Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube Music is testing an expansive, artwork-driven backdrop for album and playlist pages, replacing the old boxed-in headers with cover art that stretches across the top third of the display.
- The action bar is now a split row featuring circular quick-action buttons for offline downloads, library bookmarks, and comments alongside a prominent Play button and dedicated shuffle option.
- The update is currently rolling out to a small group of users, likely as a server-side A/B test, before a potential wider release.
Google has been steadily giving YouTube Music a visual refresh, and the latest interface tweak gives album and playlist pages a much-needed facelift. Hot on the heels of experiments with the app’s Now Playing redesign and expanded full-screen album art, the streaming service is now testing an overhauled layout for album and playlists that brings immersive headers and cleaner controls to the forefront.
As spotted by multiple users on Reddit, YouTube Music’s new look for albums ditches the traditional, boxed-in header in favor of an expansive, album-art-driven backdrop. The album cover stretches across the top third of the display, similar to what we see right on artist landing pages.
