Syncing Hearts and Beats: Using Spotify Blends To Enhance Friendships

Spotify introduced the “Blends” feature to its users back in 2021, and after revamping it in 2022, the feature now allows up to 10 listeners to join a playlist that automatically picks songs users have in common, as well as others that are unique to individuals.

Utilizing insights and data about your listening habits allows the app to uniquely shape each unique “Blend” — updating it daily to give you new recommendations and the most accurate listening experience. But perhaps the most interesting feature of “Blends” is its ability to see numerically how you match up with other members.

In a two-person Blend, the “Taste Match Scores” feature is a percentage assigned based on the similarity of listening habits between you and the other user. Alongside the number, Spotify gives you a song that “brings you two together,” a track of which both users share a similar listening history. This song updates similarly to the tracks that make up the Blend playlist, but not as frequently.

As someone who uses Spotify multiple times throughout the day, I’m always on the hunt for new songs to play during walks to class, studying in the library, or even to share when hanging out with friends. Spotify’s many curated playlists are a great place to start, but I always find myself going back to my various Blends to see what my friends are listening to.

Sharing music with people is undoubtedly one of the best ways to bond — whether your taste is similar or completely different — finding common ground through song can connect people in unlikely ways. It may surprise you to find out what your friends are listening to, and what recommendations they have.

Using a tool like Spotify “Blends” to elevate a friendship can be incredibly special in many different ways: You may find out things about your friend you wouldn’t have otherwise known, or get surprised by some of the songs or artists you have in common. There is this neverending  potential to be introduced to someone’s favorites and do the same for them. Find overlaps in both of your tastes and let the “Blend” do the rest.

Music inevitably brings people together, and in an ever-changing world, technological innovations like “Blends” can be a tool utilized to do a simple thing like sharing music with someone in an efficient and organized way. “Blends” can be saved to your Spotify library in the form of playlists to save the list of songs curated on a particular day in order to come back and listen and reminisce on the memory that spurred their creation.

Additionally, the “Friends Mix” becomes available to users when they are part of three or more two-person “Blends.” In this playlist, Spotify collects data to collaborate playlists of all members of your “Blends” to curate a huge playlist based on the listening preferences and habits of all your friends. Each song has an icon to the right of it connecting it to one or more users included in your “Blends.”

Sharing music is one of the most vulnerable aspects of any friendship, and has the unique potential to deepen our connections with others. Bonding through music can be effortless while still being just as valuable, and is made even easier to do through Spotify “Blends.”