Spotify’s new Only You in-app experience celebrates everyone’s unique tastes – but would you share yours with the world?

Just as every man and his dog claims to have been among the 30-strong crowd when Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl performed an impromptu gig at Edinburgh’s Southern Bar in 1991, folks always try to make themselves sound much cooler when asked what music they listen to alone.

Everyone has those 'guilty pleasures' they'd rather keep to themselves – but thanks to a quite brilliant new feature on Spotify, it’s just got a whole lot harder to tell porky pies about your listening habits.

Earlier this week, the music streaming platform rolled out a new data-focused feature celebrating the uniqueness of its 356 million users.

Created in-house by Spotify, ‘Only You’ features genres, songs and artist pairings unique to each listener.

The in-app experience also includes an audio birth chart – which features each subscriber’s most played artist over the past six months (sun), their most emotional artist (moon) and an artist they’ve recently connected with (rising) – as well as three artists they would invite to a dinner party.

“‘Only you’ celebrates the uniqueness of each listener through fun stories that highlight the diverse tastes and interests across our global community,” said Neal Gorevic, global head of consumer marketing at Spotify.

It’s good, clean fun and, since the launch, Spotify users have been sharing their findings with friends across social media.

Spotify's 'Only You' feature picked out some of Gary Flockhart's favourite songs and artists.

Now, admittedly, when the editor asked me to write a piece on the ‘Only You’ feature, I was a little nervous.

I switched on the feature with some excitement, but also a mountain of trepidation.

What if my daughter’s penchant for really cheesy pop music reigned supreme?

Mercifully, the stats don’t lie, and while I was a little surprised at some of the information ‘Only You’ provided (what, no Bright Eyes? My favourite band), I don’t think there was much to be ashamed of.

According to ‘Only You’, only me would listen to Arcade Fire followed by The Weeknd. I also learned that ‘the most you thing ever’ is to listen to Thom Yorke’s cover of After The Gold Rush, at night.

Your Sun sign details the artist you listened to most over the last six months, and for me that was Sheffield indie darlings Pulp.

Your Moon sign demonstrates an artist you listen to that best shows your emotional or vulnerable side – for me, apparently, that artist is Glasvegas.

One of the most fun parts is Dream Dinner Party. You select the three artists you’d want to hang out with over dinner, and then ​“Spotify creates a personalised Spotify Mix for each artist to set the mood of the meal”.

I’ll be having a bit to eat with Jarvis Cocker, David Bowie and Prince – what a night that’s going to be.

Your Rising sign brings it all together with an artist you’ve recently connected with, and for me that was Orkney’s own The Magnetic North.

All told, Spotify’s ‘Only You’ is a fun feature that everyone who uses the platform should try – just don’t share it with the world if the results only show Nickelback and Jedward.

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