Y'all remember when y'all were up in arms about this thing that Spotify calls playlisting, where the monthly listeners go up going by how many follow a specific playlist that they are in? And y'all were like "it's inorganic" that New Jeans have more monthly listeners than blackpink because that will increase their visibility in recommendations? Well I just sat there and sipped tea lol. Not my fandoms anyways.

So I have a fave singer, a pop singer from the 80s named Lee Jiyeon, fantastic vocal magic and absolute bangers to that woman's name, as well as a long-lasting artistic legacy ("innocent concept", anyone? yep, thank this girl) and to top it off a (now) super succesful cooking/ restaurant business. Just too bad that she only has 73 monthly listeners on her verified account despite having 3/4 of her discography on there...

Well, she does have slightly more - around 900 - on her korean page (under the name 이지연) that's not verified because there's only one album on there, and it has more monthly listeners because well, people that know her are 99.99% Korean and still search her up in korean. And due to her "Golden Hits" album that's uploaded on there includes, well, all her hits, and no one really listens to her b-sides, it's chill.

So I just minded my own boring business making 10000s of 1st gen and 90s playlists,when I suddenly struck - wait, why don't I playlist myself? Maybe if I playlist cleverly, more people might get Jiyeon and "I Still Don't Know Love" in their recommends - something I'd love to see happen, for the iconic song it is. (if y'alls faves have a "innocent", "fresh", "teenage" or "schoolgirl" concept, thank Lee Jiyeon and very specifically this song).

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So I set around to add her songs from her english-language account into all the playlists I had added her songs to, and fully listened through her 3 albums in the process and found many bops (especially city pop bops!). A ballad song that I had already loved, "Clumsy Farewell", became a sort of earworm, to the point where even my friend who doesn't stan 80s played it on repeat for two whole nights, saying "yeah this is the korean translation of pure depression. this song". So with that, apart from the tracks that are included on one of those throwback compilation albums, Clumsy Farewell climbs up to her Top 3 most listened tracks. It's so small it's not even displayed, but I'd like to guess it's about, what, 50? 60? times I alone played it- yep. I did THAT lol.

So days go by and the followers goes from 73 to 75. You could even see "Munich, DE" in the artist description box lol. That's how much I was... should I say, streaming? her songs. It was also the phase where I spent hours in the uni library working lol

The number climbs up to 80, 85, and a few of my playlists with her songs in them get like 2 or 3 likes. the number goes up. 87, 90. I'm like, where did all the listeners come from? The number of likes on her playlists ain't going up. Wait so the recommendation algorithm is... doing it's thing? already?

90, 92. I get more conscious because 100 is one helluva number. I kinda sneakily link my playlist in relevant conversations here on reddit and IRL two or three times, in hopes of at least one person pressing that big heart to save it to their library. It works, exactly 3 times.

An user on r/kpopnostalgia does a mega library for 80s albums and songs, and I promptly add her albums to it. 4 likes for us four constributors.

And today, after someone asked for Korean 80s songs, I linked the playlist again. and Bam. Someone has saved the playlist

100 monthly listeners.

It's a milestone! Celebrate, everyone! At least I am celebrating for no damn reason LMFAO. And my playlists with her in it has 10 likes, 2 likes, and 1 like respectively now. That makes it 13 likes the 4 from the 80s masterlist in total, plus add the one or two organic listeners somewhere and we have made it to a 100! Add that to her 930 something and she actually has around 1030 monthly listeers, officialy and inofficially added.

As proof, here is her page. Kpopthoughts hasn't allowed pictures embedded, so I can't share with y'all the joy of my first screenshot of the moment.

I'd like to thank all the Kpop fans that introduced me to this thing. Peace out.

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EDIT : ok so this has blown up and the playlists have gotten 18, 4 and 3 likes now - and I posted this last night lol. As of exactly now, 4.35 pm Germany time, she has 123 listeners LOL. And yes, this is a bigger picture, but just primarily to show y'all how this whole playlisting things works IRL on a smaller scale. Thanks for that y'all! Also, there are so many wanting to check out 80s music, come on in and ask away! I'm always happy to give reccs

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EDIT EDIT : Naaaaahh y'all just didn't say "aight we blowing her up" lmao. 200 already? And Clumsy Farewell is on number two? Like, y'all serious? Idk how to exctly feel about it, but LEGGOOO! I'm so happy in the end anyways, some songs are too good to be hidden away like this!