In May 2018, Spotify for Artists made it easier for Spotify users to share the albums, tracks, playlists, and artists they were listening to with their followers on Instagram Stories. The function was designed to help people discover new music and expand their aural tastes, but the collaboration ended up creating this generation’s equivalent of the MSN nickname—an equally evasive way to express how one felt without actually talking about one’s feelings; it allows us to talk about our feelings without being fully sure of them yet, even though doing so often deceives us into thinking we have addressed them.

© 2020 by Rice Media. Published online in Singapore by Rice Media, recorded by Storyside 2020.