Last week we looked at Musiio’s Standard Moods classifier. This is a useful top-level set of moods that’s great for streaming services, recommendations, sync and more.
Our newly introduced Enhanced Moods classifier recognises 41 distinct moods, rather than the 15 found in V1, and works hand-in-hand with Standard Moods. These extra moods give catalogue owners a chance to describe their music with greater nuance than ever. Crucially, this additional layer of detail makes accessing the perfect track quicker, and building playlists for every niche even slicker.
We’ll get into some interesting use cases next week, but this time, we’re giving you an overview of what each tag means as well as an example track.
With no further ado, let’s dive into Enhanced Moods definitions! And do bookmark this page for reference!
| Angry | Ideal for hulk-out moments on the big screen and those “stay away from me I’m coding” moments in front of your computer screen, the angry tag is high-energy, rebellious and loud in nature. WARNING: Tracks with this tag may contain shouting, screaming and distorted instruments. | Killing In The Name – Rage Against The Machine |
| Bold | A full, loud and proud sound, the bold tag appears on music which you would show your sound system off too. Often gives the vocal space to be unique. | RUN DMC – Sucker MC’s |
| Calm | Gentle tracks that would generally fit comfortably on a coffee shop playlist. | Bossa Nova Covers – Take On Me |
| Carefree | The sound of freedom. Road trips, sneaking out at night and living your best life. | The Mowgli’s – San Francisco |
| Cheerful | Bubblegum. Pop. | WHY DON’T WE – JUST FRIENDS |
| Chill | Need music to help you relax or a work from home playlist? The chill tag appears on music that’ll lower your heart rate and help you get in the zone. | 2 Kosong – Train to Bishan Pt. 2 |
| Confident | It’s all about confidence! Vocal-forward, empowering tracks you’ll want to sing along to. | Lizzo – Juice |
| Dancy | Don your white socks and dance shoes or your glow-in-the-dark face paint for this tag. You can expect 4-to-the-floor music to stomp along to with the Dancy tag. | Punctual – Maze (feat. PHIA) |
| Dark | The Dark tag can appear on anything from slow and brooding Hans Zimmer-style cinematic scores, to peak time 128 BPM industrial techno. Think minor keys, menacing reverbs, and unsettling undertones. | Ripples in the Sand – Hans Zimmer |
| Dramatic | The Dramatic tag tends to appear on music that is effervescent and expressive in style. Theatrical or cinematic music with rich, full dynamic range and world music like Latin or tribal sounds written to accompany dramatic flamenco-like performances, and Kate Bush… obviously. | Top Gun Anthem – Harold Faltermeyer |
| Dreamy | Explore the inside of your mind with this tag – from nostalgic sunsets to psychedelia the dreamy tag can be ethereal and often features reverb-drenched moments. | Cry – Cigarettes After Sex |
| Energetic | The soundtrack to your Saturday night, the Energetic tag will return on tracks that would feature in peak time DJ sets. | Gian Carlos – RoadRunnaa |
| Euphoric | The Euphoric tag is for joy-sparking mood boosters and lasers-on-the-dancefloor moments. | Solardo – So Far So Good |
| Exciting | Exciting tracks tend to have higher BPMs and a lot going on dynamically. Loud, proud in-your-face artists get an Exciting tag. Expect high-intensity vocals, memorable basslines and maybe even some chiptune elements. Attention-grabbing sounds ideal for high-octane adventure sports. | The Heavy – Hurricane Coming |
| Frantic | Expect your heart to want to escape from your chest with music that is tagged as Frantic! It’s usually associated with BPMs outside your comfort zone, or complex instrumentals, and pairs well with adrenaline-fuelled action. | Anderex – ACID TECH [GBD323] |
| Happy | For anything from cliche “tech start-up ad” ukelele, to Disney sing-alongs and ‘Feel good songs to sing in the shower’ type playlists. The Happy tag is vibrant, uplifting, and has a major amount of major chords. | Ska City – Quickie Kisses |
| Heartfelt | Deeply emotive songs with love as a central theme will be tagged as Heartfelt. Sentimentality and earnest vocals are almost guaranteed. | Little Mix – Secret Love SongLinda Ronstadt – Long Long Time |
| Hopeful | Ideal for end credits music to leave your audience with a warm feeling and sense of there being light at the end of the tunnel. | U2 – With Or Without You |
| Inspiring | Hit your audience with positive go-get-em vibes that would make an audience whoop and get out of their seat. Underscore for a motivational speech video. | William August Hunt – Aura Quartz |
| Majestic | For everything from awe-inspiring locations and superhero power stance moments to royal courts and spies doing the tango, the Majestic mood tag is for music that inspires a sense of grandeur, pride and wonder. It’s commonly found in orchestral works. | Jacob Gade – Tango Jalousie |
| Melancholy | Looking for music for your latest desaturated indie film? This mood is more delicate and nuanced than sad, and has a glimmer of hope. | Wolf Alice – The Last Man On Earth |
| Mysterious | Think sleuth movies and psychological thrillers with the Mysterious tag. It provokes an uneasy sense of curiosity. | CRANES – Watersong |
| Neutral | The Neutral tag can appear on music for many different uses. Lofi and background ambient music to study to, music you can use in your latest tech review video, or background music for a shop or restaurant. Neutral music isn’t going to challenge your ear, but it will add subtle atmosphere to an otherwise dead sonic space. | sessionThree – Second Pulse |
| Optimistic | These tracks make you feel ready for anything the world can throw at you. | Amber Mark – Lose My Cool (Franc Moody Remix) |
| Peaceful | Intimate performances. The home of singer songwriters. Great for relationship-building montages and gentle acoustic playlists. | Jeff Tweedy – Love Is The King |
| Playful | Unique, creative, fun and tongue-in-cheek -– it would be hard not to jive along to tracks with a Playful tag. A theme song for a cool and confident protagonist character. | De La Soul – Shopping Bags (She Got From You) |
| Powerful | More muscular than Energetic and Exciting moods. Often corresponds with distortion, heavy compression and chunky rhythm guitars and searing leads. Air punch-inducing. Pins your ears back. | Everlong – Foo Fighters |
| Quirky | Against-the-grain, boundary-pushing, forward-thinking artists like Tyler the Creator and Billie Eilish that feature non-traditional rhythmic elements, unusual vocals, sound effects or instrumentation get a Quirky tag. Very common among TikTok hits and breakthrough Trap artists | Franky Afrika – Red, Black & Green (Instrumental) |
| Rage | A heavy metal bar. A WWE style cage match. A muscle bound crew chasing you down a dark alley. | Worst – Draining Me |
| Relaxed | Music to enjoy sitting down while the sun shines. Puts your audience in a warm cocoon of safety. Commonly features traditional instrumentation at a medium-slow tempo. Vocals tend to be smooth, if present. | Joni Mitchell – Help Me |
| Restless | A vibe in need of resolution, which never comes. Generally more consistent and danceable than Frantic. | BABii – LiiTE The Who – My Generation |
| Romantic | The Romantic tag and sentimentality go hand in hand. Need the perfect track for when the lead character realises they’ve fallen in love? Or a playlist full of heartfelt vocal performances and slower, seductive songs. Look no further. | Bunga Sayang – Dick Lee |
| Sad | Real tear-jerking tracks trigger this tag. Almost always features minor chord progressions. These tracks have an immense emotional pull. For orchestral work, this could mean solo cello, for pop it could be an emotive vocal. Generally lower energy and slower. | Holland Albright – A Far Distant Land |
| Scary | The Scary tag is for music that ranges from skin-crawling ASMR to existential dread-inducing dissonance. These tracks will keep your audience up at night. One for horror soundtracks rather than morning commutes. Pure nightmare fuel. | Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima – Penderecki |
| Seductive | If you were 14 again and you decided to make a mixtape for your love interest, you could expect music with a Seductive tag to feature. Some streaming services would tag this as ‘sexy’. | George Riley – Jealousy |
| Sentimental | Loves songs from old-school crooners. Perfect for mid-century middle-American scene setting, but also ripe for flipping into a modern crime or thriller context. | Frank Sinatra – I Guess I’ll Have to Dream the Rest |
| Soothing | Low-key post break-up music. Restorative music to soak in the bath to. | Max Richter – On the Nature of Daylight |
| Soulful | Warm music with heart. The soulful tag is emotive and has a strong sense of connection. Correlates with strong vocal performances. | Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free |
| Tense | Driving, suspenseful rhythmic tracks for the | Glebozavr – Milky Way |
| Uplifting | Get up out of your seat (or bed) and start moving. The uplifting tag will appear on music which will elevate you in many different ways. | ABBA – Dancing Queen |
| Warm | Earthy music that feels like a hug. Generally has a bassy, supportive sound. | Noah Cyrus – Mr. Percocet |
Next time, we’ll be looking at the reasons why combining Enhanced Moods with Standard Moods can be especially powerful for music catalogues.
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