Spotify dropped its highly-anticipated, yearly ‘Wrapped’ on Wednesday (Dec 4) but the listeners have been left disappointed at what turned out to be a ‘bland’ and ‘disappointing’ effort from the streaming giant. This year’s Spotify Wrapped did not provide listeners with their top music genres, or their top albums. Instead, an odd surprise, termed “wrapped AI podcast” was served which used Google’s NotebookLM technology to verbally recap users’ listening habits. The bizarre addition featured artificial intelligence (AI) voices elaborating on the data points mentioned in the Wrapped.

The users have since taken to social media to lash out at Spotify for heavily leaning into AI and creating something that did not feel like Wrapped of the previous years.

“Spotify wrapped is so underwhelming and reeks of AI…there seems to be real lack of effort this year from the boring visuals to the missing genres and quirks,” said one user, while another added: “Hi I’m just here to remind you all that AI is going to ruin the world and spotify wrapped is the perfect dramatic example of that.”

A third added: “So apparently spotify fired a lot of workers and used AI to create this year’s Wrapped, no wonder it suck.”

spotify wrapped is underwhelming and reeks of ai… there seems to be real lack of effort this year from the boring visuals to the missing genres and quirks

— ali (@twigsalterego) December 4, 2024

spotify wrapped is underwhelming and reeks of ai… there seems to be real lack of effort this year from the boring visuals to the missing genres and quirks

— ali (@twigsalterego) December 4, 2024

hi i’m just here to remind you all that AI is going to ruin the world and spotify wrapped is the perfect dramatic example of that. AI cannot replace creative individuals.

— bre (@relaxitsbre) December 6, 2024

Last year, Spotify gave listeners their own custom “Sound Town,” matching their music tastes to real-world locations, which received widespread acclaim. However, this year, users were given a “music Evolution” list that details a selection of bizarrely titled musical micro-genres. From “Coastal Grandmother Fingerstyle Yacht Rock” to “Boujee Football Rap” to “Pink Pilates Princess Roller Skating Pop” – the listeners were left confused as to what the descriptions meant.

What the hell is this pic.twitter.com/SAKOYVEhiH

— j aubrey (@jaubreyYT) December 4, 2024

yeah no for sure pic.twitter.com/jgAXZXoKoQ

— kurtis conner (@kurtisconner) December 4, 2024

While it is not clear if AI was involved in the use of Wrapped, Spotify in a statement said this year’s year-ender was intended to make it “more about the users” with the “AI experiences”.

“Through the combination of Spotify’s powerful personalization technology and generative AI, we’ve created hyper-personalized Wrapped experiences that connect millions of listeners worldwide with the music and audio they love,” Spotify said.

Also Read | ‘Dead’, ‘Bye Bye Bye’: Israel’s Joke ‘Spotify Wrapped’ List Sparks Row

What is Spotify Wrapped?

Spotify Wrapped is a viral marketing campaign by the Swedish company, released annually since 2016 at the end of November or the start of December. It allows users to view a compilation of their listening activity that typically includes five top songs, singers they listened to the most and musical genres that resonated with them.

A colourful pictorial representation of the data across various slides is presented which the users can later post on social media.

LOS ANGELES:

An all-star lineup of late-night television hosts are uniting to chat about Hollywood’s ongoing labor disputes on a new podcast, a group effort to raise funds for their striking staff writers.

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver will take part in the podcast that debuts on Wednesday called “Strike Force Five,” according to a statement from streaming service Spotify. All five will appear on each episode and they will take turns as host.

The roughly 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike in early May after failing to reach a new labor agreement with the major Hollywood studios that produce films and TV shows. The SAG-AFTRA actors union, Hollywood’s largest union with 160,000 members, walked off the job in July.

Without teams of writers to pen topical jokes, the late-night shows have been airing re-runs for nearly four months.

The five hosts have been meeting weekly over Zoom “to discuss the complexities behind the ongoing Hollywood strikes,” Spotify said, and the new podcast will allow fans to “listen in on these once-private chats.”

Spotify said “Strike Force Five” will be available on most major podcast platforms and run for at least 12 episodes. Kimmel – in a post on social media platform X, previously known as Twitter – said the podcast would continue “for the remainder of the strike.”

All proceeds will go to the writers of the late-night shows, Spotify said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)