A Dispatch from the Trenches of Algorithmic Living

This excerpt is reprinted with permission from NYU Press. It is adapted from Power in Listening: The Sounding Out! Reader.

Sometime in 2021, I opened the Spotify app, navigating my way to a recent playlist I had made featuring Arlo Parks, Brittany Howard, Hozier, Charlotte Day Wilson, Radiohead, and other artists known, at least in part, for their melancholic sounds and senses. Immediately, under the banner “You Might Like,” was a featured playlist titled “sad girl starter pack.”

As is common in the age of targeted ads, privacy agreements, and social media, I felt simultaneously exposed and validated. As someone who surveys the personalized “Daily Mixes” and “Discover Weekly” playlists, searching for new music daily, it seemed like the perfect addition to my growing playlist collection. Here were 75 songs, some by artists I knew and others I didn’t, that at first glance seemed tailored to my taste. But, the longer I stared at my screen, my excitement turned into skepticism. 

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