"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Daydreaming" by Radiohead. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. balanced composition. Mood: intimate, melancholy. 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."
Daydreaming
Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
Easy, low-key calm, gentler than 83% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
78
BPM
Daydreaming by Radiohead is 78 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 39 BPM · Double-time 156 BPM · released 2016
Fan image for "Daydreaming"
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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Find its sonic twinHidden gems like itDial itSongs like thisAll toolsSongs Like A Case of You by Joni Mitchell
Song DNA
Notes: Melancholic and introspective.
Recommended for: anxiety relief meditation
This sits gently on the calm side. Mostly steady, it still leaves a little room to surprise. It has a moderate quiet-to-loud range and never jolts you, clean in texture, with gentle vocals riding over it at an unhurried mid-tempo. Against the 19,209 songs we’ve measured, it reads gentler than 83% of everything we’ve measured.
Cultural Context
A poignant moment in their discography.
Listening Prompt
Allow your mind to wander.
What to Expect
At 78 beats per minute, this 2016 A Moon Shaped Pool track moves slower than any other Radiohead entry in this dataset, and that tempo anchors the rest of its profile. No sudden changes and a smooth texture signal a listening surface that stays consistent and deliberate, with low disruption potential for those managing anxiety or sensory overwhelm. Dynamic range at 6 gives the track some breadth, but the peaks don't arrive sharply. Soft vocals remain well within a contained register. The medium predictability rating introduces a minor note of variability: the track doesn't follow a rigid repeating pattern, so while it won't startle, it may not loop in the way some sensitive listeners find most grounding. Moderate sensory level overall, recommended for anxiety relief and meditation — the measurements align with both uses. For listeners who find slow, unhurried pacing more regulating than energizing, this track's tempo alone is meaningful data.
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Moods: intimate, melancholy
At a glance
"Daydreaming" by Radiohead
78 BPM, dynamic range 6/10, smooth texture, soft vocals. Sits in the middle band — neither built for stillness nor pitched at workout intensity. Whether it works for a given moment depends more on mood and lyrical content than on the acoustic profile. The full sensory breakdown follows.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 6/10 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: none. Transitions are musically signaled — nothing will surprise you if you're only half-listening.
Texture: smooth.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Radiohead's catalog
We have 78 songs from Radiohead in the library. Of those, 7 are rated Safe, 55 Moderate, and 16 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits below the artist average of 6.6, making it the #63 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from A Moon Shaped Pool
We have 12 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Burn the Witch — moderate DR 7
- True Love Waits — moderate DR 6
- Decks Dark — moderate DR 7
- Ful Stop — intense DR 8
- Present Tense — safe DR 4
- The Numbers — safe DR 4
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief — moderate DR 6
- Desert Island Disk — safe DR 4
- Glass Eyes — safe DR 4
- Identikit — moderate DR 6
- Spectre — moderate DR 7
2016 context
Released in 2016. We have 369 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
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive li…
Karma Police: Radiohead’s Eerie Joke About Power and Paranoia
Karma Police began as a band in-joke and became one of Radiohead’s defining songs — a queasy meditat…
How fast is "Daydreaming"?
78 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
Sleep, meditation, reading, focus work.
Browse more songs at 78 BPM.
When "Daydreaming" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
~
Focus / studying
Maybe — fine for routine work, but the mid-song changes may pull attention during deep focus.
✗
Running / workout
No — 78 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.
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
A Sensory Guide to Every Radiohead Album — From Safe to Intense
A Sensory Guide to Every Radiohead Album — From Safe to Intense — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
Music for Anxiety and Panic Attacks: What Actually Helps, Acoustically
Most "anxiety music" playlists are curated by vibe and include songs that can escalate symptoms. This guide breaks down the acoustic propert…
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
26/100 intensity
See how “Daydreaming” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-06-20. 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 sits near the calm end of everything we've measured — gentler than 83% of the 19,209 songs in the library. Its intensity reading of 26/100 comes from a dynamic range of 6/10, smooth texture, no sudden shifts, and soft vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 86% 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
A Case of You — Joni Mitchell · 99%See You Again — Tyler, The Creator · 99%Strangers in the Night — Frank Sinatra · 99%You Should Be Here — Kehlani · 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
Sleep8/10
Focus10/10
Workout1/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype1/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2016 in context
The 368 songs we’ve measured from 2016 average a dynamic range of 6.3/10. At 6/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
A Case of You — Joni MitchellSee You Again — Tyler, The CreatorStrangers in the Night — Frank Sinatra
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity26
Dynamics56
Tempo21
Surprise0
Density0
Predictability50
Vocal force25
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Daydreaming"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Daydreaming" by Radiohead?
"Daydreaming" by Radiohead has a tempo of 78 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 39 BPM, and at double-time 156 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Daydreaming" by Radiohead?
"Daydreaming" by Radiohead rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 6/10, none sudden changes, smooth texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "Daydreaming" — what is its dynamic range?
"Daydreaming" has a dynamic range of 6/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "Daydreaming" have sudden or surprising changes?
No. "Daydreaming" has no sudden unsignaled changes. Every transition is musically telegraphed.
What is "Daydreaming" best for?
In our library "Daydreaming" is recommended for: anxiety relief, meditation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Daydreaming" released?
"Daydreaming" is from 2016, on the album "A Moon Shaped Pool". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Daydreaming"?
We tag "Daydreaming" as intimate, melancholy. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Daydreaming"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Daydreaming" good for running?
Not really — at 78 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Daydreaming" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (6/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Daydreaming" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Dynamic range is too high — quiet moments will be ambushed by louder ones.
Should I listen to "Daydreaming"?
"Daydreaming" 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
smooth 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.
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.