With all of the chaos going on in the world, it’s important to have some constants in your life to keep you grounded. For me, one of those constants is music. No matter what I’m feeling or what might be going on in my life, there’s always an album, artist or song that I can relate to. Recently, making playlists and collecting songs from different genres is something that’s brought me a lot of comfort and joy. In this article, I’ll give you some tips and tricks to make your Spotify more personal and enjoyable in these weird times.
Playlist Covers
My favorite feature on Spotify is their option to change your playlist covers. This is a pretty common feature, but it’s worth mentioning anyways. You can find JPEGs on sites like Tumblr, We Heart It and Pinterest to make your playlists look more cohesive. I typically choose a color or a specific aesthetic that I know will have a lot of options to pick from, anything from “red” to “primary colors” or “dark academia.” It’s always fun to get a feel for someone’s personality based on how their playlists look.
Friend Activity
Another commonly known feature is the ability to see what your friends are listening to, also known as “friend activity.” This feature is only available on the desktop version of Spotify, but it’s one of my favorites. Once you follow some friends and just about anyone with interesting playlists, you can watch them listen to music in real-time. This can be a good way to find new artists or just a healthy way to keep an eye on your friends and make sure they aren’t listening to Melodrama by Lorde for too long.
Creative Playlist Titles and Descriptions
Sure, this isn’t the most shocking tip, but things like descriptions and titles can be a make or break on Spotify. They’re also great ways to make your playlists more accessible to anyone looking for something similar. For example, if you create a playlist centered around one of your favorite movies or books, including the title of whatever it is will allow others to find your playlist when they search for those titles. Spotify is great on its own, but something about gaining followers on a playlist you’re proud of is extremely fulfilling.
Group Sessions
This is something I didn’t even know existed until last month (thanks to TikTok). As far as I know, it’s only available on mobile devices, but don’t quote me on that. A group session is exactly what you think it is. All you have to do is go to the bottom left of your song player and press on the little speaker. With this, you’ll find all of your bluetooth options, but you’ll also see an option to “start a group session” at the very bottom. When you press “Start Session” you’re taken to a screen where you can invite friends and share a code to join on various social media platforms. If you’ve ever used Netflix Party, this is basically the equivalent for music lovers. Stream your favorite songs, inside jokes and whatever you’re feeling with friends from all over.
Utilizing these features is something that’s made my time in quarantine much more enjoyable and I hope they’ll do the same for you!