—
**Spotify Wrapped Disappointed This Year, but Strava Came Through**
Spotify Wrapped has been the benchmark for annual recaps, turning the data we willingly share into a celebratory, shareable summary of our habits. It initiated the “Wrapped” trend, influencing numerous imitators like *Asana Wrapped* and Vanguard’s *Retirement Account Wrapped*. However, while Spotify deserves credit for the concept’s rise, this year, it missed the mark—except for one highlight: Strava.
Spotify Wrapped 2024 was, to put it frankly, unsatisfying. The creative elements we anticipated, such as personalized listening styles or quirky insights into our music preferences, were nowhere to be found. Instead, we were met with a bland assortment of AI-generated content that felt uninspired. The lack of genre breakdowns—presumably because Spotify laid off essential data scientists earlier this year—was particularly noticeable. As one Redditor succinctly noted, “This year’s wrap illustrates what happens when you swap creativity for AI.”
Another user shared a similar disappointment, expressing frustration over the absence of originality: “Previous years featured fun, unique concepts, like revealing which city your listening habits resembled or providing an MBTI-style listening type. This year, we’re left with a bunch of AI ‘features’ that lack quality. They didn’t even deliver on basic stats—where are my top 5 genres or the total number of genres I explored? And the visuals are extremely uninspiring. I want creativity, not AI.”
The frustration was so prevalent that some users even pondered switching to Apple Music. Although Apple’s *Replay* feature is not revolutionary, it comes with less fanfare and, thus, is less disappointing when it falls short. At least it avoids the gimmicky AI elements.
Spotify wasn’t alone in its inadequate year-end recap. Goodreads Wrapped, awaited eagerly by many bibliophiles, turned out to be a failure. The design resembled a hasty assembly using the most uninspired Canva template imaginable, and the images weren’t optimized for social media sharing—essentially missing the point of a “Wrapped.” However, experienced Goodreads users are all too familiar with such letdowns. There’s still hope that alternative book-tracking apps like Fable or StoryGraph may provide more engaging and visually appealing recaps.
In contrast to the wave of disappointing Wrappeds, one platform shone brightly: Strava. Its *Year in Sport* recap offered everything users desired—clean visuals, significant stats, and enjoyable insights. It emphasized key metrics such as your favorite sports, total active days, distance traveled, elevation gained, and even who engaged with your posts most. It was straightforward, data-oriented, and refreshingly free from AI gimmicks or cringe-inducing millennial buzzwords like Spotify’s notorious *Pink Pilates Princess*. On social media, Strava users lauded the feature, with many claiming it outperformed Spotify Wrapped.
One could argue that these year-end recaps have a deeper significance. For instance, Spotify and Goodreads might encourage us to broaden our musical and literary tastes, while Strava could inspire us to reflect on our fitness milestones. However, in practice, these features often transform our hobbies into performative, competitive activities, sapping the joy we find in music, reading, or physical activities.
Let’s face it: Wrappeds are meant to be shared. Perhaps you’re enlightened enough to post your recap simply for enjoyment, without needing validation. Maybe you don’t secretly wish for someone to comment, “Wow, your taste is impeccable, and your commitment to self-improvement is inspiring.” But if you’re anything like me, you’re an eager little attention-seeker, scouring the internet for a hint of acknowledgment. And this year, most Wrappeds left us feeling unsatisfied.
Except for Strava. Strava fed us well.
—