Background
Enhancing Spotify’s personalized content quality
Currently, your Spotify playlists have been shaped by algorithms—introducing new songs and creating fresh mixes based on your listening habits. These are great, but they don’t necessarily deepen your emotional connection with music. We want to change that. We want to make the Library a truly personal space to explore, express, and connect with your emotions through music.

UX Research
Spotify users seek a deeper emotional connection with their music, beyond algorithm-generated playlists

Quality content is integral to Spotify’s content ecosystem. Our UX research has identified six core pillars of user needs when curating emotion-based playlists. Designing solutions for these challenges will help enhance user engagement and retention.

Approach
We rapidly experiment to understand what enhances emotional music discovery

Since Spotify's AI DJ is still evolving, we explored its existing features to understand how users emotionally engage with music. Through rapid experimentation, we examined how playlist sharing fosters connection among users, particularly within Gen Z, where music-driven social interactions are a growing trend. Each iteration focused on refining how AI-generated playlists could feel more personal, engaging, and socially meaningful.

01
Interacting with Spotify Radio DJ

By expanding AI DJ beyond genre-based mixes rooted in listening habits, we transformed it into a Radio DJ that curates music based on personal stories. This shift makes the experience more personal and emotionally resonant, allowing users to receive song recommendations tailored to their individual moments.

02
Bringing your story to sound

Users can record a voice memo to share their story, mood, or moment. AI analyzes the input, extracting key themes and emotions to curate a personalized playlist that matches the user's feelings. By recognizing keywords, tone, and sentiment, the AI DJ enhances the listening experience, making music selection feel more organic, contextual, and emotionally resonant.

03
Connections through shared playlists

Users can explore playlists curated by others, listening not only to their song lists but also to the stories behind them. By clicking on a playlist, users can hear the creator's voice memo, understand the emotions that shaped the selection, and discover new music through a more personal and shared experience. To foster deeper connections, users can react with emojis, expressing empathy and resonance with the emotions conveyed in the playlist.

Fostering community engagment

What is your story?