Stranger things is a Netflix series that has taken much of the world by storm. Extremely loved by audiences of all ages the show’s main characters is a group of children Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in their search for their friend Will who disappeared. Eleven, a girl with psychokinetic abilities escaped from an experimental facility joins them in their quest. The first season only gives the viewers a foreshadowing of what the Upside Down might be, though we are mainly kept on our toes as Will is rescued albeit without giving the viewer’s awareness of the details.
As Netflix was preparing to release season 2 of the show Spotify added a little surprise for people who listened to the Soundtrack from the first season.
To avoid major spoilers we’ll explain what the upside-down is in the vaguest of terms then explain what the feature added by Spotify entailed.
As we understand it the Upside Down is an alternative dimension that mirrors ours in some ways as things such as locations are constant. A portal to the Upside Down was accidentally created as a result of experiments conducted by the US Department of Energy. The Upside Down is able to influence residents in our dimension and is inhabited by a frightening monster named the Demgorgons – seen dragging a scientist to their death in the first episode of the series. Everything in the Upside Down is connected as a hive mind and as a gate opened due to the experiments conducted it began attempting to exude control over our dimension.
We are not aware of the origins of the Upside Down nor are we given a full scientific explanation for its existence but we are given some glances into the horrific alternate dimension. These we often shrouded in mystery, fog, flashing lights and were often spooky to the observer.
These glances are what Spotify used as inspiration to add a filter feature that users could unlock by listening to the Stranger Things official soundtrack. The filter would add similar elements of mystery to the screen with lights, fog, and other features.
Unfortunately, the feature seems disabled at this time, although many users enjoyed it while it lasted as a novelty. There remains significant hope among Spotify fans that the music giant will include similar fun Easter Egg style features in the future for us all to enjoy.
There are videos on YouTube where people have recorded their screens while the mode is on if you want to see what it looked like. The video shows part of the filter where the play button turns into a flashlight.