"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Under Control" by The Strokes. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. balanced composition. Mood: calm, intimate. 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."
Under Control
The Strokes
Comedown Machine (2013)
Easy, low-key calm, gentler than 83% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
108
BPM
Under Control by The Strokes is 108 BPM — Moderato (moderate).
Half-time 54 BPM · Double-time 216 BPM · released 2013
Fan image for "Under Control"
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: A laid-back, reflective vibe.
Recommended for: meditation sleep
An easygoing, settled feel. Even and easy to follow, it makes good background. It moves moderately between quiet and loud with nothing abrupt to catch you off guard, smooth in texture, with a light, easy vocal at a steady, walkable tempo. Against the 19,209 songs we’ve measured, it reads gentler than 83% of everything we’ve measured.
Cultural Context
Showcases a different side of the band's songwriting.
Listening Prompt
Great for relaxation or winding down.
What to Expect
Consistent pace with gentle shifts.
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The right gear changes everything.
Moods: calm, intimate
At a glance
"Under Control" by The Strokes
108 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 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 The Strokes's catalog
We have 23 songs from The Strokes in the library. Of those, 1 are rated Safe, 20 Moderate, and 2 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits below the artist average of 6.7, making it the #21 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Comedown Machine
We have 2 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- One Way Trigger — moderate DR 6
2013 context
Released in 2013. We have 408 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.5/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2010s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
low-intensity Music for Sleep: A Guide for Sensitive Listeners
Find music that helps you sleep without triggering sensory sensitivity. A guide to safe, predictable…
The Four Things That Make a Song Actually Good for Sleep
Most "sleep" playlists are just quiet songs, and quiet is not enough. Four specific sensory traits d…
The Calmest Songs We’ve Ever Measured
Out of 19,144 songs scored for intensity, these measure as the very calmest — the gentlest, steadies…
How fast is "Under Control"?
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 "Under Control" 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
Maybe — at 108 BPM this is more warm-up or cool-down pace than peak-effort running.
~
Sleep / winding down
Maybe — calm overall, but tempo is a bit high for deep sleep. Better for winding down than falling asleep.
✓
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.
low-intensity Music for Sleep: A Guide for Sensitive Listeners
Find music that helps you sleep without triggering sensory sensitivity. A guide to safe, predictable, gentle music for ears that notice ever…
Why metal can be the safest music for an overstimulated brain
Loud isn't the same as overwhelming. Why a wall of heavy, predictable sound can calm an overstimulated, sensory-sensitive brain — and how to…
Ambient music isn't always calm — and that's the point
Ambient gets filed as the safe shelf, but slow and quiet don't mean gentle. Why low-average loudness hides wide dynamic range — and how to f…
Why this rating
We rate this song Safe because its dynamic range stays within our low-variance band, there are no unsignaled changes, and the texture and vocal style are both in the low-fatigue range. Our methodology uses an AND rule for Safe — a song has to clear every dimension to earn the rating.
This song in the Music Studio
26/100 intensity
See how “Under Control” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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For calm, low-stimulation listening
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-05. 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 deep calm: more extreme on that axis than 83% 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
No Surprises — Radiohead · 99%The Eternal — Joy Division · 99%Tougher Than the Rest — Bruce Springsteen · 99%Too Busy Thinking About My Baby — Marvin Gaye · 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.
2013 in context
The 408 songs we’ve measured from 2013 average a dynamic range of 6.5/10. At 6/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Tougher Than the Rest — Bruce SpringsteenToo Busy Thinking About My Baby — Marvin GayeThere Goes My Miracle — Bruce Springsteen
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity26
Dynamics56
Tempo38
Surprise0
Density0
Predictability0
Vocal force25
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Under Control"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Under Control" by The Strokes?
"Under Control" by The Strokes 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 "Under Control" by The Strokes?
"Under Control" by The Strokes rates as Low-Intensity. Dynamic range 6/10, no sudden changes, smooth texture. Our Low-Intensity rating means no single dimension triggers the higher-intensity thresholds.
How loud is "Under Control" — what is its dynamic range?
"Under Control" 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 "Under Control" have sudden or surprising changes?
No. "Under Control" has no sudden unsignaled changes. Every transition is musically telegraphed.
What is "Under Control" best for?
In our library "Under Control" is recommended for: meditation, sleep. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Under Control" released?
"Under Control" is from 2013, on the album "Comedown Machine". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Under Control"?
We tag "Under Control" as calm, intimate. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Under Control"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Under Control" 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 "Under Control" 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 "Under Control" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Dynamic range is too high — quiet moments will be ambushed by louder ones.
Should I listen to "Under Control"?
If you want gentle, low-arousal music, "Under Control" is a solid pick — Low-Intensity across every sensory dimension.
Songs with the same DNA
smooth texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.