Day 10 script

So its been ten days since I started this experiment and each day has really sent me through a loop. I've felt like I've been trapped in a filter bubble... to then escaping said filter bubble... just to then feel like I've been pushed straight back into a different Filter bubble. 

Its almost like the RA cant really widen the content it recommends to you, instead it just hyper-focusses on certain genres it believes you like the most. This narrowing effect I was seeing was most prominent in day 4 when I had finished to 'Uni Bangers' playlist and was letting the RA do its thing. 

And that's when I noticed that the content being pushed felt way too familiar. The RA was heavily recommending artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Billie Eyelash.

Are we seeing a pattern here.

Multiple songs from the playlist had been replayed so many times that I was instinctively checking the app just to see if I was had accidently hit shuffle on the playlist. I must've heard Espresso like 12 times that day alright, It was the most boring and frustrating day yet in this experiment. Data wise it was pretty good though

Most playlist I was being recommended on the homepage at this point, were centred around pop artists Like Sabrina and Charlie XCX. Through this data, I gathered that I was most likely in a filter bubble and needed to expand my music tastes in some way so that the RA wasn't just recommending me Top 40 pop hits for the rest of this experiment.

So going onto the fifth day I listened to a playlist called 'Drake Mix'. Unsurprisingly, Drake is placed fucking everywhere on here but I didn't mind that, as there was a generous mix of RnB, Rap and for some reason Alt rock. Which made me think... Hold on... Maybe the RA might diversify some of the content that imma be recommended

and this excited me because over the next few days I was slowly being recommended more RnB and Alt Rock. And I was being recommended more playlists and artists like K.dot and Travis $ott. I was still hearing Espresso though and this is most likely due to how the RA seems to push more mainstream content to users.  Trends in music https://www.spotify.com/us/safetyandprivacy/understanding-recommendations#

Most of the songs that the RA was recommending me were popular on social media through viral content. (get a SMILE TikTok and a Fetty wap TikTok) Plus there seems to be this obsession with curating playlists called 'Top viral Hits' or 'Top artists UK' (Show pics from camera roll 'Viral hits ss')

By day 9 RnB had become my most recommended genre and SZA was the one artist I was hearing the most. I tried to switch my listening habits again by listening to some other curated playlists (Show other playlists I was listening to) but the RA had hyper-focussed on recommending me RnB and Alt Rock and I once again believed I was in a filter bubble. Reinforcing my belief that the RA struggles with widening your music tastes, instead just recommending you songs and artists your already familiar with. (YT Vid about RA's)

And also. What the fuck happened to drum n base. Apart from the one Fred again playlist I have been recommended since the start of this experiment, I haven't heard or seen nowt. (Show SS of homepage)

And this brings us to Day 10. The day I was finally recommended 'Discover weekly' (A playlist dedicated to pushing 'Fresh music' and 'Deep cuts') (SS of the playlists) and while the content being recommended to me seemed new, It lacked variety. And most songs on the playlist were just songs that are popular on social media (Noah interview clip TikTok songs), which made me believe even more that the RA prioritises popular content that It believes you may have already heard.

The playlist curated to present you "Fresh music" and "Deep cuts" consisted of various similar sounding artists from genres the RA had already recommended me throughout previous years.

However, I did feel like this playlist was more diverse and it was honestly the only playlist yet that I wanted to go back to. Musically, each song was banger after banger and differentiated enough make the playlist seem new. I mean it immediately goes from 'Hips don't lie' to 'Timeless' which are too widely different songs and this is what I wanna see more of going forward. However, I think this type of feature is only present in this playlist.

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