Spotify (Re)Wrapped
Helping listeners rediscover the music they saved, loved, and forgot
Overview
Project type: User research, product concept, interactive prototype
Course: Stanford CS 377U - Understanding Users
Team: Sophie Chen, Helen He, Anchal Sayal, Jasmine Steele
My role: UX research, product design, prototyping, user testing
Timeline: April - June 2024
Tools: Spotify API, Node.js, Heroku, Figma / paper prototyping
Outcome:
We designed and built an interactive prototype that helped users resurface older saved songs from their Spotify libraries. Through a field study with 11 participants, we learned that users valued rediscovery, but wanted more control over what “forgotten” meant and more transparency around data access.
Legal Disclaimer
The creators of Spotify (Re)Wrapped hereby declare that our use of the term 'Wrapped' is intended solely for the purpose of whimsical entertainment and light-hearted musical exploration. Let it be known that we believe in respecting intellectual property rights and our playful adaptation of 'Wrapped' seeks to compliment, not infringe, on the linguistic creativity of Spotify’s popular feature. The term 'Wrapped' as used herein represents a legally distinct, yet musically reverent, endeavor!
Problem
Music libraries grow quietly.
A user hears a song, saves it, and moves on. Over months or years, the library becomes crowded with music from different moods, memories, phases, and contexts. The songs are still technically there, but they are no longer emotionally or practically accessible.
The problem was not that users lacked music. The problem was that saved music lost visibility over time.
This created a product opportunity: How might we help listeners reconnect with songs they once cared about, without making rediscovery feel random, invasive, or cluttered?
Initial interviews
We began with interviews and playlist walkthroughs to understand how people used Spotify in everyday life.
Instead of only asking what participants listened to, we asked them to show us how their libraries were organized, where they saved songs, and how they returned to older music.
A recurring pattern emerged:
users saved songs casually and frequently
“Liked Songs” often became an unstructured archive
users rarely revisited older saved songs unless prompted by memory, shuffle, or chance
rediscovery felt emotionally rewarding when it happened, but users had little control over it
The strongest insight was:
People do not just want new music. They also want better ways to reconnect with music that already belongs to them.
Meet our participants
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Age: 34
How they describe themselves: Hardworking, persistent, go-getter
Music listening intensity: 24/7! Music is a soundtrack to my life!
Music curation intensity: A casual curator who likes to categorize but doesn’t go overboard
Top music genres: French Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, Classic Rock
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Age: 22
How they describe themselves: Sentimental, wholesome, nerdy, and geeky
Music listening intensity: Casual, daily-ish thing
Music curation intensity: A casual curator who likes to categorize but doesn’t go overboard
Top music genres: K-Pop, C-Pop, Classical, Retro Video Game goes here
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Age: 24
How they describe themselves: Driven, nightlife-oriented, articulate, and UX-savvy
Music listening intensity: 24/7! Music is a soundtrack to my life!
Music curation intensity: Prefers simplicity and often categorizes by genre or occasion
Top music genres: Progressive House, Pop, Hip Hop, Sensual
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Age: 24
How they describe themselves: Artsy, nerdy, silly, quirky, and easygoing
Music listening intensity: 24/7! Music is a soundtrack to my life!
Music curation intensity: Regularly curates like they’re a full-time curator for the Louvre
Top music genres: Show Tunes, Rock
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Age: 24
How they describe themselves: Creative, analytical, private, passionate, esoteric
Music listening intensity: Casual, daily-ish thing
Music curation intensity: A casual curator who likes to categorize but doesn’t go overboard
Top music genres: Indie Rock, Video Game, Show Tunes
Notable interview quotes
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“I don’t have time to create playlists anymore, I did when I was younger, I would make a playlist for everything. I would be like oh my god there should be a playlist for this. Now with family and work I don’t find time to do the same”
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“I’m not particularly adventurous when it comes to music. So finding something that’s similar… that I look for. And it’s comforting in a way because then I don’t have to stretch myself too much to feel something that I want to feel rather than stepping into something obscure.”
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“I usually name playlists based on things I’m feeling in the moment, or things symbolic of something that speaks to me. Like “from the front row”... that was one I made after my partner and I went to a concert and they played Rachmaninoff… That was a meaningful time for me.”
Product direction
We explored a rediscovery experience that would surface forgotten songs from a user’s Spotify library.
The concept was intentionally framed as “Spotify (Re)Wrapped”: instead of summarizing what users had recently listened to, it would help them revisit songs they had saved in the past but no longer played often.
The product goal was not to replace playlists or recommendations. It was to create a lightweight moment of reconnection.
A successful experience needed to:
resurface older saved songs
make the rediscovery feel personal
give users enough control to avoid irrelevant recommendations
help users decide whether to keep, replay, or recontextualize each song
Early prototyping
We started with paper prototypes to test the basic interaction model before building the live version.
The early flow focused on three questions:
What counts as a forgotten song?
How should rediscovered songs be presented?
What should users be able to do with them afterward?
Early feedback showed that users liked the idea of rediscovery, but did not want the experience to feel like a black box. They wanted to understand why a song was being resurfaced and have some control over what appeared.
This pushed the design toward a more customizable rediscovery model.
Interactive prototype
Based on findings from the early prototype, we built a working prototype using the Spotify API, Node.js, and Heroku.
The prototype connected to a user’s Spotify account, pulled library data, and generated a rediscovery experience based on older saved music.
This made the project more realistic than a static mockup. Participants could interact with their own music history, which made their reactions more personal and more revealing.
Real-world field study
We ran a field study with 11 participants to understand how the prototype worked with real Spotify libraries.
Participants responded positively to the idea of rediscovering forgotten music. Many found the experience nostalgic, surprising, or useful as a way to revisit older parts of their listening history.
But the study also revealed three important product issues.
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For some users, a forgotten song was one they had not played in years. For others, it was a song they had saved but never intentionally revisited. Some cared about time; others cared about mood, genre, artist, or playlist origin.
This meant that rediscovery needed to be customizable.
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Rediscovery was valuable, but users did not want the product to automatically clutter their library or playlists.
They wanted lightweight actions: replay, save to a specific playlist, dismiss, or create a temporary rediscovery queue.
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Some participants hesitated during authorization because they were unsure what data the prototype would access or how it would be used.
This was an important trust issue. A rediscovery product depends on personal data, so users need clear explanations before they feel comfortable connecting their account.
Product recommendations
Based on the field study, the strongest next direction was not simply “make the UI smoother.”
The deeper opportunity was to give users more control and transparency.
If we continued the project, I would prioritize:
letting users define “forgotten” by time range, listening frequency, genre, artist, or playlist source
showing why each song was resurfaced
giving users lightweight actions that do not automatically clutter their library
making authorization clearer before asking users to connect Spotify
supporting temporary rediscovery sessions rather than permanent playlist changes by default
These changes would make rediscovery feel less random and more intentional.
Reflection
Looking back, the strongest part of the project was the product insight: music platforms often emphasize discovery of the new, but there is also emotional value in resurfacing what users have already saved and forgotten.
The weaker part was scope. We initially treated rediscovery as a playful wrapper around old liked songs, but the field study showed that the real product questions were more nuanced: control, trust, personalization, and what “forgotten” means to different people.
If I were redesigning this today, I would narrow the concept around user-defined rediscovery. Instead of assuming the system knows what should be resurfaced, I would design the product around giving users clear controls and transparent reasons.
The project taught me that personalization is only useful when users understand and trust it. Rediscovery works best when it feels like a collaboration between the system and the listener, not a surprise generated by opaque data logic.