Music– it’s what fuels our very existence. In my opinion, music is essential to life. Nothing compares to the feeling you get when a song emphasizes the pain or happiness you feel. The idea that music is bland and strictly categorized is just wrong. Music can be unique and personalized, and to emphasize this, Spotify created “Your Top Songs 2019,” and each person has a completely different playlist.

This is not new– Spotify has been doing this for years. This personalized playlist, “Spotify Wrapped,” of your year started in 2008 and is a fun insight into your musical year. We are obsessed with wrap ups– we do it all over social media. Twitter has a year in memes trend, and Instagram gives us our “Top 9” most liked pictures throughout the year. 

This year Spotify added a twist: a new playlist titled, “Best of the Decade For You,” giving listeners the chance to reminisce over the embarrassing boy bands they fantasized over in 2010 and the old Taylor Swift love songs.

Spotify also revamped its feature to show listeners how many minutes they’ve spent listening to particular artists and songs (thanks Spotify for showing me I’m not very productive).

I’ve listened to music on Spotify for 14,365 minutes, and was named “World Citizen” because I have listened to artists from 41 countries. Artists like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeren, Rihanna and Niall Horran all helped to make my decade a hit. 

This new feature allows people to go back in time and relive some of the memories of their favorite songs. Music is so much more than catchy tunes and genres, and Spotify understands us perfectly.

Turns out I’ve been listening to music on Spotify since 2014. That’s a little less than a third of my short 17 years being alive. 

My top artist of the decade was Khalid, I spent 11 hours obsessively listening to his songs. So thank you Khalid for making my decade a bop.

Other artists I loved through the decade were Post Malone, Jack Johnson, Kenny Chesney, and John Mayer. This wrap up is interesting, because I have such a diverse music taste.

Not only was I able to visualize how my time was spent and how my music taste grew over the years, I was able to see which podcasts I loved. I spent 77 minutes listening to podcasts such as, “Nothing much happens; bedtime stories for grown-ups” before bed. 

It is also special for the artists who have their music featured on Spotify. Guitarist and high school senior, Nicholas Pare, has ended the year with his album “Memory” on Spotify, and has even performed his music at school concerts.

“Digital platforms such as Spotify are designed to benefit the audience, and I’m glad I could be a part of that this year,” said Pare.

Throughout the years, a lot has happened, in our society, and even for people individually. For each person, the past few years have been different, and it comes across in their music. It is common for people to feel through their music and the new “Wrapped” playlist shows listeners exactly what they listened to during those seasons of life.

To see how your year or decade sounded visit Spotifywrapped.com and log in to get listening!