Spotify Just Added Three New Lyrics Features, Including One I’ve Been Dying For
Embedded lyrics are one of my favorite features of modern music streaming services. In the old days, I had to Google the lyrics to songs I was listening to, which was fine if I was near a computer, but impossible when I was on the go with my iPod. That’s probably why there are so many songs that I think I know the words, only to discover, once I read the words, that I am sorely mistaken. So the built-in lyrics are both a useful and humbling feature.
As it turns out, Spotify’s existing lyrics features are getting a few upgrades to kick off February. The company announced three key updates on Wednesday: two that affect free users and one exclusive to Premium subscribers. Spotify may not offer the dynamic lyrics of Apple Music, but these updates should still be welcomed by anyone who loves to play their music.
Spotify now supports offline lyrics
The biggest announcement of the day – in my opinion anyway – is support for offline lyrics. This is always something that frustrates me every time I use my phone without cell service. Let’s say I download albums to listen to during a flight: when I try to listen to them in airplane mode, the lyrics are not available. Being able to download lyrics when you grab a song or album is a small but really significant upgrade.
Unfortunately, offline lyrics aren’t available for free: at the moment, the feature is only available to Premium subscribers, which makes sense, given that free users can’t download music for offline listening anyway, only podcasts.
Lyrics are moved to a new location in the Spotify app
Traditionally, lyrics appear at the bottom of the player window in the Spotify app. To view them, you need to scroll down and then tap on the lyrics window to fully expand it. It seems that Spotify is not satisfied with this user interface. The company says that in its testing, it found that placing the lyrics directly under the album art, rather than under the player, makes it easier to interact with them. And that’s where the lyrics evolve.
The company calls this “lyric previews,” because you only see a snippet of the lyrics at a time. This change is rolling out to Free and Premium users on iOS and Android. If you prefer not to see the lyrics at all, you can tap the three-dot menu and choose “Lyrics Off.”
What do you think of it so far?
Spotify is adamant that this new location won’t change the lyrics sharing. You will still be able to send specific lyrics to your friends and social media platforms. You will just have to do it from the new lyrics window.
Spotify Now Supports Lyric Translations Worldwide
Spotify’s lyrics translation feature makes it easy to understand what artists are singing about when you don’t speak their particular language. When you listen to a song that does not match your device’s system language, you will find a translate button in the lyrics window. Tap it and Spotify will include translations under each line of the song, so you can follow along.
According to Spotify, this feature was available in more than 25 markets at the end of last year, but the company is now rolling it out globally.
