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Spotify users, have you noticed that your app looks a little different? Spotify customers may notice a difference in the way that the music service works, and the change is all thanks to none other than Adele.
So what is this big change? It comes down to the shuffle button, which until now, has been a standard feature on Spotify for all users, premium and otherwise. But now, that shuffle button is gone from individual artists’ pages. While the shuffle button is still there on playlists and other curated content, when it comes to individual artists’ albums, the shuffle button has disappeared.
Why? Because artists like Adele carefully create their albums from start to finish. There is an intended flow and storytelling that is happening as you listen to the album from the first track to the last, and if you just hit shuffle, you’re going to miss all of that artistry.
Spotify revealed this big change on their social media accounts, giving a hat tip to Adele as the motivator behind this big decision.
She, in turn, tweeted her gratitude and said how important this is to her as an artist.
This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening
https://t.co/XWlykhqxAy
— Adele (@Adele) November 21, 2021
As Twitter user @heyreirei_ says, you really can’t listen to an album like Adele’s “30” on shuffle:
Adele's 30 is somehow a story. Try listening the album from start to end. It feels like she's telling her story – her darkest hours, divorce, herself.
— Rei (@heyreirei_) November 21, 2021
After all, you wouldn’t read a book backward or flip randomly from chapter to chapter, so it makes sense that it really irks musical artists when their work is presented in an arbitrarily shuffled way.
Premium users can still hit shuffle if they are listening to an artist’s song and they want to skip it, and they can still listen to an artists’ entire discography on shuffle, but if you’re listening to a single album like “30,” Spotify will automatically have you listen to it from start to finish without offering to shuffle.
What do you think? Are you glad that Adele convinced Spotify to stop shuffling albums, or did you like having the option to mix it up?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
