Spotify’s latest feature hands you control of its algorithm

By Pranob Mehrotra Published December 11, 2025

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by Spotify‘s algorithm recommending songs that don’t match your taste, there’s some good news. The streaming giant is finally giving you a way to take control of its algorithm. The company is testing a new feature called Prompted Playlists, which lets “you describe exactly what you want to hear and set the rules for your personalized playlist.”

Spotify says this new feature taps into your entire listening history, all the way back to when you first started using the service, to curate a personalized playlist based on your prompt and listening patterns. This is a significant shift away from auto-generated Spotify playlists, like Discover Weekly, which rely on the service’s algorithm to guess what you might like.

The Prompted Playlist feature builds upon Spotify’s existing AI playlist option and supports larger, more complex prompts that let users give more specific instructions. It also allows for iteration, meaning that if you don’t like the first playlist, you can refine your prompt and generate a new version, helping the algorithm better understand your preferences.

Spotify added that the playlist will include detailed descriptions, giving listeners context for why the algorithm recommended the included tracks. To help users get started, the platform will also provide some sample prompts.

Currently, Spotify is testing Prompted Playlists with Premium subscribers in New Zealand. It’s still in beta and is only available in English for now, but the music streaming service is expected to expand availability and add support for more languages by the time the feature is ready for a wider release.

For listeners, the Prompted Playlist could fundamentally change how they discover new music on Spotify. Instead of relying on the algorithm to predict what they like, the feature will let them actively shape their playlist and make discovery more intentional. Over time, this could make playlists feel less random and more like a reflection of each listener’s personal taste.