"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "What Kind of Man" by Florence + the Machine. Dramatic quiet-to-loud arc, stormy climax. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: cathartic, emotional, intense. Visual style: contemporary editorial aesthetic. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
What Kind of Man
Florence + the Machine
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015)
AI-analyzed — check another song
Real momentum, more energetic than 87% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for workout.
146
BPM
What Kind of Man by Florence + the Machine is 146 BPM — Allegro (fast).
Half-time 73 BPM · Double-time 292 BPM · released 2015
Fan image for "What Kind of Man"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: The track builds from a slow start to explosive crescendos with heavy guitars, brass, and pounding drums, creating a visceral emotional surge. Florence Welch's powerful, belting vocals dominate with raw intensity and dramatic swells.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: emotional release energy
A guitar-driven indie rock anthem about an indecisive lover, featuring slow builds into heavy brass and rhythmic beats with Florence Welch's soaring vocals.
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Moods: cathartic, emotional, intense
Traditions: baroque pop, indie rock
Intense — what to expect
"What Kind of Man" is in our intense band.
At least one of our five sensory dimensions crosses the threshold that means "this can be a lot." Most commonly: dynamic vocals or layered texture, or a dynamic range of 8/10. The full breakdown is below. If you arrived here looking for a calmer alternative, our use-case verdicts section flags songs with similar mood but lower intensity.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 8/10 is in the upper band of our library. This song has a significant quiet-to-loud arc. For sensory-sensitive listening, set the opening volume well below your comfortable top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Sudden changes: present. This song uses surprise as a feature. For focus or background listening, it's likely to pull your attention away; for active listening, that's often the point.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in Florence + the Machine's catalog
We have 27 songs from Florence + the Machine in the library. Of those, 0 are rated Safe, 14 Moderate, and 13 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 8/10 sits above the artist average of 7.5, making it the #12 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
We have 5 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans intense in sensory profile.
- Ship to Wreck — intense DR 8
- Delilah — intense DR 9
- Various Storms & Saints — moderate DR 6
- Caught — intense DR 8
2015 context
Released in 2015. We have 373 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.3/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2010s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
low-intensity Workout Music: Energy Without Overwhelm
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The Calmest Songs We’ve Ever Measured
Out of 19,144 songs scored for intensity, these measure as the very calmest — the gentlest, steadies…
Even Flow: Pearl Jam’s Song for the Man Everyone Walks Past
Even Flow is Pearl Jam at full throttle — and underneath the riff is a portrait of a homeless man an…
How fast is "What Kind of Man"?
146 BPM — Fast (workout / running pace)
For running
Steady-state running pace. Matches most recreational runners' natural cadence.
For workouts
HIIT, Spin class, dance, intense intervals.
For daily life
Active tasks, getting pumped up, party, anything high-energy.
Browse more songs at 146 BPM.
When "What Kind of Man" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
✓
Running / workout
Yes — 146 BPM sits squarely in the running / cardio band. Matches natural stride cadence.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
~
Driving / road trip
Maybe — the intensity / sudden changes are fine for solo highway driving but skip for city or rainy-weather driving.
✗
Cooking / dinner background
No — too active to function as background; will pull attention away from what you're doing.
✓
Emotional release / catharsis
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Nick Cave's albums ranked by emotional darkness — which one is your nervous system ready for?
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds made some of the most devastating music in rock history. But not all darkness is the same. This guide ranks his …
I Listened to Every Radiohead Album Through a Sensory Lens — Here's What I Found
Radiohead's nine albums analyzed through dynamic range, texture, and emotional intensity — from Pablo Honey's raw stadium rock to A Moon Sha…
Acoustic doesn't mean gentle — the quiet songs that wreck you
We treat 'acoustic' as a synonym for safe and soft. But some of the most emotionally intense music ever recorded is one voice and one guitar…
Why this rating
We rate this song Intense. Our rule is deliberately conservative: any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, harsh texture, or a strained/screamed vocal is enough to trigger Intense on its own. Full scoring rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
66/100 intensity
See how “What Kind of Man” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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If this one is too much: sensory-overload protection
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-13. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
This is one of the more intense things in our library — more energetic than 87% of the 19,209 songs we've measured. Its intensity reading of 66/100 comes from a dynamic range of 8/10, layered texture, moderate shifts, and dynamic vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a fast, driving tempo: more extreme on that axis than 94% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Ship to Wreck — Florence + the Machine · 99%Seek & Destroy — SZA · 99%Like a Hurricane — Neil Young · 99%Trust — Megadeth · 99%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep0/10
Focus3/10
Workout8/10
Dinner5/10
Party / hype7/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2015 in context
The 373 songs we’ve measured from 2015 average a dynamic range of 6.3/10. At 8/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity66
Dynamics78
Tempo59
Surprise50
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load13
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "What Kind of Man"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "What Kind of Man" by Florence + the Machine?
"What Kind of Man" by Florence + the Machine has a tempo of 146 BPM (Allegro (fast)). At half-time that is 73 BPM, and at double-time 292 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "What Kind of Man" by Florence + the Machine?
"What Kind of Man" by Florence + the Machine rates as Intense. Dynamic range 8/10, moderate sudden changes, layered texture, dynamic vocals vocal style. Any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, or harsh texture triggers the Intense rating.
How loud is "What Kind of Man" — what is its dynamic range?
"What Kind of Man" has a dynamic range of 8/10. Substantial quiet-to-loud arc. Start at a volume well below your top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Does "What Kind of Man" have sudden or surprising changes?
Yes. "What Kind of Man" uses surprise as a compositional feature. Expect unsignaled transitions.
What is "What Kind of Man" best for?
In our library "What Kind of Man" is recommended for: emotional release, energy. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "What Kind of Man" released?
"What Kind of Man" is from 2015, on the album "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "What Kind of Man"?
We tag "What Kind of Man" as cathartic, emotional, intense. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "What Kind of Man"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "What Kind of Man" good for running?
Yes — at 146 BPM it sits in the running-cadence band (120-180 BPM). Match your stride to the beat and it keeps pace with most recreational runners.
Is "What Kind of Man" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (8/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "What Kind of Man" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Too intense overall.
Should I listen to "What Kind of Man"?
"What Kind of Man" is Intense in our ratings — dramatic dynamics, possible sudden changes, or strong vocal or textural energy. Best with intention rather than ambient use. If you are sensory-sensitive, the alternatives section surfaces calmer songs in the same mood family.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.