YouTube Music’s new sidebar wants you to stop forgetting about your playlists

I fired up YouTube Music this morning and to my surprise, the user interface had undergone a significant transformation. The addition of a left-hand sidebar caught my attention immediately. The sidebar now includes Home, Explore, and Library navigation options, with a clear emphasis on playlists.

It appears that Google recognized that many users tend to forget about their playlists and wanted to rectify that by giving them more prominence. Here, you’ll find all your playlists neatly listed, along with the option to create a brand new one whenever the mood strikes you.

I’ve got to admit, I’m still on the fence about this, primarily because it dedicates a considerable amount of screen real estate to something that some users may not even care about. Previously, YouTube Music sported a full-width user interface that provided a more immersive experience.

However, I do appreciate the opportunity to rediscover mixes that I had crafted for various seasons of my life and specific situations that evoked certain emotions. It’s like stumbling upon a musical time capsule that brings back a flood of memories, and I think that kind of feature deserves to be used more for sure. One thing I do hate though is this continual cross-pollination between YouTube and YouTube Music. For example, the sidebar does feature playlists you’ve created from YouTube that have absolutely nothing to do with music or podcasts, but only if you have a song in that playlist – interesting.

Instead of navigating through several smart chips or menus to access your playlists, they’ll now just show up right in your face once this change rolls out. I’m not sure if this is some kind of A/B test or a full feature release, but yeah, there it is! I kind of want to hear what you all think about this though – do you appreciate the new sidebar or do you view it as a mere phase that YouTube Music is going through?