Algorithms are ruining Spotify Wrapped

Is it me, or is it the algorithm?

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.

As we move into the new year, Embedded’s paid/free ratio will start to flip. By January, paid subscribers will have access to essays and the Sunday Scroll, while interviews, My Internets, and one essay a month will be free for everyone. —Kate

---

Anyone who read this post will not be surprised to learn that The 1975 swept my Spotify Wrapped. Taylor Swift followed in short order. The British Taylor Swift, Maisie Peters, made an appearance, as well as Isobel Waller-Bridge, the composer of my favorite soundtrack. I spent all year listening to these artists, and none of their appearances on my list came as a surprise. But one did, and they came in at #3: Bleachers.

No offense to Jack Antonoff, who produced many of the songs that featured prominently in my Wrapped, but I do not listen to Bleachers—on purpose. It is, however, the band Spotify automatically starts playing whenever I’ve exhausted The 1975 tracklist. I listened to The 1975 enough that Bleachers was able to Trojan Horse its way into my Top 5 by proxy—or really, by algorithm.