CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
Music streaming giant Spotify has today launched its annual Spotify Wrapped campaign for 2024.
This means the platform’s users are getting raw insights into their own, sometimes daunting, listening habits today.
Marking its tenth anniversary in 2024, Spotify Wrapped provides users an exciting opportunity to see how the algorithmic patterns of AI-charged tech conglomerates have swayed their music taste over the year, and the record-breaking destruction of culture that has resulted in every major pop stars singing very vague lyrics in neutral accents to samples of famous old songs from a time before the entire industry was beholden to streaming numbers.
However, it seems that global inflation and the cruel cost-of-living crisis might be enough to overpower the algorithms, as users make an extra effort to seek out melancholic music that matches the mood of the last 12 months.
Local finance analyst, Greg Sharma (30) grew up listening to 50 Cent and Kings Of Leon.
In years gone by, his Spotify Wrapped data shows that he’s a fan of hip hop, and heavy rock. In 2017 he even ventured into the uncharted waters of SoundCloud rap.
“I live in the city and I used to spend a lot of time playing hype up music at the gym and in the footy sheds”
“My teenage years timed perfectly with Kanye West’s College Drop Out, Late Registration, Graduation and then 808s and Heartbreaks dropped when I first started smoking weed. I guess that’s fairly normal for a middle class Australian teenager”
But 2024 marks a complete gear change.
After 12 months of late bills, $20 bargain bin steaks and rent increases – Greg is now a country music guy.
“I finally understand it” he says.
As someone who once ridiculed country music as some sort of hillbilly past time, Greg says he now has a deep appreciation from the salvation that can be found in the soothing guitar chords, and the gentle lyricism that speaks directly to the soul.
“I get it now. I understand the themes. The financial pressures of the rural working class. The praying for better days. The women who leave when you can’t get your shit together”
“Luke Combs, Brad Cox, Troy Cassar-Daley… Even a bit of Keith Urban. I wouldn’t say that’s my shit, but that’s been my shit this year”
