INSPIRATION

Spotify - Your Time Capsule

For turning back time

Entertainment | Nostalgia

Spotify’s Your Time Capsule is just one example of how the music streaming service is leading the way with its personalised playlists. Using your age, location and listening habits, Spotify’s algorithms predict which songs you loved in your teens and early 20s. The result is a unique selection of 30 tracks meant to take you back in time.

‘It was important to us not only that you remember the song, but also that you care about the song; that you have a meaningful connection with the music,’ Clay Gibson, a product manager at Spotify, told Wired.

Research shows that nostalgia can have real benefits. Spotify consulted an expert on the subject, who gave a presentation on nostalgia’s relationship with music. Research scientists at Spotify then used insights to shape the idea for Your Time Capsule, which aims to play on personal experiences of nostalgia, rather than generational ones.

Since launching, Spotify’s Your Time Capsule has had an overwhelmingly positive reception on social media, largely because it harnesses the personal power of nostalgia. Through music, it creates a stronger sense of belonging, meaning and continuity between past and present.