Why You Should Be Able To Search Lyrics By Theme

Technical metadata is solved. Every sample library and vocal pack on the internet will tell you the tempo and the key, because those are trivially machine-readable and because getting them wrong makes the product unusable.

But no producer has ever sat down and thought, 'today I need something in F sharp minor.' They think: I need something that sounds like the end of a relationship. Or: I want this to feel like the best night of somebody's life. The key comes second, and honestly it can be changed.

So the search on this site starts from the thing you are actually looking for. Heartbreak. Falling in love. Defiance. Nostalgia. And, because not every record needs to be about a feeling at all, a category for the abstract ones — the spoken pieces, the wordless textures, the vocals that are an idea rather than a confession.

It sounds obvious written down. As far as I can tell nobody has done it, which is either an opportunity or a warning, and I am choosing to read it as the first one.