What Spotify Told Us to Like This Week

Spotify Discover playlists serve as an abstract audio documentation of where you were generally at in life last week. A passive-aggressive nudge that says, "hey, you know there are other good alt-country artists besides Ryan Adams." It would be annoying if it weren't right so much of the time. So here's this week's What Spotify Tells Us We Like, a psychomusical analysis of UD editors' relationships to the increasingly sentient algorithms of the world's largest streaming music operation:

Sam Eichner

I'm really glad Cat Stevens's "Trouble" found me again—whatever that may foretell.

Bailey Edwards

I think the planets in retrograde or whatever are fucking with my playlist. I don’t like it at all.

Lea Weatherby

There's no shortage of unremarkable acoustic guitar and piano here, which I appreciate because anything other than pleasant noises for Monday will be swiftly met with flame-throwing ire and indignation.

Kelly Larson

I think we could all use a friendly reminder every now and then that Boz Scaggs and his “Lido Shuffle” exist. It’s the exact sequence of sounds my Monday needed, regardless of the fact that I rarely voluntarily listen to anything even remotely similar to it on Spotify. The same can be said for Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Let It Ride,” also making a mysterious appearance this week. I suppose it’s possible that my account got hacked by a 52-year-old man with a thing for feeling good and hacking, but it’s more likely that The System is gently urging me to stop listening to sugary pop like Bleachers and Ra Ra Riot during my evening runs. [Bows head in shame. Still fires up some Bleachers.]

Thompson Brandes

Spotify hitting me right in the chest with some James Taylor and Roberta Flack this morning—Lord have mercy. (On the latter's topic, I really like when Discover Weekly gift wraps those nice dusty soul samples for me each Monday. It's like a delightful 2 for 1 special for my ears.)