After a long, agonizing wait, 2024’s Spotify Wrapped was finally released on Wednesday morning, and loyal listeners were deeply disappointed and attacked Spotify with memes and mockery.

What is Spotify Wrapped?

Spotify Wrapped is an annual publication that distills Spotify listener data into easily digestible, personality-defining metrics, a bit like a Buzzfeed quiz for music lovers.

“Wrapped” has become a popular annual tradition and meme frenzy on social media, giving listeners the opportunity to share their sophisticated (or cheesy) musical tastes with their friends, family, and strangers across the internet.

Spotify Wrapped stays relevant by providing listeners with new data categories, labels and breakdowns, such as a personalized playlist of their top 100 songs.

Last year, Spotify gave listeners their own “Sound Town,” adapting their musical tastes to real-world locations.

This year, the mood was sour – listeners criticized Spotify for relying too heavily on AI, and 2024’s “Wrapped” lacked the granular metrics that users have come to expect.

Some even joked that Spotify’s official advertising was better than Wrapped.

What went wrong with Spotify Wrapped 2024?

Spotify Wrapped from 2024 didn’t offer listeners their top music genres, top albums, or their top podcasts.

Instead, listeners received a “Music Evolution” list that detailed a selection of creatively titled musical microgenres.

These are not genres that would help one navigate a music store or even a simple Google search, as they are not used outside of Spotify.

Of course, the strangest labels quickly became memes, but it was hard to tell which were created by Spotify and which were invented by internet commenters.

“Pink Pilates Princess” proved to be the most popular phrase, although there was no shortage of bizarre microgenres.

Several commentators blamed an overreliance on AI and Spotify’s mass layoffs for the lackluster presentation.

Some felt their readings were off and even suspected the AI ​​had hallucinated some of the data.

Spotify Wrapped offers AI-powered podcasts

AI has been openly embraced by Spotify, and this year the streaming service partnered with Google to turn Wrapped’s data into an AI-generated “podcast.”

That was a bad idea; Listening to a bunch of AI bots mindlessly spit out empty observations while mimicking the pace of human speech is a soul-destroying experience.

Podcasts are all about personality; Listeners often form parasocial relationships with podcasters, tuning in to hear their unique takes. Nobody wants to listen to AI-generated voices pretending to have a conversation.

This year’s lackluster “Wrapped” angered some listeners so much that they gave up on Spotify altogether.

Luckily, Spotify Wrapped 2024 also had a human touch, as listeners were rewarded with a short “thank you” video from one of their top artists – listeners appreciated their clip of Weird Al eating a sandwich in his video.

Not all memes were negative; Many listeners took the opportunity to crack jokes.

And of course, more juice from the “Holding Space for Defying Gravity” meme.

Overall, the disappointment was undeniable; TikTok, X (Twitter), and Reddit were full of complaints about Spotify Wrapped 2024, far from the typical celebratory posts.

This year, AI has been pushed into every corner of the creative industry, and the machine’s fingerprints (or lack thereof) are everywhere; Spotify is just the latest culprit.

In a recent viral post

AI-generated ads, Shrimp Jesus and Spotify Wrapped; The mess has become inescapable, and it seems consumers are fed up with the taste.

MORE FROM FORBES

ForbesCoca Cola’s AI-generated advertising controversy, explainedFrom Dani Di PlacidoForbesSydney Sweeney’s reaction to AI-generated portraits goes viralFrom Dani Di PlacidoForbesTikTok’s “Suspect Challenge” memes, explainedFrom Dani Di PlacidoForbesTikTok’s ‘Hear Me Out’ Cake Trend, ExplainedFrom Dani Di Placido