Announcing The Spotify Wrapped Tag!

Music. It has always been an integral part of my life. I started playing piano when I was three years old. As kids, my brother and I would run circles around the living room to the tune of Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Facts are Facts.” Christmas music is a huge element of our holiday traditions, and every single day I listen to some sort of movie soundtrack while I write.

Until this past September, I relied on CDs I owned or individual tracks I bought from Amazon or iTunes. But just before we embarked on a family vacation to the beach, my dad expanded his Spotify account to a family plan…which means I now have my own Spotify! This has MASSIVELY expanded my musical library, allowing me to listen to artists and albums I might not otherwise have been able to enjoy.

That’s why I found Spotify Wrapped so much fun last week. Granted, it’s only a summary of the last three months; I can only imagine what my Spotify Wrapped will look like next year! But it was still loads of fun…and in some ways, rather revealing.

So with all that said, here’s the first blog tag I’ve ever created, based on Spotify Wrapped’s often-hilarious descriptions/categorizations of my year in music. If you have Spotify and want to run with this tag on your own blog, I’ll have a list of the categories/questions at the end of this post (plus a few rules).

What was your #1 song of the year?

“What I Love About Charlie” from the Marriage Story soundtrack. For such a dismal tale, Marriage Story has one of the sweetest, most whimsical scores I’ve ever heard–and when I first created my daily writing playlist, I listened to it on repeat.

Was I shocked and sheepish when I saw that this track was my top one for 2021? Yes. Was I surprised that any track from this album would be my #1? No.

What were your other top songs of the year?

My top 5 tracks were all from Marriage Story, but my “100 Top Tracks” playlist featured plenty of other selections from my writing playlist (like “Beth’s Story” from Queen’s Gambit, “Chalkboard” from The Theory of Everything, “Breathe Deeply Jules” from The Intern, “Broken Free” from Black Widow, etc.), PLUS songs like:

“L’Amore Sei Tu (I Will Always Love You)” by Katherine Jenkins
“Neon Moon” by Brooks & Dunn and Kacey Musgraves
“Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift
“High Noon” by Andrew Peterson
“Is That Alright?” by Lady Gaga (from A Star is Born)

Which song will play as you defeat an ancient vengeful spirit?

“Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. Truly one of my favorite songs ever–one that I’ve often sung at the top of my lungs whenever I’ve needed to muster up some courage and determination.

Which song will play as a single tear drops into your reflection in the pond?

“Theme from Schindler’s List” from, obviously, Schindler’s List. I’ve never actually seen this movie (I’m too scared to watch it), but the main theme is so beautifully melancholy.

Which song will play as you face-off against your rival dance crew?

“Beautiful Dawn” by The Wailin’ Jennys–which is AWESOME, because if I were to face off against a rival dance crew (heehee), I would want to play a song so defiantly joyous and hopeful. “Show me how to love in the darkest dark / There’s only one way to mend a broken heart”

Which song will play as you proclaim your love in the rain [heavens, how melodramatic]?

“Vivaldi Variation (Arr. for Piano from Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 156)” played by Florian Christl. It’s a gorrrrrrgeous classical piece–and many thanks to my dear friend Emily of The Altogether Unexpected for sharing so much classical music with me!

How many minutes did you spend listening to Spotify?

Over the course of three months, I spent 14,228 minutes listening to my playlists…which is more than 65% of other listeners in the United States, apparently.

What is your audio aura?

“Dramatic” and “Zen” sound about right, considering all the epic movie soundtracks I listen to and the softer, more peace-full songs and genres I like to sing along to.

What were your top podcasts?

I’m currently transitioning from Apple Podcasts to Spotify where my podcasts are concerned, but Spotify Wrapped did count my (re)listen of the Circe audiobook as a podcast (and therefore my top one for 2021).

How many genres did you listen to this year?

33–which I think is pretty good!

What are your top genres?

Soundtrack
Christian Contemporary Music
Opera
Showtunes
Dance Pop

How many artists did you listen to, and who are your top 5 artists?

I listened to 403 different artists. Randy Newman was my top artist (thanks, once again, to the Marriage Story soundtrack), followed by Alexandre Desplat, Taylor Swift, The Piano Guys, and Theodore Shapiro.

If you would like to take this brand-new tag and run with it, please do so! And even if you don’t have Spotify, you can certainly use and adjust it for your own musical library. As promised, here are just two small rules plus the list of questions:

THE RULES:

1 – Link back to this original post on A Writer’s Tale

2 – Share this image at the top of your post:

THE QUESTIONS: