Songs
Song Recommendation Quiz by Mood
A small playlist that fits the room you're in. Eight questions on energy, mood, tempo and familiarity — and a shortlist of real tracks back, each with a 30-second preview.
A sample of what the quiz returns
These are real titles the songs quiz surfaces, with the kind of one-line reason it gives for each. Your own shortlist depends on how you answer.
- Nightswimming — R.E.M. — Low energy, high feeling. The reflective end of the dial.
- 電気グルーヴ / Shangri-La — Mid-tempo, bright, and almost impossible to be in a bad mood through.
- Teardrop — Massive Attack — Slow, heavy, melancholy without being bleak. A late-night default.
- September — Earth, Wind & Fire — The highest-valence song ever recorded, roughly speaking. For the kitchen.
- Weightless — Marconi Union — Built with a therapist to lower heart rate. Genuinely works for focus.
- Dreams — Fleetwood Mac — Mid-energy, warm, familiar. The safest possible pick for a shared room.
How the songs quiz works
Eight short questions about your mood, the time you have, and the kind of songs experience you want tonight. Each answer translates into a real filter the catalog already accepts — no AI guessing, no invented titles.
What we ask
- Energy — low, mid or high?
- Mood — happy, melancholy, hyped, reflective?
- Tempo — slow, mid or fast?
- Familiar names, or undiscovered?
- Genre lean — indie, electronic, hip-hop, classical, jazz, pop…
- Vocals or instrumental?
What you get back
- 8–12 tracks per shortlist with artwork and a 30-second preview
- An Apple Music link and a Spotify search link for every pick
- A one-line note on why each track fits
- A 'more like this' button for the next batch
Why mood beats genre for music
Genre tells you which shelf a record was filed on. It does not tell you what the record does to a room. A slow, bittersweet ballad and a driving dark techno cut share almost no genre DNA, but they can belong to the same evening — and a bright pop song and a bright indie song can share a genre neighbourhood and still be wrong for each other.
The two dimensions that actually do the work are energy — how loud, dense and active a track feels — and mood, how positive it sounds independent of tempo. Pick a corner of that grid and most genre boundaries stop mattering. That is what this quiz asks about first, and why it asks about genre last.
What to pick for a specific situation
- Studying or deep work. Low-to-mid energy, no lyrics. Words compete with the words in your head. See the no-lyrics study music guide.
- Cooking or cleaning. High energy, high positivity, familiar. This is the one situation where you want songs you already know — recognition is the point.
- A shared room where tastes differ. Mid energy, mid tempo, well-known. The goal is nobody objecting, not anybody thrilled.
- Winding down. Low energy, slow tempo, acoustic or ambient. Avoid anything with a build — a track that escalates will pull you back up.
Where the recommendations come from
The song quiz uses Apple's public iTunes Search API. Tracks, artists, album artwork and 30-second previews all come from that catalog. Every pick links out to Apple Music, and carries a Spotify search link so you can open it wherever you listen. No login, no account, and your answers are never stored.
Frequently asked questions
How does the song recommendation quiz work?
Eight questions about energy, mood, tempo, vibe and familiarity. Your answers are turned into a search query against Apple's public iTunes catalog, and the results are filtered down to tracks that actually match what you described. You get 8–12 songs with artwork and a 30-second preview each.
Where do the songs come from?
Apple's public iTunes Search API. Every track is a real catalog entry with real artwork and a real preview — nothing is generated. Each pick links out to Apple Music, plus a search link for Spotify so you can open it wherever you listen.
Do I need an account to use it?
No account, no login, no app. Previews play in the browser. Nothing about your answers is stored.
Is this better than Spotify's or Apple's own recommendations?
Different, not strictly better. A streaming algorithm optimises for what keeps you listening based on your history. This quiz optimises for fit to a specific mood you have just described — which your listening history has no way of knowing about.
Can I use it to build a playlist?
Yes. Each shortlist is 8–12 tracks, and the 'more like this' button pulls the next batch on the same settings, so you can stack up enough for an evening without re-answering.