Spotify-Wrapped-Inspired Musings on Journalling

It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is coming and Spotify wrapped is out ⭐️

For a music-lover like me, Spotify Wrapped is literally a highlight of the year. As soon as I get my playlist, I have it on repeat for weeks and I make time to enjoy re-living the memories the songs evoke.

This year, I’m committing to capturing my reaction to it in Day One, my journalling app of choice.

The release of Spotify Wrapped comes at a time where I’m exploring journalling as a life practice (see previous articles), and it has just made me more sure that journalling needs to be multi-modal; that is not just words, but images, music and so much more. Our words are the things that can tie everything together and add meaning to the other things we add to our journals.

But, it’s Spotify Wrapped day, let’s see how I’m bringing music into my journal in 2023

Spotify x Day One

I have a whole post about how I use IFTTT (AKA integrations) and Day One together and why, so that might be useful context for what’s below:

In that article, I wrote about how I use journals within Day One to act as layers to my journalling practices… well I’ve added a few more layers since my previous article including one for music:

This was created after I obsessively listened to Will We Talk by Sam Fender nearly all afternoon a couple of weeks ago, after which I just kept singing one lyric from it on repeat. I moved onto other songs after and I thought it would be fun to capture which lyric is on my mind on a given day.

But today it’s going to get a bumper new entry because I’m going to put my 2023 playlist on, listen to all the songs and let all the memories, thoughts and connections flood back. I’m so excited.

Just pasting the song link into Day One gives it a nice embedded look (bringing colour and sound in) and I can still write down my thoughts.

This is multi-modal journalling made very very simple, but that makes me very very happy!

Wrapping up…

The act of journalling day by day is an incredibly important practice that I believe most people would benefit from.

Words are integral to it of course, but let’s have some fun and bring some sound and colour to it, by making journalling a multi-modal practice. Spotify Wrapped’s release is an excellent excuse to start adding songs into your journal. Imagine how great it will be to compare every year’s playlist in the same app and have a place to dive back into where you were the year previously.

Journalling is the best habit I ever started, and I’m so thrilled we have the technology to help us make it fun and varied.

Are you a music fan? Do you journal about it?