November 29, 2023. People around the world anxiously checked their phones to see the fateful notification: Spotify Wrapped has been released! These seemingly innocuous summaries of Spotify users’ listening habits were met with a multitude of emotions, from relief to shock to horror. Some were so horrified that they refused to be included in this article. “Some” may or may not include one of the authors.
We have searched throughout the world to gather responses for our little survey on the peoples’ Spotify Wrapped and would like to share with you their responses.
First, a brief introduction to our victims. Stephanie L. (‘25) and Brady Y. (‘25), two of this article’s authors, were the first to volunteer, albeit reluctantly. Aindra T. (‘25) declined to disclose her YouTube Music Recap to the public. Truman Y. (‘25) volunteered during a spontaneous Spanish class, while Lily Z. (‘28) cautiously agreed to an interview, thus becoming our sole representative of the middle school. Alexander C. (‘24) is an avid music listener who was interrogated due to his insane number of hours. Yourui S. (‘25) was interrogated over a lunch period and a brief session in Dr. Noble’s office hours.
Warning: These responses are unfiltered, unedited, and may not be for the faint of heart (long way of saying we quoted everything they said )
Q: Who was your top artist?
Stephanie: Stray Kids. I love Stray Kids!!!
Brady: bbno$
Truman: Um…The Weeknd?
Lily: Uhhhh… wait let me check… George Watsky
Alexander: Harry Styles
Yourui: Paramore
Q: How many artists have you listened to?
Stephanie: 626
Brady: Uh huh huh… wait a second… young man… 3514
Truman: I don’t know that. Should I check right now? [a long pause] 632
Lily: 199
Alexander: 1555
Yourui: I forgot. Let me look. [She turns on her iPad.] Oh wait, I don’t have WiFi. Ok. How many artists do I have. Let me check… [She opens her computer and Instagram, accidentally opening her Christmas song playlist.] Sorry. Where… where’s my wrapped… oh I found it! Bro my laptop’s on 28%. Is very… ohhhhhh my god. See I- let me just get my phone. [She turns on her phone.] Ok. Sound off. I don’t have cellular data. 407.
Q: What was your top song?
Stephanie: bell’s palsy – suggi
Brady: que sera que sera… NO, que sera sera by who was it… Meltycanon [The song is “que sera, sera” by Meltycanon.]
Truman: Wait. Lemme check. Wait there’s like a list right? [“It’s in the end,” Ashwit M. (‘25) offers helpfully.] “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar
Lily: “Carpe Diem” – Joker Out
Alexander: “Sparks” by Coldplay
Yourui: My top song was “The Only Exception” by Paramore
Q: How many minutes have you listened to in the past year?
Stephanie: 19,997. I feel like a failure because I was 3 minutes away from 20k. 3. Minutes!!!
Brady: [pause] couple hundred thousand… 120,145
Truman: 22,500
Lily: 10,058
Alexander: 193,721 minutes
Yourui: Uhhh something like 40k. Wait I’m slow but I’m not slurping, I’m being… trolled. [She shows her screen nonverbally.] 41,328 minutes
Q: [to Brady and Alexander only] How did you get that many minutes?
Brady: Whenever I get home I turn on Spotify. Whenever I go to sleep I turn on Spotify. Whenever I wake up I turn on Splotify [He clears his throat.] Spotify. Whenever I drive, no, get droven [sic] to school I turn on Shpotify. When I get to school I turn off Spotify. [He says something not very appropriate to include in this article.]
Alexander: Essays [Aiden J. (‘24) adds, “His AirPods are perpetually in his ears.”] [“The only class that he doesn’t have them in is Meyerowitz because he would get a stern talking to,” Edward C. (‘24) contributes as well.]
Q: Do you think your Wrapped is a good indication of your music taste?
Stephanie: Sure.
Brady: Yeah, considering the top songs are not what I expected and it’s an indication to how random my playlist is because I listen to every genre. I have more genres than she has… nevermind. Artists [Referring to how he has more genres than Stephanie’s number of artists.]
Truman: Not. really. Like I feel like… at the beginning of the year I listened to a lot of rap but now I’m trying to diversify so I think right now it’s not a GREAT indication.
Lily: Eh, not really
Alexander: Only the first half of the year, not anymore.
Yourui: [Eagerly, before our interviewer finishes.] YES
Q: If not, what do you think your music taste is like?
Truman: I think it’s more heavy on hip-hop rap but also… like a lot of it is like starting to be more diverse like I try every time I listen to music to listen to one album per artist from each artist that’s not rap or hip hop because I’m kind of getting tired.
Lily: Uh, indie
Alexander: Kind of the same but with more genres, like, like, Chinese music, K-pop, rap, other stuff too.
Q: If there is anything niche in your Spotify Wrapped, what would you like to say about it?
Stephanie: There is a random Thai song (ลืมไปแล้วว่ายังไง (Fade) by Jeff Satur) in my Spotify Wrapped and I just want to say it’s a really good song to listen to to fall asleep to on the airplane. Also, Thai as a language sounds nice.
Brady: Lemme check real quick… [He scrolls not very quickly.] Oh, none of my genres were what they were last year. And something else, something else, who knows. But this year it’s lofi rap and… let me check. Spotify 2023… [He makes assorted unintelligible noises.] Ok so my number 1 is [“…”] my number 2 is [“…”] [“We just asked for what’s niche.”] Oh it’s just not what I expected. Nothing is what I expected.
Truman: You mean like niche artist? [We discover that Truman is looking at Twitch. He’s looking at College Board as well.] I think within hip-hop I listen to more niche artists and songs
Lily: What does that mean [“Just anything you found interesting or that you think other people might find interesting.”] I think Spotify was very skibidi this year. Uhhhh I think I have over 20 languages but all of them are from Eurovision, is that interesting? [“That is interesting.”]
Alexander: No, it’s like hella basic, just look at it.
Yourui: I would like to say I am certified British. My location match is York in the UK, so I think that says a lot about me as a person. Because I am not a real person. [“Does that mean British people are not real?”] Yeah. Have you not heard?
Q: What day did you listen to most and how many minutes was it?
Stephanie: June 3, 289 minutes. It was the England trip and I was trying to fall asleep. It was not working. I think over half of my ลืมไปแล้วว่ายังไง plays were on that day.
Brady: September 9th. Stop you guys are just highlighting my schizophrenia!!! Ok anyways, I peaked September 9th for 988 minutes. [“Wow that’s more than 16 hours! How did you manage!”] I forgot what happened on September 9th. I think it was because… ok [At his request, we are off the record.]
Truman: May 16th at 402. I think it was like one night where I was like, I was doing a really long assignment and I listened from 5 pm to 11 pm [“Wasn’t that the AP week?”] Wait then how did I listen that much? I swear there’s no way I listened that much [“You could have left it off,” Mr. Quezada offers.] Well, I could’ve but there’s no way I did [He contemplates the situation while consulting Discord and Twitch for answers. “Any further conclusions?”] Nope. Nope nope nope nope. Nope nope nope nope nope! Nah. And finally no.
Lily: April 18, 582 minutes. I don’t remember. I thibk [sic] it was because I was sad [“:fire:”] :fire:
Alexander: I peaked on October 1st, 1235 minutes, I was probably grinding college apps. I work until 2-3 AM, and then wake up at 7 AM, and repeat.
Yourui: I’m supposed to know THAT??! When does it say that. Ok… February 11, 578 minutes. What was that? I don’t know. I reorganized my calendar so it doesn’t actually say anything on that day. [Yourui very obviously has a bad memory.]
Q: If you could recommend one song from your top ten, what would it be?
Stephanie: I would recommend my top song (bell’s palsy – suggi) because the lyrics are very poetic, and it’s also a good song to listen to while studying because it’s not very loud and distracting. I get distracted easily.
Brady: I would recommend “Summer Came and Went-” I mean “Summer Went and Came Around-” [Incoherent yelling from Stephanie typing it wrong] you guys are genuinely [Incoherent screaming] you guys are genuinely… ok I can’t say it, otherwise I will get reported [The actual song is “Summer Went and Came Around” by Kaz Moon]
Truman: One song from my top ten? Let me check that out again- wait how do I see [We kindly provide guidance.] It’s not loading oh finally it is let’s see top 10 wait the one I recommend the most? Is it fine if it has a swear in the title I’m just gonna go with the non-swear. “Kiss Land” by The Weeknd
Lily: Uhhhhh… “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Fall Out Boy
Alexander: “Stargazer” by The Neighbourhood
Yourui: Uhhmmm [Yourui’s favorite word is um.] Top ten. I would say “Dreams” by The Cranberries. You said one right?
Q: Regardless of your top song, what is one song you would recommend to our readers?
Stephanie: I would recommend “Can’t Catch Me Now” by Olivia Rodrigo from the new Hunger Games movie. I found it the day of my 16-hour grind before the World Scholar’s Cup Triple Threat Day and I played it probably 30 times when I studied. I did well so it’s good luck now.
Brady: “Humility” by Gorillaz. Humidity?!?!?!? You spelled the name wrong!!!!! Ok, I’ll give you the full MLA citation for this [expletive]. YOU CAN’T SAY [sigh] Ok. Ok. Humility, parentheses, feat. George Benson, close parentheses, by Gorillaz comma George Benson in the album “The Now Now.”
Truman: That’s a tough question. [“We know, we’re really deep.”] Ok, I guess I would say it’s, “Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst” by Kendrick Lamar. Yeah. Is that it? Ok.
Lily: “You Took a Sample of My Pasta” by BTS. So true. Is that a valid answer? [“YES ABSOLUTELY. It’s Bad Lip Reading though.”] Yeah, BTS stands for Bad Tlip Sreading? [“Oh. My bad.”]
Alexander: “Snooze” by SZA.
Yourui: Didn’t you just ask that question? [We clarify; Yourui clearly has not been paying attention.] I would say “Never Gonna Give You Up.” On full volume. With noise-canceling headphones. Ok. [She nods satisfactorily.]
