Spotify’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ feature is the virtual vacay everyone deserves

By

Spotify
Harry Styles on the beach, anyone?
Photo: Spotify

Missing out on a proper vacation this summer? Aren’t we all! While Spotify can’t change that, it has introduced a really fun new feature that promises you the virtual vacation you deserve. For about three minutes or so, at least.

Called “Wish You Were Here,” the feature lets users pick from a handful of summer songs and have them play in the background of a vacay audioscape.

Want to hear Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” as it would sound on the beach? Fancy The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” around a campfire? Spotify has you covered!

To try it out, visit wishyouwerehere.atspotify.com and log in to your Spotify account. You then have to select the song you want (alongside those already mentioned, there’s also Jawsh 685 x Jason Derulo’s “Savage Love,” Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me,” Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart,” and a few others.)

After that, you choose your audio location. That could include beach, pool party, campfire, block party, restaurant, BBQ, carnival, roof party, road trip, and park. Spotify will then play your custom mashup while you slip on your sunglasses and kick back for a few minutes. Or weep silently while waiting for your next terrible Zoom call.

There’s also the option to send your selection to a friend as a digital postcard.

A fun feature from Spotify

It’s a fun feature and proof positive of how streaming companies, which by and large offer the same catalog of songs, can differentiate themselves. Whether it will help add more Spotify users remains to be seen. Since it’s a free feature which just asks you to sign up, however, it’s easy to imagine that it might garner a few.

And, hey, anything that raises a smile in a year that hasn’t otherwise done a whole lot to warrant it deserves a round of applause. Kudos, Spotify! Your move, Apple Music!

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.