How to Block a Song You Hate on Alexa
Excerpt from my pandemic diary, day 132: “Today the kids asked Alexa to play Roar 53 times. I can feel myself losing my mind. I’m afraid of what I might do if I can’t stop Katy Perry. “ If this situation sounds a little too familiar to you, or if you’re just tired of asking Alex to skip a particularly annoying song in your favorite playlist, you’re in luck: there are several different methods you can use to keep your Amazon smart speaker from playing a song or even an artist who you’ll ever hate again, including voice commands and Alexa “Routines” features.
To block a song using voice commands
Before we get down to business, a word of caution: While you can ask Alexa to refrain from playing a song you don’t want to hear, this functionality, as described below, only works with Amazon Music, which is Alexa’s preferred music service by default (obviously). If you prefer Spotify, YouTube Music, or another service, you’ll have to explore their own service-specific skip song settings. If you still use Amazon Music and are trying to block the song from playing when it appears. the playlist you are listening to (or a wide variety of similar playlists), you can do this simply by telling Alexa you don’t want to hear the song again. When the song kicks in, just say something like “Alexa, never play this song” or “Alexa, I don’t like this song.” Alexa will log your disgust and should, in theory, skip it the next time it encounters it in a playlist. However, this is not a perfect solution: you may need to voice your dissatisfaction several times if the song is in multiple playlists. You listen and say that the playlists are different enough that Alexa doesn’t classify them as similar. Also, it doesn’t seem to work all the time if you asked Alexa to play songs from a specific artist; It seems that Alexa will fulfill your request, but in my experience, the song may still appear the next time your child shouts, “ALEXA PLAY PERRY FLU!” on a smart speaker (if you use a completely random example). If you want a more reliable way to lock a song, try …
To block a song using procedures
If you’ve never explored the pretty robust functionality of Alexa’s Routines before, you should check it out . You can use it to pre-program a range of actions that you want Alexa to perform, including preventing her from accepting song requests that you would rather have her rejected. If you want Alexa to not play a specific song (or even a specific artist), you can create a routine that triggers another action when someone asks to hear a song on your no-no list. You can even use the same basic steps to permanently ban all songs from a specific artist; It’s all about managing your procedures. Here’s how to do it:
1. Launch the Alexa app on your phone and tap the three lines in the upper left corner, tap Routines, then tap the big plus sign in the center of the screen to create a new routine (if you already have routines, look for the smaller plus sign on the right upper corner).
2. Click “Enter a Subroutine Name” and give it any name (in this case, “Block [Song Name]” probably makes sense, but you can get more creative if you like).
3. Click “Next” and then “When this happens” ; Alexa will open a menu with various functions. You want to select the Voice icon.
4. Enter a voice command that will cause Alexa to play the song you hate (for example, enter “play Baby Shark” or “play Baby Shark by Pink Fong”); if you wish, you can block the artist, point by entering a command like “play Nickelback” or “shuffle KidzBop Kids songs”. When done, click Next.
5. Click Add Action, then Alexa Speaks, then Configured. Now you can enter whatever you want Alexa to say instead of playing the requested song (maybe you need to troll a little?) And click Next.
6. Click “Select Device” to select Alexa, which will start the procedure; select “The device you are talking to” if you want it to cover all devices associated with your account. Click “Save”.
That’s all! Your routine has been completed and will be activated more or less immediately. You can turn it off at any time by opening the Procedures menu, tapping a procedure and turning it off at the top of the screen. You can also click on the three dots in the upper right corner if you want to edit the procedure or delete it entirely.
Note: Routines operate in machine logic, so you may need to create multiple to effectively lock the song. You can bypass the Katy Perry Play Roar routine by simply saying, for example, “Play Roar.” Just increase the number of procedures you create in proportion to the degree of your burning hatred for this song. [ Smart Home Point ]