Spotify announced on Wednesday a new feature giving users greater control over their music recommendations. The streaming service will now allow listeners to exclude individual songs from their taste profile, preventing those tracks from influencing playlists like Discover Weekly, Blend, Wrapped, and the app’s Home page suggestions.
Previously, Spotify only let users exclude entire playlists from shaping their recommendations, a useful option for things like sleep playlists or background noise. However, this did not solve the broader issue of songs that don’t reflect a user’s true taste still shaping algorithmic suggestions.
With the new update, both free and premium users can tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner while viewing a track and choose to either exclude it from their taste profile or reinstate it if previously removed.
Spotify says this option helps in scenarios where account sharing or incidental listening can skew recommendations. For example, parents can prevent children’s music from influencing their annual Wrapped, and households using smart speakers can stop other family members’ choices from distorting their listening history.
While the feature improves personalization, critics note it may be tedious to manage exclusions song by song. A more seamless approach, such as switching profiles with a voice command or assigning an entire listening session to one family member, could provide a stronger long-term solution.
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Still, the new tool gives users a long-requested way to refine their listening experience and ensure that their Spotify recommendations truly reflect their own taste.
