Full screen lyrics issue

[Leovm1]

Plan

Premium

Country

Brazil

Operating System

Windows 11

Spotify Version

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.84.476.ga1ff6607

My Question or Issue

Hello,

I’ve always used Spotify with the lyrics displayed in full screen on my second monitor. However, today I clicked the “Show artwork” button and since then I lost the ability to display the lyrics in full screen.

Before this happened, all three options (Show artwork, Show canvas, and Show artist image) were disabled. When I pressed the Lyrics button, the lyrics would appear in full screen and the interface elements (library, side panels, controls, etc.) would disappear.

Now I can no longer disable these options; I can only switch between them.

When I press the Lyrics button, instead of staying in full screen, Spotify zooms out and shows the full interface:

• “Your Library” on the right

• “Now Playing” on the left

• Home/Search on the top

• Playback controls on the bottom

These elements also no longer disappear like they used to in full-screen lyrics mode.

In the attachments, I included:

1. The buttons that triggered the problem

2. How the lyrics appear now

3. How the full-screen lyrics looked before, with the playback controls appearing when hovering the lower part of the screen

Note that I'm talking about the full screen inside the app, the full screen function for the app itself works as intended. 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[dinomight]

Hey @Leovm1, sorry to hear you're having this issue with full screen lyrics not functioning correctly. Could you please try a clean reinstall to be sure you're using the most current/up to date version of the app, and see if that resolves the problem? You also might try disabling hardware acceleration (go to the three dot menu in the top left, then  Help > Troubleshooting > Disable hardware acceleration and restart).

Please let us know how that goes! 

[Leovm1]

Hi @dinomight,

Thank you for the reply.

I followed the clean reinstall procedure twice to make sure everything was reset properly. I tried installing Spotify both from the Microsoft Store and directly from the Spotify website. In both cases, I also confirmed that hardware acceleration was disabled.

Unfortunately, the issue still persists after both reinstallations.

The behavior remains the same: when I press the Lyrics button, the lyrics no longer stay in full-screen mode inside the app. Instead, the interface zooms out and shows the full UI, which previously disappeared when lyrics were displayed in full screen.

Please let me know if there are any other troubleshooting steps I can try. I'm happy to provide additional information if needed.

Thanks again for your help.

[dinomight]

Thanks @Leovm1, just to make sure you've tried everything, after you go to full screen using the icon in the bottom right, if the album art appears, you should then click the lyrics icon again. Do the UI elements still return?

[dinomight]

Hey @Leovm1, one more follow up, but if the problem is still occurring using the above steps, is it possible for you to capture a brief screen recording of the issue so we can see exactly what is happening?

[Leovm1]

Hi @dinomight,

Thanks for the follow-up.

I tried the steps you described: entering full screen using the icon in the bottom right and then clicking the Lyrics button again when the album artwork appears. Unfortunately, the UI elements still return and the lyrics do not stay in the full-screen mode as they used to.

I also recorded my screen as requested and attached the video to this message so you can see exactly what is happening on my side.

Additionally, I found an image online that shows how the full-screen lyrics used to appear for me. I want to clarify that this screenshot is not mine (I found it on the internet) but it illustrates the layout I had before and the one I’m trying to get back. I apologize for the quality of the image (it’s not very clear and is even rotated), but it still shows the behavior I’m referring to.

In that screenshot, the three options “Show artwork”, “Show canvas”, and “Show artist image” are disabled, which is how my app used to behave as well when the lyrics were displayed in full screen.

It was actually quite difficult to find an example image showing the layout I had before. Most images I found online look like how my Spotify appears now, which makes me wonder if the current behavior might actually be the intended one after a recent update.

Thanks again for your help, and please let me know if there’s anything else I can try or provide.

[dinomight]

Thank you @Leovm1, these are incredibly helpful. I will let you know when I have any further information about this!

[Trex4]

The semi-older UI on desktop was perfect, with a now playing view on the right with no annoying lyrics tab (that doesn't scroll the lyrics anyway so useless) taking up the whole thing, and when I wanted to see the lyrics for whatever reason I could just click on the microphone button on the bottom to open it, which would open up to only cover the song options, leaving the library tab on the left and the now playing view on the right alone. Now spotify have done the usual of changing it for the worst, for no good reason. It wasn't broken and it was actually quite nice to use, stop messing with it unless it is genuinely useful, which it won't be as the older UI was perfect already

[AhImRyan]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Laptop

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Before when you turned lyrics on, while using the desktop app, it would stay on until you turned it off but now it turns just goes shows a full screen album cover after each song plays.

I have two monitors and like to have it on my second monitor while I'm doing something else and this is so annoying as I have to turn it back on after EVERY song.

[fyihyd]

hey please change the lyrics option so people can read them again in the center of spotify screen on laptops. the new version sucks so bad, I quit my monthly paymentif you do not change it back. I can not read lyrics and search for new songs etc. anymore because the whole screen now fills with the lyrics. but I want to be able to read the lyrics, and scroll left and right and do whatever. thank you

[Lalinisator]

I abolutetly agree, same issue here. I just want to read the lyrics along while studying or what ever. Needs to be fixed ASAP.

[NishimuraRiki]

Plan

Premium

Country

New Zealand

Device

Lenovo Yoga 

Operating System

Windows

My Question or Issue

Why does the library not appear when I press the lyrics button? I liked it like that. Now that it has changed because of some "update" it makes me uncomfortable. Please bring it back. I'm literally about to start crying. I'm trying to find something that will change it back. I can barely even look at my screen right now. It makes me very uncomfortable after I've been living with my Spotify with the library, lyrics, and queue side by side to each other.  I'm begging you to change it back please 🙏💔

[GET_ME_OUT_OF_HERE]

I FEEL THE SAME WAY!!!! I HATE IT BRING BACK MY LIBRARY RIGHT NOW!!!! THIS IS SO BAD.
I'm autistic and I struggle with change (which is why I still use Spotify in the first place) and they MOVE MY LIBRARY???? I might just switch to a competitor that looks the same if they don't give me my library back.

[NishimuraRiki]

Literally 💔 I just don't like change. Like please bring it back. It was my life 😞

[Apollolyptic]

The recent update move the lyrics box to the "Now Playing" column on the right instead of in the middle section like before. While this makes sense because it mirrors the mobile app, it no longer allows me to scroll through the lyrics without jumping around the track timeline. In order to scroll through them, I'd have to full-screen the lyrics which completely hides the both the "Now Playing" and "Your Library" columns. I can appreciate the ability to have that, but I also like being able to see the two columns with the lyrics in the middle as well.

I am not recommending a full rollback, just the continuation of good features that are not mutually exclusive to the new ones.

FYI: A bit of customizability and choice on the user end enables users to tailor their experience, increasing overall user satisfaction.

Thanks!

[1244456592]

Current behaviour: In the desktop app, the Lyrics experience now is full-screen, with no options to still show the left sidebar ("Your Library). 

Impact: This feels like a UX regression, especially as it removes optionality. It also bounces you out of lyrics after each song.

It doesn't appear particularly popular either - there are a lot of similar complaints across other forums, eg. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify/comments/1rx983w/spotify_lyrics_suddenly_fullscreen_how_do_i_ge... as well as in this forum.

Note: I've made a new ticket because the most upvoted other one is just tagged "Windows" but this is not a OS-specific problem, but a desktop app problem. In addition, the experience doesn't need to be completely reverted - the issues is that there's no UX option to get out of the full-screen lyrics. 

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

Chiming in with some additional details on the matter 🙂

At Spotify, we're often testing and launching improvements to the app. This means you might occasionally see something your friend doesn’t, or get a new feature to try temporarily. Your feedback on this is important, as it helps us pave the way for a broader user experience. Thank you for posting it here!

For the time being, we have no further info to share about this but if there is anything else in the meantime, we're just one post away. Take care, folks!

[KaleidoVR]

Last time I checked, I never opted in to test any new features. You need to fix this because it is interruptive, annoying, and frankly a pointless change. Changing the app behavior from what the user intentionally selected is disruptive. This is such a frustrating design choice that it actually made me go out of my way to leave a comment here.

[1244456592]

Can I confirm then that this is because we're in the treatment group as part of an A/B test, rather than this being a feature that's rolled out to all users?

If so - given the negative sentiment here and in the Ideas forum (see thread 1, 2), and on other public forums, it definitely doesn't feel like the kind of feature that should make it to 100% rollout.

Frankly, I'm failing to fully understand the UX benefit / expected success metrics or uplift that you'd get from the UX change, unless this is part of a multivariant experiment to understand preferred UI - kind of a baffling product decision. 

Something as simple as having the ability to toggle the sidebars would resolve this.

[kortnieee]

...can I opt out? because I absolutely hate this. I want my lyrics screen to stay as the song changes ☹️