Spotify’s ‘Prompted Playlists’ lets you take more control of its algorithm

What you need to know

• Spotify announced a beta for a Premium feature called "Prompted Playlists," which puts the user in control of their musical algorithm.
• Similar to Discover Weekly, users can "generate" their own personalized playlist of music by describing the kind of music they'd like to hear.
• Spotify states this feature leverages your listening tastes and habits over the years, even back to your very first listen.
• The beta starts in New Zealand for Premium users; however, there's no word on when the test could hit the U.S.

Spotify already curates and produces content it believes you'll enjoy, but its newest update relinquishes control to the user.

Spotify announces in a Newsroom post that it's beginning an overseas beta for Premium users called "Prompted Playlists." This beta, exclusive to New Zealand users for the time being, lets users generate a playlist that abides by their interests, curiosities, and more. Tapping "Create" at the bottom right in the app is where users will find Prompted Playlists. From there, users can "describe" and dictate everything about the playlist.

If you're looking to get into metalcore, you can tell the playlist to start there, and then offer suggestions you've never heard before. If you're in your K-Pop era, then describe the kind of playlist you want to listen to.

The post states that Prompted Playlists leverages "your entire Spotify listening history, all the way back to day one."

After writing your prompt, users can hop into "set updates." This is where you can channel your inner Spotify by setting how often the playlist should refresh its content. Users can decide to have it update daily at specific times or weekly. The "ideas" button is just what you'd expect: suggestions on where to start if the ole noggin's not sure where to begin.

After everything's said and done, and the playlist has been generated, Spotify states it will offer a little story behind every song. The company says the purpose of this is to make your generated playlist "feel alive."

Prompt, generate, listen

Spotify informs users that, since Prompted Playlists is in beta, its experience may change as time progresses. This is in part due to user feedback and changes the platform envisions. What's more, Spotify states that the feature is wrapped in its bigger goals for the platform moving forward. The post highlights an interest in creating a more "personal" and "responsive" musical experience.

Spotify wants the user to take control of their music. The post teases that 2026 will hold more for listeners and artists. Regarding Prompted Playlists, there's no word on a U.S. beta; however, if all goes well, users in the region might not wait long.

We're starting to close out 2025, and with that comes the usual Spotify Wrapped. This year, the platform shook things up with "listening age" and "top albums." Users, of course, still got the usual "top songs" for the year, as well as some analytics behind the many music genres they listened to. Spotify Wrapped 2025 ended with files about you, which are detailed notes about your most diverse listening days and how your tastes might've changed throughout the year.

Elsewhere, an update last month made it easier for users to switch with TuneMyMusic's library transfer service.