Giphy’s new Spotify integration is the partnership no one asked for

Spotify and Giphy make an unlikely pair.

What you need to know

• Spotify has partnered with Giphy to integrate the music service into the GIF platform.
• Select artists will feature direct links to their Spotify pages on Giphy.
• Artists include Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd, and more.

Spotify announced a partnership with Giphy this week to bring music to your favorite GIFs, in a move that may leave some scratching their heads.

Thanks to the new partnership, whenever you search for a GIF from select music artists, you’ll have the opportunity to jump straight into their Spotify page to a listening session.

“No matter how you pronounce it, GIFs are the ultimate visual metaphor,” Spotify said in its announcement. “And now, thanks to a partnership with Spotify and Giphy, music can be part of the equation.”

Selecting a GIF from an artist’s verified Giphy profile will display a tag underneath the GIF that will prompt you to listen to the artists, and clicking it will bring you straight to the song associated with the GIF. It should work whether you’re using the Giphy website or the app, which is available on all the best Android phones.

The integration works with artists such as Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, The Kid LAROI, and Conan Gray, although Spotify indicates that more will be added.

It’s definitely an interesting feature and one that seemingly came out of nowhere. However, if you’re really looking for a particular GIF from an artist, there’s a good chance you’ll be in the mood to dive into that particular song while you download or share the GIF with your friends.

Whatever the thought process was for this integration, it won’t hurt Giphy’s platform and only serves to put Spotify in more places.