I’m someone who basically lives by my Spotify playlists. I listen to music every day, whether it’s walking to class, at the gym, studying or doing tasks around the house. And because I’m that girl who listened to “Busy Woman” by Sabrina Carpenter on repeat the entire week after it came out (I don’t think I’m sick of it… yet…), I need to constantly find new songs and artists to add to my repertoire.
If you’re someone who tends to go back to the same artists or genres and you want to mix it up, here are my tips for finding new music and curating your playlists to the current vibe your life is giving! I use Spotify Premium, so my methods are pretty specific to Spotify’s features.
Playlist for a Specific Time Period
Most of my playlists have songs from multiple genres and artists, and I just compile them into a playlist that I’ll listen to for a period of time until I want a change. I basically just use these types of playlists to keep track of new music I find that I want to save.
I find most of my music for these playlists through Spotify features like Daylist and Release Radar. Daylist is a (VERY) personalized playlist that Spotify generates for you based on the music you typically listen to at different points of the day or week. It updates throughout the day with different microgenres, which has helped me discover new music in various genres based on the artists I usually listen to.
Release Radar is a playlist that updates every Friday (just in time for weekend listening!) full of recent new music. It has tracks from artists you follow, artists you frequently listen to and additional songs in genres curated to your listening activity. Release Radar is my favorite method to keep up with artists I sometimes listen to (like Peach Pit and Men I Trust) but otherwise wouldn’t think to check if they had new music out. I’ve also discovered some cool singles from new artists that I’ve added to my playlists.
Playlist for Vibes
While my playlists are usually a mix of different genres, sometimes a single-vibe playlist is just screaming to be made. For example, when I got hooked on “Tell It to My Heart” by Taylor Dayne (yeah it’s fire), I just HAD to make an 80s banger playlist to scream to. When it comes to finding new songs that have a specific flavor to them (if you will), I usually go to the Artist Radio (under the artist’s profile). There you’re going to find songs from other artists with an overall similar vibe to the main artist.
But don’t stop there- say you found a song with a very niche zest to it. You can go even deeper down the rabbit hole by checking out the radio playlist for a specific song to find more hidden gems that have a similar uniqueness to them. It’s a bit hidden, but you can find the radio for a specific song by clicking on the three dots menu and selecting “Go to radio.”
Hopefully this gives you some inspiration to find fresh music for your playlist– whether you decide to make a theme or just go with the flow!