Stumbled upon my old Starred Playlist on Spotify and was transported back to 2014. A song by Lindstrøm reminded me of a friend and inspired a spate of text messages.
I made a screenshot to remember the moment, and now I’ve made a photo of taking another photo of a laptop displaying the screenshot—a recursive reminder in small hopes of clinging to a memory.
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In 2014 Spotify removed the button that would add a single song to your “Starred Playlist.” It was replaced with a heart icon that saves a song—or album—to your Library. (Lamenting on Reddit)
Seems like a minor change, but it really wasn’t. That Starred Playlist was a list of favorite songs — a smorgasbord of serendipity that reflected moments in time. It was my happy place—I even subscribed to friends’ starred playlists.
This was special and outside The Library, the place I use to save entire albums that I already dug or save ones to give a spin.
Mixing favorite songs with a shelf full of albums kind of ruined the whole thing. (I’m also aware one can still save individual songs to this starred playlist, but it’s a series of menus and not just a tap on an icon.)
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Now when hearing song I like, I take a screenshot or a photo—a messy system that sometimes works.
(Also, I always liked this album cover—adding it to my inspiration folder.)
