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YouTube Music leans into visual sharing; tests lyric cards for social media
The feature, currently in testing, allows users to highlight specific lines from a track’s lyrics in the Now Playing screen.
Karim, one of YouTube’s three co-founders along with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, had no idea at the time that this casual moment at the zoo would become the foundation of a platform that now shapes media, entertainment and even democracy itself.
YouTube Music is stepping up its social media game with a new feature that lets users share their favorite song lyrics in a visually dynamic format, signaling a push to compete with Spotify and Apple Music not just in streaming quality, but in social storytelling.
The feature, currently in testing, allows users to highlight specific lines from a track’s lyrics in the Now Playing screen. Once selected, a streamlined interface guides users to customize the lyric card’s look with color themes and share it directly to platforms like Instagram Stories. There’s also the flexibility to download the card as an image for wider cross-platform use.
First spotted by AssembleDebug and later confirmed by Android Authority and Android Central, the update marks a notable pivot toward a more creator-centric, visual listening experience. In an age where music discovery increasingly happens through Reels, Stories and Shorts, lyric sharing adds a personal, expressive layer to streaming, especially for Gen Z users who treat music as a form of self-branding.
While YouTube Music already allows direct sharing of tracks to Instagram and Snapchat, this feature builds on that by inviting users to share lyrical moments—lines that resonate, provoke or inspire. It also mirrors a trend popularized by Spotify’s canvas features and Apple Music’s lyric snapshots.
The rollout comes amid other UI and UX updates in the works, including redesigned artist pages and tweaks to the audio/video toggle, hinting at a major revamp in the pipeline. Though there's no firm release date yet, YouTube Music’s growing toolbox is clearly aimed at making the app more than just a player, it's becoming a platform for musical self-expression.
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