HEARD Review Modes
Every HEARD review examines the full recording, but each mode is built to answer a different question.
A song can be artistically strong, commercially difficult, technically unfinished, critically interesting, and highly searchable at the same time. Those are different questions. HEARD separates them so artists can choose the kind of feedback they actually need.
Full-song analysis. Different critical lens.
HEARD review modes are not five writing styles applied to the same summary. Each mode changes the purpose of the analysis.
Editorial
"What does this song accomplish as a complete piece of music?"
Critical
"Where does this song fall short, and why?"
Commercial
"How might listeners, platforms, and the market respond?"
A&R Feedback
"What should be changed before this record is finalized?"
SEO Blog
"How can this release be presented as a useful, discoverable editorial story?"
A HEARD review treats the song as a complete recording. Lyrics are one part of the analysis, not the entire analysis.
Depending on review mode and available source material, the review may consider:
The weighting changes by review type.
Example: the same repetitive hook, analyzed across four modes:
Designed for
Tone
Balanced, observant, thoughtful, publication-style.
Recommended stage
Near-final or released
What it says
"The production's empty space becomes part of the song's emotional language, allowing the vocal restraint to feel intentional rather than unfinished."
Example Editorial Review observation
Analysis emphasis
High Emphasis
Medium Emphasis
Lower Emphasis
Choose this if
You want the strongest all-around review of the song as a finished piece of music.
Fictional song: "After 2AM" — used to illustrate five materially different analytical lenses.
Editorial Review
"The production's empty space becomes part of the song's emotional language, allowing the vocal restraint to feel intentional rather than unfinished."
Critical Review
"The second verse adds information but not momentum, leaving the arrangement emotionally static after the first hook establishes the song's central idea."
Commercial Review
"The hook is immediate and clip-friendly, but the long second verse may create a retention problem before the final payoff."
A&R Feedback
"Cut four bars from Verse 2 and test a production lift before the final hook. Do not change the first verse."
SEO Blog Review
"'After 2AM' pairs restrained late-night production with a conversational vocal performance centered on distance, routine, and emotional avoidance."
Same recording. Different question. Different analysis.
Not every useful review should be published. Some HEARD modes create public-facing editorial content. Others tell the artist what needs work — without turning unfinished weaknesses into permanent public pages.
Public eligible
Private by default
Private only
Public eligible does not mean automatically published. Explicit artist confirmation is required before any review is made public.
The recording does not change, but the question does. A song with an excellent hook and limited lyrical depth may score strongly in Commercial Review and lower in Critical Review. A dense, unconventional record may score strongly in Editorial while receiving a more cautious Commercial assessment. A technically promising demo may receive strong A&R potential while still being judged not release ready.
HEARD scores the song against the purpose of the selected review.
Editorial Review
Critical Review
Commercial Review
A&R Feedback
SEO Blog Review
SEO Blog Review separates two distinct scores:
Metadata completeness does not inflate song quality.
HEARD can create stronger search-ready reviews when you provide accurate metadata. More metadata does not automatically increase a review score.
Metadata should improve
Metadata should never
Essential
Strongly Recommended
Optional Context
Single reviews analyze one recording. EP and Album Project Analysis are not bundles of single-song reviews. They require cross-track analysis — evaluating how songs relate to each other, not just whether each one works individually.
EP Project Analysis
$19
Includes
Usually 15–35 minutes
Actual time depends on file size, track count, audio length, lyrics, metadata, retries, and analysis queue.
Album Project Analysis
$49
Includes
Usually 35–90+ minutes
Actual time depends on file size, track count, audio length, lyrics, metadata, retries, and analysis queue.
Project analysis is not available to users whose plan does not support it. EP and Album options are grayed out and show an upgrade prompt when access is not included.
Editorial Review
Best For
Complete artistic assessment
Primary Question
What does this song accomplish as a piece of music?
Audio Focus
High
Lyric Focus
High
Commercial Focus
Medium
Actionability
Medium
Visibility
Public eligible
Best Stage
Near-final or released
SEO Value
Medium
| Dimension | Editorial | Critical | Commercial | A&R | SEO Blog |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best For | Complete artistic assessment | Honest scrutiny | Release strategy | Pre-release improvement | Discoverability |
| Primary Question | — | — | — | — | — |
| Audio Focus | High | High | High | Very High | Medium–High |
| Lyric Focus | High | High | Medium | Medium–High | Medium |
| Commercial Focus | Medium | Medium | Very High | High | Medium |
| Actionability | Medium | High | High | Very High | Low |
| Visibility | Public eligible | Private by default | Private by default | Private | Public |
| Best Stage | Near-final or released | Any stage | Near-final or released | Demo to near-final | Released |
| SEO Value | Medium | Low | Low | None | Very High |
Answer two questions. Get a recommendation.
Is the song released?
Music criticism involves judgment. Commercial response is uncertain. Search performance depends on competition, authority, indexing, and audience behavior. HEARD provides structured analysis, not false certainty.
HEARD should never promise
HEARD distinguishes
Where confidence is limited, HEARD says so.
When you allow it, HEARD Interview Studio can use your completed reviews as context. This enables the interview to reference specific observations, production decisions, lyric choices, and findings from the review — rather than asking generic artist questions.
Example
"Your HEARD review noted the hook arrives with a wider stereo field than the verse. Was that a production choice designed to create that contrast, or did it evolve during mixing?"
This question would not exist without the review data as context.
The best review is not always the most positive one. It is the one built around the decision you are trying to make.