Issue link: http://tcnj.uberflip.com/i/1545320
38 The College of New Jersey Magazine LET'S SAY YOU'RE THE PARENT OF A PRETEEN who plays DJ on car rides and is obsessed with K-pop music. Spotify may start recommending BTS and Stray Kids — even if that's not your preference. That's where Taste Profile comes in. Raphael Rezkalla has been helping to prepare the feature for launch. It was announced in March at Austin's annual South by Southwest, a premier music festival and conference for music lovers from around the world, and debuted in New Zealand ahead of an expected worldwide rollout. Taste Profile allows users to tell Spotify what they like and what they're interested in exploring. This enables a more precise algorithm that offers suggestions and even playlists via a new beta feature called Prompted Playlist, which delves into each user's history to generate curated song lists. It can even anticipate future listening needs — say, if you're training for a marathon and need playlists to fuel longer runs or if you're seeking podcasts on a certain topic. Taste Profile allows a user to provide more direct feedback to augment what's gleaned from listening habits. — Phil West October 10, 2026 ALUMNI HOMECOMING Save the date A SNEAK PEEK: Bringing Taste Profile to Spotify users