Spotify brings back the lost art of mixtape notes

Chandra Steele

Thu, July 30, 2026 at 4:53 PM UTC

Spotify User Notes in playlist — Spotify

Finding the words to tell someone that you like like them can be overwhelming. Creating a 20-song playlist of every song that reminds you of them and sharing it along with detailed notes that give away much more than your therapist would recommend is somehow easier.

Spotify hasn't given this as a reason why it's created User Notes, but it seems like the best explanation. The streaming service today added the feature, which lets you add comments to tracks on your playlist.

A rite of passage

Anyone who has mourned the loss of the cassette tape and cheered that it's having a bit of a comeback , has over romanticized what it was like to have to hold that fast forward button, hit stop, hit play, then check if you were at your favorite song, find out that you passed it, had to hit rewind, then stop, and see if you got to just the right point. And they definitely forgot the heartbreak of having a tape spool out of control with the only hope of restoring it being a number 2 pencil and infinite patience.

What they really miss are the true joys that cassettes held when they were used for making mix tapes for crushes. The hours sped by when you took your two-cassette deck and transferred those songs you'd spent hours daydreaming to onto a fresh tape and then carefully inked some notes in tiny letters onto the J-card tucked inside the case.

Now with User Notes, you can not just create a playlist for the person who has your heart, but you can add some music knowledge you'll hope will impress them or straight up confess your feelings.

Write your own

Spotify screens showing how to add User Notes — Spotify

To add User Notes, go to your playlist, find the track you want to add notes to and click on the three dots next to it. Select Add Note, then type the note and hit Save. Your note will now appear directly beneath the track name.

User Notes is rolling out to free and Premium users in "select markets." You have to be over 16 years old to use it.

Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.

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