My Pandemic Playlist

Music has been, and always will be, an integral part of society and relationships. In such unprecedented times, where in-person gatherings and hangouts have been rendered dangerous, music is one of the easiest ways to stay connected with friends and family.

Right before the pandemic hit, I was on top of the world. My fiancé and I had gotten back from our trip to Washington D.C., newly engaged and excited for our future, when the very next week, the entire world fell around us as COVID-19 made it’s official entrance to the Unites States.

Music was something I, and so many others around me, turned to for a sense of comfort during a time that was so unlike anything else we had ever known. I leaned on the songs that many of my family members loved and regularly listened to just to feel closer to them since I was unable to see many of them.

One of the coolest features of any music services is Spotify’s Year Wrapped, which if you are not familiar, tells you about the artists you’ve listed to, different genres you dabbled in, and your most played song of the year. I didn’t start using Spotify until late last year and didn’t know about the Year Wrapped feature until this year, when I saw many of my friends and family posting their stats.

As soon as I saw people posting about it, I immediately went to my app and found my cute Instagram-story like statistical breakdown. I hope you enjoy my “tay-tay-fangirl-craft-beer-snob-cottagecore” Spotify Year Wrapped.

“The longest year might not be over yet… But your wrapped is finally here.”

The Spotify Wrapped starts by telling you how many new artists you listened to for the year and I had a whopping 465! I genuinely do not remember branching out and listening to that many new people; I felt like I listened to the same songs all year.

Along those same lines, I listened to 87 new music genres! The total number of genres I listened to was 238- I didn’t even know there were that many different types of music.

My top 5 genres were: Indie Pop, Pop, Modern Rock, Hopebeat, and Indie Folk.

If you’re like me, you have no idea what Hopebeat music even is, but a quick google search tells me it is defined as “an atmospheric subgenera of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody” with lyrics that lean towards introspective and existential. That definitely sounds like my type of music!

I definitely feel as though I listen to indie music more than any other music type, so having two indie subgenres in my Top 5.

My top songs of 2020 were: Wait a Minute! by Willow Smith, 1922 by Box the Oxford, Seventeen by Sjowgren, What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club, and hold on by flor.

I have, and probably always will, listen to a song I find super catchy about a million times before moving on, and I know for definite that these songs all fit that bill. I remember listening to each and every one of those songs on an endless repeat; and I would more than likely still listen to them all over and over and over again.

Spotify even tells you what musical decade you listened to most, and mine just so happens to be the 1960s. Bob Dylan is one of my favorite artists, so it’s no surprise to me that the 60s is the decade I listened to the most. Bob Dylan’s album, The Times They Are A-Changin’, is one of my favorite albums ever.

My top artist of the year was Mumford and Sons, which again, is no shock to me. What was a shock though, was that I was in the top 2% of their listeners! I listened to the Mums more than 98% of their fanbase. That is absolutely wild. My most-listened song by them was Wild Heart from their best, and most recent, album, Delta; and I spent over 745 minutes listening to their music.

My Top 5 Artist of the year are: Mumford and Sons, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Hozier, and… Bob’s Burgers.

It seems that I have very basic taste in music until it gets to my fifth most listened to artist. The music from Bob’s Burgers is incredibly catchy and absolutely hilarious and I will more than likely listen to the show’s music for years to come.

The end of my Year Wrapped brings such a sense of nostalgia for a year that changed my life and the entire world.

Along with Spotify Wrapped, I had been seeing another cute music analysis software, called How Bad Is Your Spotify?, that gives mildly harsh (yet very funny and accurate) reviews on your Spotify listening habits.

It’s an A.I. software that evaluates your music taste, which I was very curious about. You just log in to your Spotify account and the system gets to work.

It asks you a couple questions about your listening habits and then it tells you how it really feels.

It was an amusing experience that just adds to the fun when looking at your Spotify Wrapped.

After a wild year, I can’t wait to see how my listening habits change, and if I have any similarities with the year that is 2020.

Here is my 2020 Spotify Wrapped Playlist, for your listening pleasure (and laughter, as the Bob's Burgers songs are hilarious.) Please enjoy some of the tunes that got me through the roughest year I, and many others, have ever experienced.