Love it or loathe it, Spotify Wrapped lands in early December each year like a gift-wrapped box parachuted from above, and by now most people know how to deal with it, whether they avoid it like the plague or share it joyously with their friends.
There has been a steady flurry of imitators over the years, most of whom released this year within the same couple of days at the beginning of the month. Then I got a festive email from Chase Bank. Was it time for my year in review? Ho-ho boy, Chase. I don’t want to look back at all the money I spent over the year, no thanks. This is getting ridiculous.
the Spotify Wrapped onslaught
YouTube got into the act, and that was… fine, I guess. Fine at best. The thing about Spotify Wrapped is that a song is between two and three minutes, and it costs you little in terms of time to spontaneously listen to a bunch of songs you’ve rediscovered through Wrapped months later.
Doing the same with YouTube videos is a greater time investment, and I’d wager there’s less rewatch value in revisiting old videos than in listening to favorite songs. It was the equivalent of knocking a foul ball after YouTube already had two strikes. It wasn’t a strikeout, but it didn’t add much to their game, either.
Wikipedia has its version, too, called Year in Review. Now this could’ve been a fun one. Imagine all the late-night rabbit holes you’ve fallen into being synthesized and displayed to you months, even nearly a year, later.
But then the rug gets pulled out from under you when you learn that you had to have had an account and browsed Wikipedia’s mobile app to see the feature. Bummer. Most people, including me, are just Wikipediaing anonymously and on a mix of mobile and desktop. This one’s like letting a pop fly drop out of its glove after Wikipedia nearly landed it.
Then Garmin got into the act with its unpopularly paywalled Connect+ subscription plan. Yeah, for fitness tracker data. The idea behind it was decently solid until they made it something you had to pay for.
Sick of the imitators and want to get back to the real thing? There are still a few weeks left in the year to re-watch your Spotify Wrapped and even figure out their new collaborative Party feature.
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