Love Is a Game album art

Love Is a Game

Adele
30 (2021)
Moderate 108 BPM
AI-analyzed — check another song
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
108
BPM

Love Is a Game by Adele is 108 BPM — Moderato (moderate).

Half-time 54 BPM · Double-time 216 BPM · released 2021

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Fan image for "Love Is a Game"

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.

Fan-driven abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of Love Is a Game by Adele
The prompt that made this image Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Love Is a Game" by Adele. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: emotional, hopeful, 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.

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"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Love Is a Game" by Adele. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: emotional, hopeful, 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."

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Song DNA

Dynamic Range7/10
Sudden Changesmild
Texturelayered
Predictabilitymedium
Vocal Styledynamic vocals
Notes: Orchestral strings and jazzy elements create a sweeping, cinematic build with emotional vocal swells, but smooth production avoids harshness. Predictable structure with instrumental breaks provides emotional release without overwhelming intensity.

Misophonia Triggers

Mouth Soundsnone
Percussive Clicksnone
Breathing Soundsnone
Repetitive Micro-soundsnone

A Motown-influenced orchestral ballad closing Adele's 30 album, reflecting on love's cruelty and addictive hope after heartbreak.

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Hear it the way it was made

The right gear changes everything.

Moods: emotional, hopeful, melancholy

Traditions: Motown, pop, soul

Volume Warning

"Love Is a Game" 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. Adele 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: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.

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 Adele's catalog

We have 40 songs from Adele in the library. Of those, 11 are rated Safe, 26 Moderate, and 3 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 7/10 sits above the artist average of 6.6, making it the #26 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.

Other tracks from 30

We have 11 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.

2021 context

Released in 2021. We have 411 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.2/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2020s.

Explore by mood and tradition

Moods
emotional · 2198hopeful · 53melancholy · 5408
Traditions
Motown · 27pop · 845soul · 787

How fast is "Love Is a Game"?

108 BPM — Medium (midtempo / pop ballad)

For running

Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.

For workouts

Steady cardio, power walking, light weights.

For daily life

Cooking, casual listening, cleaning, dinner music.

Browse more songs at 108 BPM.

When "Love Is a Game" 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

Maybe — at 108 BPM this is more warm-up or cool-down pace than peak-effort running.

✗
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.

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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
52/100 intensity

See how “Love Is a Game” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.

Check against my sensitivities → Build a calm set Analyze a playlist

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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: 2026-04-13. 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

On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 68% of songs, calmer than the other 32%. Its intensity reading of 52/100 comes from a dynamic range of 7/10, layered texture, mild 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 blazing intensity: more extreme on that axis than 68% 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

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

Sleep3/10
Focus7/10
Workout3/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype4/10

Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.

2021 in context

The 410 songs we’ve measured from 2021 average a dynamic range of 6.2/10. 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

Intensity52
Dynamics67
Tempo38
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0

The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.

Frequently asked about "Love Is a Game"

Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.

What is the BPM of "Love Is a Game" by Adele?

"Love Is a Game" by Adele has a tempo of 108 BPM (Moderato (moderate)). At half-time that is 54 BPM, and at double-time 216 BPM.

What is the sensory intensity of "Love Is a Game" by Adele?

"Love Is a Game" by Adele rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 7/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.

How loud is "Love Is a Game" — what is its dynamic range?

"Love Is a Game" 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 "Love Is a Game" have sudden or surprising changes?

"Love Is a Game" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.

What is "Love Is a Game" best for?

In our library "Love Is a Game" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.

When was "Love Is a Game" released?

"Love Is a Game" is from 2021, on the album "30". It appears in our 2020s catalog.

What is the emotional mood of "Love Is a Game"?

We tag "Love Is a Game" as emotional, hopeful, melancholy. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.

What is the vocal style of "Love Is a Game"?

The vocal style is dynamic vocals.

Is "Love Is a Game" good for running?

Not really — at 108 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.

Is "Love Is a Game" 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 "Love Is a Game" for sleep?

Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.

Should I listen to "Love Is a Game"?

"Love Is a Game" 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.

500 (Shake Baby Shake)
Lush
moderate
DR 6
We Tigers
Animal Collective
intense
DR 8
Raw
Big Daddy Kane
moderate
DR 7
Amabutho
Miriam Makeba
moderate
DR 7
To Here Knows When
My Bloody Valentine
intense
DR 7
Kelefaba
Toumani Diabate
safe
DR 6

Safer alternatives with a similar feel

These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.

If I Were a Boy
Beyoncé safe
Please, Please, Please
James Brown safe
Champagne Problems
Taylor Swift safe
The Prophecy
Taylor Swift safe
Broken-Hearted Girl
Beyoncé safe

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.

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