Spotify did our editors so dirty this year.
Happy Spotify Wrapped Season to all who celebrate! The streaming giant’s annual year-in-review of your personal music tastes is back for 2022, with some stats you’ve come to expect, and others — well, others you might not want to admit to. Which means, let’s talk about Spotify’s Audio Day, because I have not been read this hard since the Scholastic Book Fair in elementary school.
Spotify’s latest addition is positioned third on the Wrapped story you can find on your account, and trust me, it doesn’t hold back. Your Audio Day maps out a bold summary of your morning, afternoon, and nighttime listening habits using three succinct (read: blunt) words or phrases. Leave it to Spotify Wrapped to call out the “Theater Kids” and “Sad Bois” of the world as “moody” and “dramatic,” all while calling out the basic “Pumpkin Spice, Cottagecore” babes.
As someone whose Top Artists list is the poster child for pop (hi, fellow Harries and Swifties!), I don’t pretend my music taste is above the likes of Spotify Wrapped’s discerning eye. But for my Audio Day to pair “comforting upbeat” with “yearning” for my mornings is completely wild. The more I saw my coworkers and friends post their results online, the pattern of spicy oxymorons was too chaotic to not acknowledge. Curious to see how your Spotify Wrapped 2022 Audio Day measures up to Elite Daily’s editors? Here’s what our staff had to say about their results.
“Who on earth at Spotify decided my day starts with ‘yearning’ and ends ‘hopeless...’ because I just wanna talk. I can totally listen to ‘(Human Heart)’ by Coldplay for two weeks straight in April and still be perfectly happy, I swear! Now please excuse me, I have to go idly sob to the bridge of “doomsday” by Lizzy McAlpine like any sane, well-adjusted 27-year-old does with their Wednesday night.” - Alana Bracken, BDG Strategy Manager
“‘Sad Boi Love Soft’ sent me into orbit. Is that some kind of NSFW audio category? I listened to a lot of The 1975 this year, so maybe that's how Spotify would describe Matty Healy's aesthetic.” - Sarah Ellis, Dating Editor
“Everything about this is a yes. ‘Golden Hour’ specifically stands out because the Kacey Musgraves song of the same name was my wedding first dance song, and my now-husband and I played it a lot when we practiced our moves leading up to the wedding this year. So cheesy, I know.” - Lexi Williams, TV and Movies Editor
“Yes, I did spend most of this year in graduate school and at times felt ‘hopeless’ and ‘moody,’ but I know my usual playlists feature mostly upbeat and fun songs, especially ‘80s music. I promise that I'm not crying myself to sleep.” - Sarah Berman, BDG Strategy Coordinator
“With Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, and *cough* ABBA *cough* making up four of my top five artists, I'm not surprised to see my mornings defined as ‘playful’ and ‘empowering’ and my nights defined as ‘exciting’ and ‘light.’ But I primarily attribute my rebellious, angsty, and amped afternoons to my mid-day walks, listening to my fifth artist, Chlöe, along with my emo playlist of songs that were popular at Bamboozle in 2007.” - Kaitlin Cubria, Deputy Editor, Experiences and Style
“I was actually surprised at how accurate it was. In 2022, I usually started my day with either Harry's House or BTS. I blame ‘Matilda’ by Harry Styles for the ‘sad boi’ side and ‘Run BTS’ by BTS for the ‘energetic’ side. Taylor Swift is the reason my afternoons are pumpkin spice, cottagecore, and wistful. Someone also said the Audio Day is like your sun, moon, and rising signs, so I'm definitely a Taylor Swift sun, BTS moon, and Harry Styles rising.” - Rachel Chapman, Experiences Writer
“You know that lyric in ‘Anti-Hero’ where Taylor Swift sings, ‘I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror?’ Well, I feel like I just did both. ‘Theatre Kids Kindness Proud’ is so obviously a read and I've made peace with that at this point in my life, mostly because you can pry the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend soundtracks from my cold, dead hands.
What I can't figure out is how they got ‘Royalcore Princesscore Fancy’ from my musical taste. Is it because I would listen to Meghan Markle's podcast while walking my dog on my lunch breaks? This is haunting to me. I can't look away.” - Hayley Schueneman, Newsletter Editor, Strategist
If you’re curious to see how Spotify described your day in music (for better or for worse), as well as your top five songs, artists, and more for the year, check out your own Spotify Wrapped 2022.
