and questioned whether its shedding of key talent was to blame for Wrapped’s fizzle. The company let go of some 1,500 people, 17 percent of its workforce, this time last year, something CEO Daniel Ek later acknowledged “did disrupt our day-to-day operations more than we anticipated.”
Seemingly, Wrapped relied on AI more than ever this year, with AI podcasts to analyze your listening habits, an algorithmic playlist hosted by Spotify’s AI DJ, and bizarre, probably AI-generated genre descriptions.
Yet it seems unlikely the layoffs were the only thing that impacted the quality of Wrapped this year. It could be that the algorithms are just losing touch.
That’s not to say they’re not tracking stream numbers the way they used to—although there are conspiracy theories to that effect—but rather that everyone now knows they’re being tracked, and algorithms just aren’t able to pick up on organic trends the way they used to.
After years of embarrassingly finding out that they spent more time listening to My Chemical Romance breakup songs than they did listening to their friends’ advice, people are now self-conscious about what they play and in what volume. Just as much as everyone went into this year’s Wrapped season prepared to brag about their Brat Summer, they were just as worried about telling on their Sad Bastard autumn. Parents, once again, found that their Wrapped wasn’t about their own tastes, but their children’s.
Wrapped has ceased being about one person’s surprising listening habits and more about nebulous shifts in vibe. Yes, lots of people listened to Chappell Roan and Kendrick Lamar this year. Is anyone the least bit stunned?
But this isn’t even just a Spotify issue. Lots of platforms now offer year-in-review wrap-ups, and nearly all of them feel like a collective shrug. Over on TikTok, the company touted that its users were very interested in being demure, very into Moo Deng. Yeah, no kidding. These revelations are about as shocking as the fact that there were 1.2 million BookTok posts in the first 10 months of the year, something anyone who has ever opened the app could probably tell you is a big part of the platform.
Reading its annual report, I was reminded that, perhaps, TikTok’s algorithm has gotten too good at pointing people in the direction of sure-fire hits and less good at loading FYPs with videos people will find incredibly inventive or fascinating.
In other unsurprising news, horniness was big on Grindr this year. The hookup app’s Unwrapped report also named Charli XCX as Mother of the Year and found that the Sex Position of the Year was missionary. Actually, maybe that is surprising. For Grindr, at least.
My final thought, though, comes from a year-end mainstay that (I don’t think) is algorithmically based: Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year. Determined by popular vote, input from experts, and, as Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl told The New York Times, a little bit of “dark art,” this year’s word is … drumroll … “brain rot.” Er, you know, the degeneration that comes from too much time looking at dumb stuff online.
First, yes, that’s two words. Second, other people also noticed this discrepancy, proving that maybe all of the internet’s beloved year-end traditions are feeling the heat of social media scrutiny this year. “Brain rot” also beat out “demure” and “romantasy,” the frequent BookTok topic. So, ultimately, maybe algorithms did impact this one, too, just not in the way you might expect. Maybe the real brain rot was all the decisions we made along the way.
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Loose Threads:
Martial law on Bluesky. Earlier this week South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in the country. The country’s opposition parties have already moved to impeach him, but while it was happening, it served as one of Bluesky’s first big news events to unfold on the platform. If you missed it, I highly suggest going back and reliving the moment through Verge features editor Sarah Jeong’s semi-drunk skeets.
Tsunami warning on Bluesky. On Thursday, Bluesky had another big news event: a tsunami warning that kept much of Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, on edge for over an hour, sharing updates, cracking jokes, and relishing the fact that there was a new place to go to discuss these things.
An astute skeet. About Chappell Roan and Twisted Sister.
Need some holiday … something? Advent Carolndar is back. It’s a fun lil web show of made-up holiday carols from a pair of very witty theater nerds. If you haven’t watched it before, go back and watch all the episodes from years past while you’re on their Instagram page.
