After a long wait, the end of 2021 has finally arrived, and the release the Dubs have been waiting for all year has come: Spotify wrapped. As of December 1st, all Spotify users have been gifted a personal slideshow displaying all of their listening habits. Spotify has gone above and beyond this year, adding new features and enhancing the overall experience to give listeners the best gift of all. 

As always, this year’s Spotify wrapped included the user’s top five tracks and artists, but there were new features added to the presentation. Spotify incorporated a slide that displayed the overall aura of each user’s music. Spotify’s audio aura visualizes the user’s top two music moods of the year. Spotify also included “Two truths and a lie” playing cards, which provide an interactive game that displays three facts about one’s listening habits this year. Users can identify which of these facts are true and which one is false. There is also a newly released feature that lets the Dubs blend their Spotify wrapped with their friends to compare results. Sophomore Addison Stevens was amazed by the new features. “The new audio aura feature was really cool. My aura was chill and lit, which pretty much summarizes most of my playlists,” he said. 

Although the Dubs love to see their Spotify Wrapped every year, there is always a debate about whether the lists are accurate or not. Spotify uses the total number of streams to calculate each user’s lists, but in the past, some users have felt that the slideshow didn’t truly capture their favorite songs and artists. However, junior Shalom Montgomery was able to predict her lists down to the top genre. “I thought my Spotify Wrapped was really accurate this year. All of my top artists and songs were exactly what I thought they would be,” she said. 

Spotify is well known for its annual slideshow, but Spotify isn’t the only streaming app to include a music summary. Since 2019, Apple Music has released a similar version of Spotify Wrapped called Apple Music Replay. This version has many of the same features as Spotify Wrapped, such as top artists and top songs. However, features such as top genres, audio aura, and Spotify blend are exclusive to Spotify. Junior Isabel Pileggi is a proud Apple Music user. “Even though I have Apple Music, I have to admit that Spotify Wrapped is better. Apple Music Replay doesn’t give a fun slideshow that plays your top songs like Spotify Wrapped does,” she said.

It’s always a bright start to the holiday season when Spotify Wrapped comes out. The Dubs can agree that this year, Spotify exceeded expectations. With all of the new features and accuracy, this year’s music summary has been one to remember.