Why People Love Spotify’s Annual Wrap-Ups

Way back in June, my cousin and I joined the pilgrimage of people who came of age in the mid-aughts trekking to New York City to see the musical adaptation of Mean Girls on Broadway. Though we were definitely going ironically, I believe that familiarity with the material is crucial to appreciating any theatrical performance, so on our drive up, I cranked the campy, sugared soundtrack on repeat until our ears were ringing. We listened to it again on the way back, and again the next day, and then I was immensely sick of it.

And then, last week, I and more than 83 million other Spotify users were treated to this year’s release of the music-streaming service’s annual Wrapped tool, which provides users with an animated soundtrack, streamed for a total of four hours.