Each year, Spotify Wrapped is the confronting report card that reminds me of how uncool I am | James Colley

For those of us with unflattering music taste, this can be a difficult time of year

This should not matter. It is a marketing ploy. It’s the insidious work of a massive company that has throttled the music industry and forced artists to feed off the crumbs from its table. So why do I feel anxious as though it’s the morning before an exam?

For the uninitiated, every year the Spotify corporation makes worldwide headlines by releasing an individually curated PowerPoint presentation to every listener on the platform. It includes fun facts, such as which band is your favourite and what percentile of top listeners you fall into – a terrific way to make you feel less like a music fan and more like an obsessed stalker. They will often include a fun made-up stat such as “Which city are you?” For the record, I was Hobart, Tasmania, which is an insult to me and to Hobart.