Parents forced to listen to kiddies music
IT’S fun time for music fans on Spotify - a chance to review all the most-listened-to songs of the year and rejoice in the sound choices they made.
Or, for others, it’s a reminder that parenting has erased art, joy and Death Cab for Cutie from their lives, because their Spotify Wrapped playlist is clogged with their children’s favorite tunes.
On Wednesday, Spotify sent out its annual and ever-popular Wrapped playlist, a kind of report card on one’s listening history from the calendar year, telling people which songs, podcasts, albums and artists they listened to the most throughout the year. It’s become something of a cultural event.
“Last year, my number one artist was Elmo and my number one artist this year is Idina Menzel of ‘Frozen’,” said Pete Davis, a 35-year-old parent of two. The annual report “no longer revealed anything about my own music journey. It’s almost like it’s my son’s Spotify Wrapped.”
He reflected on this, nostalgically comparing the days when he could blast Bob Dylan or the Band in the car,to now, when his kids control the playlist.
“It’s like, okay, I guess I had some of my own time,” he said. “Enough to have two of my five [top songs] not being ‘Frozen’ or ‘Un Poco Loco’ from ‘Coco’ or ‘Elmo’s Alphabet Rap.”
Kris Mercado, a 35-year-old fashion retoucher in New York City, clicked through her Wrapped list this year to find Mark Mancina was one of her most-played artists.
“I had to do some research,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Who is this?’”
Mancina is a music composer who has worked on several hit movies, including the “Moana” soundtrack, which she’s played for her 4- and 10-year-old daughters as she drives them to and from school.
She imagines that if the pattern continues, she’ll be seeing the likes of “Tangled” and “Wicked” on her Spotify Wrapped next year, where once it was Beyoncé and Bad Bunny.
Elizabeth Beggs, a mother of children aged 2 and 3, sees Spotify Wrapped as a reflection of her parenting choices. “Last year it was all ‘Frozen,’ all ‘Moana.’ I learned from my mistakes and made sure that stuff moved on my husband’s [phone],” she said.
Beggs and her husband even organized a “night night” playlist for their children on his Spotify account. But the ultimate chess move, she said, was introducing her children to Taylor Swift.