Today Spotify unveiled its annual Wrapped experience— an interactive look back at the music you personally listened to this past year.
I find myself oddly looking forward to this pointless tradition every year not just to see my own musical breakdown, but also seeing that of my friends and strangers I follow on the internet.
So much of the music we listen to, we listen to in private. Sure, my Wrapped gets hijacked every year by the fact that I also use my Spotify for work in the yoga classes I teach. Thanks to this my most played song of 2021 is my go-to song for savasana.
But otherwise? It’s pure Kayla. My own personal soundtrack of 2021 and a reminder of what my life looked like through music.
[[my 2021 in music]]
I’ll look back on this year and remember my continued obsession with One Direction and Harry Styles. Those weeks this summer when I couldn’t stop listening to Olivia Rodrigo. I still related deeply to the heartbreak of a teenager.
I’ve always been fascinated by music’s ability to transfix and transform us. It’s one of the reasons I almost went to school to become a music therapist. When I’m feeling sad or anxious I’ll soothe myself by listening to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. But only the 1993 Los Angeles Recording.
I’ll forever associate Sign of the Times by Harry Styles with the early days of the pandemic. I’d listen to the song in a stupor walking around empty Manhattan. Hearing that song again this weekend while seeing him in concert instantly brought me back to that feeling.
And yes, I really love seeing your Wrapped, too.
I personally love seeing other people posting their Wrapped not to judge (I mean who am I to judge, I’m 31 years old and my top artist is One Direction — and I’m in the top 0.5% of their listeners this year.) But because it gives me a peek into your inner life. Almost like reading a page from your diary. Did you also dance around your room to Olivia Rodrigo this year? Do you also listen to Abba to get hyped?
Even though I didn’t end up studying music therapy in college, I did get to take a course in junior year. One of my favorite quotes I came across in that class was:
“Songs express who we are and how we feel, they bring us closer to others, they keep us company when we are alone. They articulate our beliefs and values, and they bear witness to our lives. Songs weave tales of our joys and sorrows, they reveal our innermost secrets, and they express our hopes and disappointments, our fears and triumphs. They are our musical diaries, our life stories. They are the sounds of our personal development”. – Dr. Kenneth Bruscia
To anyone that does share their Wrapped, thank you for sharing a page from your own 2021 diary. Whether your top artists are shameful like mine — may I repeat I’m in the top 0.5% of One Direction listeners — or your music taste is far more refined, I personally love getting a glimpse of your 2021.
And if your taste in music is much like mine, I say let your freak flag fly.
I’ve spent so much of my life feeling ashamed for liking the things that I like. I love musical theater. And somewhat trashy novels. I can re-watch Sex and the City over and over again. And I’ll probably never care about the movies that are nominated for best Oscar. But that is who I am. It’s taken me a long time to be shamelessly me, but this is the real Kayla, One Direction obsessed and all.
Maybe I’ll start thinking ahead to next year’s Wrapped and it will inspire me to branch out in my musical taste from 2010’s boy bands. But probably not. I am who I am 🤷♀️
