It seems Spotify’s AI created a playlist with a blatantly racist title. And whether it was intentional or not, people are calling them out about it.
If you’re a Spotify user, or just chronically online, you’ve probably seen the viral daylist playlists with names that look like a bunch of words randomly thrown together, like:
- Paranormal dark cabaret afternoon
- East coast hip hop golden age thursday morning
- Renaissance blues guitar morning
- High school teen rock afternoon
- Solitude bleak wednesday night
- Mountain music granola vibes sunday morning
The Named Daylist playlist feature was released in mid-2023, Forbes reported. It’s an auto-generated playlist that dynamically adjusts to a listener’s mood throughout the day based on what you’re currently gravitating to or what you tend to gravitate to at certain times of day.
Not only do the playlist names take in the genre of the music, but the feelings associated with it as well.
While many of these playlists have quirky names, the one this user saw took her by surprise.
Spotify user calls out racist playlist title
In a trending video with more than 100,000 views, content creator Kensley Crawford (@crawfordkensley) shared the jarring experience she just had on the Spotify app.
“There is no way in hell I just got an auto-generated playlist filled with all Black artists entitled, ‘Monkey Hip-Hop,’” Crawford said, upset and in disbelief.
Crawford showed a photo of the playlist as proof, and it read, “monkey hip hop early morning.”
Included in the playlist were Tyler the Creator, Glorilla, Kendrick Lamar, and SZA.
“Now I don’t know how that could have happened, but Spotify, y’all gotta do something. That’s unacceptable,” Crawford declared.
Crawford asked the internet to do its thing and get Spotify’s attention. Meanwhile, she stated that Spotify “will be receiving a WELL written email from me.”
The Spotify playlist comes in a heated political atmosphere in which Black history is being stripped from curricula, diversity, equity. Similarly, inclusion policies are being barred, and civil rights are publicly targeted by the United States President and government.
Do we even need to explain this?
Referring to Black people as “monkeys” is deeply racist and problematic.
The association draws on a long, painful history of Black people being stripped of their humanity and being incorrectly portrayed as less evolved and inferior to white people.
These comparisons were used as a justification for dehumanizing acts like enslavement, segregation, and all sorts of physical and systemic violence.
What did Spotify have to say?
In a direct message with the Daily Dot, Crawford said she emailed Spotify, and while she received a response, “no resolution was made.”
A Spotify spokesperson shared the following statement with the Daily Dot via email:
“We routinely review and refine our daylist descriptors to deliver the best possible user experience. The reported descriptor clearly fell short of that mark, and we promptly removed it.”
Commenters react
“That’s what happens when AI systems that are created by companies that don’t uphold DEI and social justice values are used to create entertainment meant for everyone,” a top comment read.
“The ai program they use is probably riddled with its creators racist biases,” a person said.
“YES!!!! I’ve been getting Ghetto, Ratchet, YN playlists too!!!!,” another shared.
“WTF! Bye Spotify!! In the process of switching to Tidal. Tidal is cheaper and they pay the artists way more per listen with better streaming quality!!” a commenter added.
@crawfordkensley #greenscreen @Spotify ♬ original sound – K E N S <3
The Daily Dot reached out to Crawford via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Spotify via email.
Update 5:32pm ET April 24: Spotify left a comment under Crawford’s post apologizing for the language and stated that they’re “triple-checking for other offensive terms.”
“We apologize and will do better,” the comment read.
A Spotify spokesperson also shared that a member of their customer service team has been in contact with Crawford.
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