How old is your music taste? Spotify will tell you, though you may not like it

"There's how old you are, and there's how old Spotify thinks you are. That divide became clear this week with the release of Spotify Wrapped, the streaming platform's personalized year-end recap. It walks listeners through their top artists, albums, genres and more in a self-reflective (and occasionally mortifying) interactive slideshow, based on data and delivered with sass. The decade-old tradition varies slightly in its aesthetics and substance every year,"

"Charli xcx, the 30-something electro-pop artist known who invented "Brat," is spiritually 75, Spotify declared, because she listens to music from the late 1960s. The genre-defying, synth-savvy Grimes has a listening age of 92, while introspective singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams clocks in at 14, nearly half her real age. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, when asked by a reporter, revealed his comparatively youthful 44."

"It's not just celebrities. Within hours of Wrapped dropping, social media was ablaze with screenshots and memes from listeners mostly either bragging or baffled about their listening age particularly those many decades younger or older than their actual age. Jokes about "listening age gap relationships," dinosaurs and psychiatric evaluations ensued. It's become the norm for people to repost their top-five lists and listening time tallies on social media both giving Spotify free publicity and presenting a piece of themselves to their network."

Spotify Wrapped is a personalized year-end recap that shows listeners top artists, albums, genres and a calculated 'listening age.' The slideshow presents playful slides (for example, "Age is just a number, so don't take this personally") and uses listening data to assign a listening-age metric. Examples include Charli XCX at 75, Grimes at 92 and Gracie Abrams at 14, while Mark Carney reported 44. Social media filled with screenshots, memes and jokes about age gaps and mental evaluations, as users repost top lists and listening tallies. The feature has evolved over years, previously assigning 'sound towns' in 2023.

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