On the walk to Bronx Science, the first thing someone might see is a group of teenagers with headphones, earbuds, or Airpods rushing into the building before the first period bell rings. The hectic activity makes up a very typical morning at Bronx Science. However, one thing is always there: students listening to music. Any time, anywhere in the school, you will find someone with some form of headphones. Some have them on when they are roaming the physics wing, sitting in the hallways, or simply opening their locker. Everyone always has their fair share of life with music. When asked, some students will say they use one of the most popular and simple music apps: Spotify. 

What is this app that has won the hearts of so many students? 

Spotify is not something new to many. People have been using Spotify since it was developed in 2006 to listen to music and to find new types of music, especially high school students. Students often use it as an outlet to express their emotions or escape from their rigorous coursework. Life without music would not be the same for many students, and Spotify keeps the world full of music. 

What makes Spotify different from any other music platform, however?

 “The nice interface, which is easy to use, has a lot of nice functions and features such as recommended songs and playlists,” said Kathryn Le ’22. Spotify allows users to create an unlimited amount of playlists that often contain the current mood of many users. Some playlists are meant to be for sad moods, while others are meant for a more exciting mood. In addition to this, Spotify has many other perks that continue to gain attraction from the public.

Are you interested in new music? Spotify has your back! You can click on recommendations specifically tailored for your music taste based on a complex algorithm used by Spotify called Natural Language Processing. This software is used to find songs associated with words similar to those of songs currently in your playlist. Furthermore, Spotify allows users to connect with one another. Social media has been thriving even more than before because of the pandemic and remote learning last year. 

Because of remote learning and lack of in-person interactions during the 2020-2021 academic year, many students used their love for music to bond with others and make new friends. Through Spotify, users can follow their friends and even see what their friends are listening to so they can share music and learn more about one another. If you are not in the mood to manually make playlists that share the same music as your friends, by using the Spotify feature called “Blend,” you can create a playlist full of songs that you and your friend have in common. “Spotify will customize a playlist between you and a friend and tell you how similar the friend’s music taste is,” said Meena Shikes ’22 about the unique features Spotify has to offer. Spotify uses its software to create playlists with songs that both you and your friends can enjoy. Spotify has provided many users around the world with opportunities to make new friends, explore new music worlds, and embrace the art of music. 

What is Spotify doing on school grounds?

Bronx Science is full of very creative students who are ready to bring innovative ideas to the table at any second. Using Spotify, for one, is an idea that many club board members have begun to implement. It has given many students an opportunity to bond during their school club meetings with club members and to share their rich music tastes. Some clubs utilize Spotify to further connect with their members, making the club even more fun than it already is. Key Club, for example, is a major organization at Bronx Science with around 400 members. Club activities involve attending events and completing service projects every year to help various communities.

Spotify’s option to share music with one another has given the Key Club board an opportunity to bond with their fellow peers and club members. “It gave us a space to get to know our club members’ music tastes and bond over our favorite songs,” said the president of Key Club, Shiya Lin ’23. The board of Key Club has been utilizing Spotify to learn more about each other and their club members. Furthermore, playing the members’ favorite music can make meetings and events even more enjoyable and engaging. The board often uses Spotify during the beginning of their meetings and during service projects to shorten the time wasted trying to find a song. Furthermore, Lin explains that members are even allowed to make suggestions or additions to the club playlists. Members can express their unique music tastes, while also exploring new tastes that they discover from their peers. 

Lin explains that Key Club made use of this music platform since Spring 2021. With music present in Zoom meetings during that time, members of the club had the chance to engage more in the meetings, contribute new music, and make the zoom meet-ups much more fun. Since Key Club is made up of so many students, there has been a limit set for the number of suggestions made by each member, but Lin describes that members often still desire to add more of their music to the playlists. Even with this limit, though, students have still been able to express themselves through this very simplistic app and make club meetings even more exciting than they already are. 

Click HERE for the link to the Bronx Science Key Club’s Spotify playlist with songs from various genres. 

Key Club is not the only club to pursue Spotify for club purposes, however. The Jewish Student Union has also implemented this fascinating app into their club. President of the Jewish Student Union, Leona Teten ’23 explained that her group mainly uses Spotify to organize music. Similar to Key Club’s usage of Spotify, the Jewish Student Union makes use of Spotify to have  a very secure and easy-to-use place to store the favorites of the club members. The idea of allowing member suggestions and additions to these playlists are “something I’m working on instituting,” said Teten. 

Clubs such as Key Club and the Jewish Student Union have made extra efforts using Spotify to make their club members feel welcome and engage in the lessons and projects at club meetings.   

Spotify has risen in popularity in recent years, and now high school students are doing more with this intriguing app. The app is always in use around the halls of Bronx Science in some way – either through club use or personal use.

 “The nice interface, which is easy to use, has a lot of nice functions and features such as recommended songs and playlists,” said Kathryn Le ’22.