There’s always one person who you can genuinely trust with the aux cord. It’s a friend who can read the mood and provide a complimentary song, a pal who knows the crew’s favorites and the right time to play them. Yet, it can be a daunting task to balance personal preferences with crowd pleasers, especially with so many artists, albums, and playlists out there. But hey, someone has to do it.
So just how do they do it?
Get ready to open Spotify (or download it if you haven’t already) and be prepared to embrace your inner DJ with features that will enhance your track selecting skills.
- The Playlist Miner
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To find popular songs that fit your occasion
The Playlist Miner is a gem within itself. It gives the user the ability to search for keywords, and then it scans playlists for the most frequently played songs under that term. For example, if you were making a playlist for a girls’ night out and wanted to include a variety of hits, you would simply search “girls’ night” and a list of the top 100 most recurring tunes would follow. Want your songs to be a little different? You can check the box next to “prefer more distinctive girls’ night tracks” to get a more unique selection. There’s even a button to save this playlist right to Spotify, so being the life of the party has never been easier.
- Collaborative Playlists
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To incorporate everyone’s favorites
Is there anything better than all of your friends jamming at once? Thanks to the ability to create a collaborative playlist, all of your homies can add their faves to one playlist, generating a mix that’s the best of all worlds. Once you have identified the playlist that you want to make collaborative, all you have to do is press the three dots in the corner and then tap “collaborative playlist.” Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
- Boil the Frog
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To create bridges between your favorite artists
Maybe one of your friends is a huge Trippie Redd fan, but another pal loves John Mayer. By using Boil the Frog, you can create a playlist that connects the two artists, no matter how different they are. (This site also works well if you’re trying to find new music between two artists that you personally like!) Plus, if you don’t like a song or artist that comes in between your preferences, you can select to bypass the artist or find a new track. And of course, you can save this playlist with just a click. So this is what happens when worlds collide.
- Spotify for Pets
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To include different personalities
No, I didn’t forget about our furry friends. When you use Spotify for Pets, you can create a mix that combines your music taste with your pet’s personality. (Friendly or shy? Relaxed or energetic?) You can pick between an iguana, dog, cat, hamster, or bird, and then answer a few questions about your pet that follow. A playlist of 30 suitable songs will be generated that can be added directly to your Spotify account. Finally, some tunes that both of you can vibe to.
- Release Radar
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To keep your mix fresh
Most people know about the New Music Friday playlist that curates a selection recently dropped from music popular artists, but what about the lowkey artists that aren’t quite in the spotlight? Your Release Radar is a playlist based upon your individual listening history, and it incorporates new tunes from the singers and bands that you often play. Even better, it updates every week, so you’ll never miss a hit.
- Shazam Songs Right to Spotify
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To easily play new bops
Want to add the bubbly tune you heard in a cafe right to your collection?
– Shazam the song!
– Go to your Shazam library and click on settings in the top left corner.
– Next to Spotify, click “connect.”
– You will be taken to your phone’s settings to approve of the connection.
– Then, any song you Shazam will appear in a playlist titled “My Shazam Tracks” on your Spotify.
You can leave your newfound treasures there or combine them with your other personal selections!
- Crossfade
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To stay super smooth
The awkward transitions between songs are no more! By blending the last and first few seconds of two tunes together, the shift from song to song is nearly flawless.
– On your desktop, click the downward facing arrow next to your profile name.
– Click on settings.
– Scroll down to the bottom, and click on “show advanced settings.”
– Click on crossfade and choose how long you want the two tracks to merge together for! (I personally recommend the suggested five seconds.)
So the next time you’re in the car and the aux cord is up for grabs, don’t hesitate. You know what to do. And you can do it without missing a beat.
All images are courtesy of the Her Campus Media Library.