"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "What's the Use?" by Mac Miller. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. balanced composition. Mood: contemplative, introspective, relaxed. 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."
Easy, low-key calm, gentler than 80% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
94
BPM
What's the Use? by Mac Miller is 94 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 47 BPM · Double-time 188 BPM · released 2018
Fan image for "What's the Use?"
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: Smooth G-funk production with mellow basslines and subtle layered synths creates a relaxed, groovy flow without harsh edges or abrupt shifts. Soft, introspective vocals glide over consistent rhythms, minimizing sensory overload.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: anxiety relief focus relaxation
A contemplative G-funk track from Mac Miller's Swimming album, featuring mellow production with contributions from Pomo, Dam-Funk, Thundercat, Snoop Dogg, and Syd, exploring themes of surrender and life's purpose.
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The right gear changes everything.
Moods: contemplative, introspective, relaxed
Traditions: G-funk, hip-hop
At a glance
"What's the Use?" by Mac Miller
94 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: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture: smooth.
Predictability is high — the song telegraphs what it will do next. A sensory-sensitive listener can usually guess where it's going without close attention.
Vocal style: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Mac Miller's catalog
We have 39 songs from Mac Miller in the library. Of those, 12 are rated Safe, 26 Moderate, and 1 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits above the artist average of 5.4, making it the #22 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Swimming
We have 8 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Self Care — moderate DR 6
- Ladders — moderate DR 7
- Small Worlds — safe DR 4
- Come Back to Earth — moderate DR 5
- Hurt Feelings — moderate DR 5
- Dunno — safe DR 4
- 2009 — safe DR 3
2018 context
Released in 2018. We have 462 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
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and …
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach — A guide for sensory-se…
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…
How fast is "What's the Use?"?
94 BPM — Medium (midtempo / pop 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 94 BPM.
When "What's the Use?" 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 — 94 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
Not really — it's pleasant but doesn't hit hard enough for cathartic listening.
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
Metal is some of the most predictable music you'll ever hear — and that's not an insult
Counterintuitive but measurable: heavy metal scores high on predictability and structural consistency. Here's why that makes it uniquely use…
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and enough happening to occupy the part of y…
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
31/100 intensity
See how “What's the Use?” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-14. 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 80% of the 19,209 songs in the library. Its intensity reading of 31/100 comes from a dynamic range of 6/10, smooth texture, mild 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 deep calm: more extreme on that axis than 80% 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
Perfect Day — Lou Reed · 99%Day by Day — Bonobo · 99%Mourning — Post Malone · 99%Ruby Tuesday — The Rolling Stones · 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
Sleep7/10
Focus10/10
Workout2/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype2/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2018 in context
The 461 songs we’ve measured from 2018 average a dynamic range of 6.3/10. At 6/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity31
Dynamics56
Tempo30
Surprise25
Density0
Predictability0
Vocal force25
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "What's the Use?"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "What's the Use?" by Mac Miller?
"What's the Use?" by Mac Miller has a tempo of 94 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 47 BPM, and at double-time 188 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "What's the Use?" by Mac Miller?
"What's the Use?" by Mac Miller rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 6/10, mild sudden changes, smooth texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "What's the Use?" — what is its dynamic range?
"What's the Use?" 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 "What's the Use?" have sudden or surprising changes?
"What's the Use?" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "What's the Use?" best for?
In our library "What's the Use?" is recommended for: anxiety relief, focus, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "What's the Use?" released?
"What's the Use?" is from 2018, on the album "Swimming". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "What's the Use?"?
We tag "What's the Use?" as contemplative, introspective, relaxed. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "What's the Use?"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "What's the Use?" good for running?
Not really — at 94 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "What's the Use?" 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 "What's the Use?" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "What's the Use?"?
"What's the Use?" 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.