How to Identify an Unknown or New Song You've Heard | The Ultimate Guide

Identifying Unknown Songs You Hear

Have you ever heard a catchy song on the radio, in a store, or at a bar and wondered what the name of the song was? Not knowing the song title when you only have a little bit to go on can be frustrating. Luckily, there are some effective tips you can use to help you identify that mystery tune.

Listen Carefully for Lyrics

One of the best ways to figure out an unknown song's name is to listen very closely to the lyrics. Focus on catching any fragments of verses, choruses, or other unique lyrics that stand out to you. Write down all the lyrics you can understand. Even small phrases like "I'm waking up" or "how could this happen to me" can be hugely helpful for tracking down song titles.

Lyrics websites like Genius.com allow you to search for songs based on lyrics. You may get lucky by entering the exact snippet of lyrics you heard into Genius or a similar platform's search bar to pull up song name matches.

Identify the Music Genre or Style

"Whats this song" gets easier to answer when you narrow down the genre. Pay attention to the song's style, tempo, instruments, and any other notable qualities related to the music type as you listen. Is it fast-paced dance music? Slow and soulful blues? Upbeat jazz?

Knowing details about the genre will make your lyric searches more targeted. Search those lyric fragments within songs of that specific category in music databases to weed out wrong results that just happen to have similar wording.

Figure Out the Timeframe or Era

Pinpointing the era that an unfamiliar song is from can provide useful clues for your detective work. Older tunes from the 60s, 70s, or 80s have a classic throwback sound. But modern hits from the last 5-10 years might feature electronic beats, distinctive vocal effects, or other trendy flourishes.

Ask yourself questions like: Does the song have an older retro vibe? Or does it sound contemporary and close to today’s musical style? Even a good guess at a wide time period range can assist you in learning “whats this song from this era I just heard.”

Use Music Identification Apps to Detect Song Titles

Technology and clever AI programming have created song identification software that can instantly name tunes for you. Music ID apps for your smartphone typically work by “listening” to music through your device’s microphone.

Apps like Shazam, SoundHound, TrackID, and Musixmatch utilize advanced audio recognition algorithms to quickly match external music to their extensive databases of known songs. Here’s how to leverage these cool song title finding apps:

Let the App Listen to the Full Song If Possible

The most accurate approach is to open your song ID app and let it listen to or scan the full unknown musical track from start to finish. This gives the audio recognition technology enough time to thoroughly analyze the complete song structure and extract the richest musical signature to match against its song catalog.

Use Snippets Carefully If You Must

Alternatively, you can record shorter 10-30 second clips of the mystery song’s most distinct parts. Capture clear audio snippets of the choruses, unique lyrics, or any sections that stand out as catchiest to you. Just be aware that identification accuracy drops significantly when apps have less complete musical data to work with.

Aim to grab song clips that emphasize the tuned vocals or instruments over background noise for best results. And capture multiple brief samples from different points in the song if possible.

Search Manually with Lyrics If Needed

As mentioned before, trying to search by lyrics could crack the song mystery on your own if apps fail to ID the tune. Switch over to manually looking up your lyrical fragments through an online music database after recording clips. Combining pieces of easily confused technology and good old human detective work might do the trick!

Searching Songs Heard on Streaming Platforms

Streaming apps like Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, and YouTube Music keep track of your full listening history. Check your activity within the streaming service you heard that catchy mystery song on if needed.

Scan Your Streaming History Playlists

Flick through your recent playlists on the platform to see if any titles or artists jump out as possibilities. You may luck out with something relevant appearing in your listening timeline around the timeframe you heard the unknown tune.

View Specific Songs You Interacted With

Look for individual songs marked with a “Thumbs Up” or “Added to Library” notice. Interacting with tracks always leaves hints on streaming apps. It’s possible the song name you seek is sitting right there among your past liked tunes or playlist adds!

Ask Friends or Followers for Help

Posting about that catchy mystery song on social media is another solid play. True music enthusiasts tend to have an extensive musical memory bank they can access!

Making quick Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok posts detailing any lyrics, genres, eras, or other descriptors you associated with the unknown song taps into crowdsourced wisdom. Friends and followers who pride themselves on naming tunes may rush to crack your musical puzzle.

The collective knowledge of all your social circles combined is powerful for answering “What song is this that I just heard recently?” queries. Someone is bound to figure it out!

FAQs

What's the best way to figure out what a song is called if I only know some of the lyrics?

The best way is to type the lyrics you know into an online lyrics database like Genius.com. Search through song matches for the lyrics to try and find the right title.

What apps can identify a song by listening to it?

Apps like Shazam, SoundHound, TrackID, and Musixmatch can listen to songs playing externally and use audio recognition technology to detect the title.

What if Shazam can't recognize a song I want to identify?

If the apps fail to name it, try searching for lyrical snippets manually through an online music database as your next step.

Where else can I look to see the name of a song I heard recently?

Check your listening history in streaming apps like Spotify or YouTube Music if applicable. Also consider crowdsourcing on social media to see if friends can name the mystery tune.