"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Make Art Not Friends" by Sturgill Simpson. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: introspective, melancholy, rebellious. 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."
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for dinner.
85
BPM
Make Art Not Friends by Sturgill Simpson is 85 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 43 BPM · Double-time 170 BPM · released 2019
Fan image for "Make Art Not Friends"
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: Begins with glossy, filigree production and slow lead-in, shifting suddenly to darker riffs and meaner tones with Pink Floyd-esque keys and guitar stylings. Melancholic verses build to resolved choruses with adventurous, experimental sound balancing structure and free jam elements.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: deep listening emotional release meltdown recovery
A somber, reflective rock track from Sturgill Simpson's genre-smashing album Sound & Fury, expressing disillusionment with the music industry through lyrics about isolation and prioritizing art over social ties.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: introspective, melancholy, rebellious
Traditions: outlaw country, rock
Volume Warning
"Make Art Not Friends" climbs hard.
Dynamic range 7/10 places this in our upper band. The opening volume that feels comfortable will not be comfortable at the climax. If you are setting this up for a focused listen, anchor your volume to the quietest section, not the loudest. The arc is the point of the song; if you blunt it by riding the volume knob, you lose what makes it work. Sturgill Simpson built the dynamic shape on purpose. Plan around it.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 7/10 means this song moves. Expect a real volume climb between quiet sections and the loudest part of the arrangement — enough that you may want to set the initial volume below where you'd normally land.
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 Sturgill Simpson's catalog
We have 17 songs from Sturgill Simpson in the library. Of those, 1 are rated Safe, 12 Moderate, and 4 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 7/10 sits above the artist average of 6.6, making it the #8 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Sound & Fury
We have 3 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Mercury in Retrograde — moderate DR 7
- Ronin — intense DR 7
2019 context
Released in 2019. We have 448 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.1/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2010s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive…
How fast is "Make Art Not Friends"?
85 BPM — Slow (downtempo / ballad)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.
For daily life
Morning coffee, deep work, commute wind-down.
Browse more songs at 85 BPM.
When "Make Art Not Friends" 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
No — 85 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
✓
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.
Country music has more dynamic range than your headphones can handle
Why a lot of country music — Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Gillian Welch, Kacey Musgraves — has more dynamic range than most rock or pop…
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
I rated every Billie Eilish album by emotional intensity
From bedroom ASMR whispers to walls of distortion — a deep sensory dive into all three Billie Eilish studio albums and what each one actuall…
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
57/100 intensity
See how “Make Art Not Friends” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
Listen on
Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-15. 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
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 76% of songs, calmer than the other 24%. Its intensity reading of 57/100 comes from a dynamic range of 7/10, layered texture, moderate shifts, and dynamic vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 77% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on full chaos — sudden changes, huge quiet-to-loud swings, and relentless energy — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Death of a Disco Dancer — The Smiths · 99%Boyish — Japanese Breakfast · 99%Gone — Kanye West · 99%One Woman — Isaac Hayes · 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
Focus4/10
Workout4/10
Dinner6/10
Party / hype4/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2019 in context
The 448 songs we’ve measured from 2019 average a dynamic range of 6.1/10. At 7/10, 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
Intensity57
Dynamics67
Tempo25
Surprise50
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Make Art Not Friends"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Make Art Not Friends" by Sturgill Simpson?
"Make Art Not Friends" by Sturgill Simpson has a tempo of 85 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 43 BPM, and at double-time 170 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Make Art Not Friends" by Sturgill Simpson?
"Make Art Not Friends" by Sturgill Simpson rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 7/10, moderate sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "Make Art Not Friends" — what is its dynamic range?
"Make Art Not Friends" has a dynamic range of 7/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "Make Art Not Friends" have sudden or surprising changes?
Yes. "Make Art Not Friends" uses surprise as a compositional feature. Expect unsignaled transitions.
What is "Make Art Not Friends" best for?
In our library "Make Art Not Friends" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, meltdown recovery. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Make Art Not Friends" released?
"Make Art Not Friends" is from 2019, on the album "Sound & Fury". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Make Art Not Friends"?
We tag "Make Art Not Friends" as introspective, melancholy, rebellious. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Make Art Not Friends"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "Make Art Not Friends" good for running?
Not really — at 85 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Make Art Not Friends" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (7/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Make Art Not Friends" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "Make Art Not Friends"?
"Make Art Not Friends" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
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.