If you had trouble recognising or navigating your Spotify mobile app this week, you were in the same boat as millions of other users.
The reason: a shimmering dark green 3D disco ball had replaced the familiar Spotify icon.
The audio streamer kept things playful on X, responding to a post about the new logo with: “isn’t she lovely? 💚”
A Spotify representative confirmed to Variety that the disco ball change is linked to the platform’s 20th-anniversary celebration and that the app icon will return to its original design next week.
A 20-year nostalgia play
As part of the milestone, Spotify has launched Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s), a mobile-only in-app experience that looks back at a user’s listening history.
The experience shows users the total number of unique songs they have listened to, the first song they ever played and their all-time most-streamed artist.
It also includes a custom playlist of a user’s top 120 most-played tracks, complete with play counts. The feature is available to both Premium subscribers and free users.
The internet reacts
The internet has reacted to the icon change with mixed reviews, memes and gifs, with some users on LinkedIn even critiquing Spotify for not getting the brand colours right.
Matt Poulier, CMO at Hola, said in a LinkedIn post that the brand’s colours were too off-brand.
“Fun campaign idea, but if you’re going to mess with one of the most recognisable logos in the world… at least get the brand colour right,” Poulier wrote.
To show what he meant, Poulier shared an updated version that retained the original theme: “Here you go Spotify, I fixed your 20th anniversary logo.”
“Small detail. Big difference.”
One user on X wrote: “Whoever designed this needs to be fired immediately.”
Others responded with their own “fixed” versions of the logo, while some users backed the change.
“Maybe I’m in the minority but i actually like it 😭 it looks like spotify is ready to party,” one X user wrote.
But amid a flood of negative reactions online, Spotify confirmed on X that the disco ball logo is only here for a week.
“Alright, we know glitter is not for everyone. Our temp glow up ends soon. Your regularly scheduled Spotify icon returns next week.”
Spotify takes a Wrapped-style approach
Like Spotify Wrapped, the anniversary experience includes custom share cards that users can post to social media.
The move gives Spotify another nostalgia-driven data moment outside its annual Wrapped campaign, turning long-term listening behaviour into personalised content.
As part of the 20th anniversary, Spotify also revealed, for the first time, the most-streamed artists, songs, albums, podcasts and audiobooks in the platform’s history.
Top image: Spotify disco ball logo