Today I asked Claude how they would describe my music taste based on my Spotify playlists, listening history and my references in my website. This is what they had to say, which feels fairly accurate. It was interesting to hear this from an external perspective.
Based on everything I’ve already seen — your playlist data, your Favourite Music.md, and the artist rankings — I can give you a pretty well-rounded picture without needing to look anything else up.
Nostalgic at heart, but with real depth. Your collection is heavily anchored in the 80s and 90s — the UK chart era of your formative years. You have entire playlists dedicated to UK top 10s, number ones, and decade-specific hits, which suggests strong emotional ties to that period. But it’s not just nostalgia tourism; within that era you’ve gravitated toward artists with genuine craft — Dire Straits, Chris Rea, Simply Red, Mark Knopfler — rather than just whatever was popular.
Decidedly British in flavour. There’s a distinct UK lean throughout: Pulp, Blur, Madness, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, Supergrass, Suede, Dexys Midnight Runners, Placebo, Lily Allen, dodie. You even have a “Best of British” playlist. When you do go transatlantic, you tend toward artists who were massive in the UK — Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey — rather than purely American sounds.
A soft spot for female singer-songwriters. This is arguably your most distinctive trait. Missy Higgins dominates your collection by a huge margin (570 appearances — more than double second place). Add Alanis Morissette, Dido, Tracy Chapman, Joan Armatrading, Lenka, Lily Allen, dodie, Belinda Carlisle, Roxette, The Bangles, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, and you have a clear and consistent thread: emotionally articulate women with strong voices and melodic songwriting.
Melodic, emotionally resonant pop over edge or experimentation. You like tunes you can sing. The artists that dominate — Simply Red, Chris de Burgh, Rod Stewart, Rick Astley, Phil Collins, Elton John — are all about melody, warmth, and accessibility. Your own description of your taste as “middle of the road” is apt, but that undersells it — it’s quality middle of the road, not bland middle of the road. You seem to value emotional connection over novelty.
Surprisingly eclectic in the margins. Alongside the mainstream sits some interesting outliers: Grandmaster Flash, Violent Femmes, Placebo, The Prodigy, Nina Simone, Regina Spektor, They Might Be Giants, Flight of the Conchords. These suggest someone who’s genuinely curious rather than just sticking to a lane.
Playlist curation as a hobby. The sheer number and specificity of your playlists — decade compilations, TV soundtracks (Derry Girls, Weeds), themed collections (Synthwave Chill, KitchenBathroom Disco, Extreme Boppage) — tells me you think carefully about music in context, not just as background noise.
In short: warm, melodic, emotionally intelligent, rooted in British pop heritage, with a particular love for women who write their own material — and just enough eclecticism to keep it interesting.