(Probably) Roasting My Spotify Wrapped

"Sorry Officer, but the rules of the road don't apply during the Free Bird Solo."

Hello again. It’s every Spotify users favorite day of the year. The 2022 Spotify Wrapped has finally arrived. A chance for the pretentious music people to use artsy visual proof that they have better music taste than you. A chance for Swifties to alert the other fans that they are, in fact, the bigger Swiftie. A chance for everyone (including myself) who had Kanye West on their top artists to say “Yikes!” It would be too easy to take this time to send jabs at Apple Music users, so I’m going to take the high road. That being said, those jabronis can’t even see their aura based on their music taste.

I had promised another music based blog months ago. To be honest, I have been having trouble curating a playlist that I could give justice to through writing. When my 2022 Spotify Wrapped arrived this morning I knew it was time. Spotify did all the work for me, anyway.

Unlike the several Instagram stories you have probably seen today, I am not really here to brag. Some of my Spotify Wrapped is pretty goofy. There are also many songs that I would like to either justify or explain. So without further ado, let’s dive into 1 AM Media’s 2022 Spotify Wrapped.

1 AM Media 2022 Spotify Wrapped (This is the playlist, I wanted to embed it and make it look fancy but Spotify and Substack are having some minor technical difficulties. I have been trying for about an hour and it’s driving me crazy so I have to settle for the link for now).

For this piece I am going to post the images that they gave me for my Wrapped and then state my case based on what it’s showing me. After I will give a little rundown on some of the songs and try to categorize them based on a phase I was going through, if it is an embarrassing entry, or perhaps I have a story explaining why I like the song so much.

1. GENRES

   

   This year it felt like I virtually stopped listening to rap music. I still love it and don’t have any intentions of not listening in the future, but I just got way more into other genres. I’m not surprised Rap made it to #2 though, because I have so much of it saved in my liked songs. I usually just throw all my music on Shuffle when I drive to and from school so that could explain how rap stayed in my top 5. I also got way more into rock. I have always loved rock but I started (poorly) playing the guitar again during the pandemic which, in turn made me appreciate the music even more. Nothing crazy here, yet, but it will likely get weird soon.

2. TOP SONG

   

   Frankly, I don’t know how to explain myself here. I’m very satisfied with listening to my Top Song a crisp 100 times. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, Free Bird is 9 minutes long. I’m not mathematician but listening to Free Bird 100 times is roughly 15 hours of Free Bird. I don’t regret it. This song is an all-time classic. If the National Anthem ever needed a backup, I would not be opposed to Free Bird stepping up. It’s the perfect song. Easy to learn lyrics, it’s about a breakup, it has a 5 minute double guitar solo. It can not be any better. If you’re thinking, “Wow this guy likes Lynyrd Skynyrd a whole lot”, you’re right and it gets worse.

3. TOP 5 SONGS

   

   I don’t know how this happened. I’m a little embarrassed that I went so hard for Lynyrd Skynyrd this year, but I STILL do not regret it. ” (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)” is one of the best albums of all time. As for “Hippies and Cowboys”, it’s a great song, but it was definitely one of those songs that hit me during a country phase. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is another 10/10 song from a 10/10 album. It is by far my favorite Oasis song, and will probably keep being my favorite in the future.

4. MY AUDIO DAY

   

   This made me laugh out loud. The least alarming part of this was my mornings. It make sense to start your day with mellow and easygoing music. I do have some questions as to what makes a song “tender” though. My afternoons sound like a middle school TBH and Rate. “TBH idk u that well but ur hype lit and funny rate: 7”. My nights lead me to believe that I live like Edgar* Allen Poe on uppers during my bedtime.

5. MY LISTENING PERSONALITY

   

   My Listening Personality is very inaccurate. I am so out of touch with new music it’s not even funny. Almost all the music on this year’s Wrapped is old as hell. I have trouble listening to new music because I tend to just stick to what I know. Everything else just comes to me.

6. TOP ARTISTS (FINAL)

   

   We already know how aggressively I listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd. I also really got into Pink Floyd this year. I had a surface level interest in Pink Floyd because of “Wish You Were Here” but I really dove in this year. I even got the chance to see Roger Waters at MSG which was amazing. Yikes to Kanye. I didn’t feel like I listened to Drake that much but much like Kanye, he has a lot of songs already in my liked songs. Johnny Cash makes sense, I really enjoy some of his later stuff like “When the Man Comes Around” “Thirteen”, and “We’ll Meet Again”.

Well, there ya have it. Those are some of 1 AM Media’s stats. I feel like the playlist itself does more justice than the pictures. There were 5 or 6 rap songs that I don’t particularly listen to any more than other rap songs. The rest of the playlist seems to be a blend of classic rock, 90’s rock/alternative, country both old and new. This year’s Spotify Wrapped definitely captured my music taste better than previous years. I seemed to have really zoned in on what I like. I’m not necessarily embarrassed by any of this years songs, except maybe “Hate My Life” by Theory of a Deadman (it was purely nostalgic, the song kind of sucks, and CERTAINLY hasn’t aged well). There is also a few songs on here from Season 2 of Euphoria like “Dead of Night” by Orville Peck, “It Ain’t Over Till it’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz and “Mystify” by INXS. Can you blame me? The show’s soundtrack goes crazy. I’m hoping for a 3rd season before I am FAR too old to be watching it, but that’s beside the point.

So as another year of music listening comes to an end, I can say I am satisfied. Please let me know if we have any of the same songs on our list. Believe it or not, I do like to see other people’s Wrapped. Especially when they are similar. I am excited to see where my strange taste in music will take me, but it’s likely I just listen to another 15 hours of “Free Bird”.

Thank you as always.

-CJ

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