Spotify Announces New Playlists & Talk Show That Highlight Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Artists

Since Spotify launched the playlist Blak Australia in 2017, a platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, the demand for further representation in music has only grown. 

Artists will no longer be a festival’s token woman or token Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artists, so it was only a matter of time before streaming platforms caught up and updated their playlists.

Yesterday, Spotify arrived with new playlists: Proppa Bars, a hip-hop playlist; a mood playlist called Big Ancestor Energy; and two new kids’ playlists, Too Deadly Bub and Blak Hits For Kids.

The streaming giant’s current playlists dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been revamped, featuring new designs created in collaboration with Aboriginal artist and designer Arkie Barton. 

Barton said the new designs “represents a coming together of community and mobs from all across so-called Australia, specifically within the digital space of the Spotify First Nations arena.”

Spotify is also launching a new Music + Talk show called OUSS HITS, a behind-the-scenes look at the music spotlighted on its First Nations playlists. 

Alethea Beetson, an artist of Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and Wiradjuri descent who is Spotify’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program Lead, hosts the episodes. Featured guests include Rhianna Patrick, Torres Strait Islander curator of the Original Storytellers playlist, and Em Nicol, Birri Gubba + Ugarem curator of the Blak Australia playlist.

We recently reported on the findings of the Happiest and Saddest songs on Spotify. The Happiest Songs in the Charts, based on lyrics' sentiment alone, are What Lovers Do by Maroon 5, Love Me Harder by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd, Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld, Me! by Taylor Swift, with Youth by Troye Sivan and more filling up the chart.

Meanwhile, the Saddest Songs in the Charts are Kendrick Lamar’s Humble, Supalonely by Benee, Sad! by XXXTentacion, Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez, Falling by Harry Styles, followed by tracks like when the party’s over by Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber’s Sorry, Lost by Frank Ocean, and many more. Check out the graphics here.