Spotify now lets you exclude songs from your taste profile to improve recommendations
Spotify is giving listeners more control over their music discovery. On Wednesday, the streaming giant announced a new feature that allows users to exclude specific songs from shaping their taste profile — the personalized data set that powers playlists like Discover Weekly, Blend, and the popular Spotify Wrapped experience.
Fixing the Playlist Problem
Previously, Spotify let users exclude entire playlists from their taste profile, which was helpful for edge cases like sleep sounds or workout tracks. But it didn’t fully address the issue of unwanted songs seeping into recommendations. If you accidentally played a few tracks you didn’t really enjoy — or your kids hijacked your account — those listens could distort your algorithmic suggestions.
The new option offers more granular control. Users can browse their recently played songs and tell Spotify which ones shouldn’t count toward their profile.
How It Works
The feature is rolling out to both free and premium accounts. To use it:
- Select the song you want to exclude.
- Tap the three dots in the top-right corner.
- Choose “Exclude from your taste profile.”
If you change your mind later, you can re-include a previously excluded song.
Why It Matters
Spotify’s personalization has always been a major selling point, but the reality of shared accounts has created headaches. Families often stream on one account through smart speakers, car rides, or while kids take control of the music. That means a single user’s taste profile might be cluttered with children’s songs, road trip singalongs, or one-off guilty pleasures.
For parents, in particular, this new option could be a game changer. No more “Baby Shark” or cartoon theme songs creeping into your carefully curated recommendations — or your end-of-year Wrapped.
What’s Still Missing
While excluding songs offers a welcome fix, it’s still a manual process. Many users would prefer a quicker way to separate listening sessions — for example, voice-activated profile switching, or tagging an entire session as belonging to one family member. Until then, excluding songs one by one may be the best workaround.
Still, for anyone who has ever cringed at their Spotify Wrapped because of a toddler’s playlist or a friend’s takeover of the aux cord, the feature provides some much-needed relief.
