Looking up those really, really incomprehensible but sexy D’Angelo lyrics is about to get one click easier.
Google has added a feature that displays song lyrics at the top of its search results when you type “lyrics” into the search bar.
Here’s what it looks like:
Google lyrics displays D'Angelo's "How Does it Feel"
Not all songs appear to be covered. The lyrics for the famous jazz standard “Mood Indigo” aren’t available, and neither are the lyrics for D’Angelo’s new album Black Messiah (presumably because Google is still trying to figure out what the heck D’Angelo is saying). When Google does return a lyrics hit, Google links you to Google Play, where you can buy the album or get an offer to try the music service.
The move could anger websites whose sole revenue stream is providing search-optimized song lyrics and selling ads against them. Google has punished some lyrics sites in the past for attempting to manipulate its search algorithms in order to be seen higher in Google search results.
See Google Doodles Through the Years
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The lyrics feature is part of Google’s push into adding information to search results without requiring an extra click into a third-party site. If you search “Nepal,” for example, basic information like the country’s capital (Kathmandu), currency (Nepalese rupee) and enticing tourist destinations (Kathmandu’s Durbar Square) are listed in a sidebar. Search “Katmandu Durbar Square” and a Wikipedia description, address (Layaku, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal), and Google reviews (4.7 stars) appear.
A Google spokesperson included a clever reference to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”—which Google provides lyrics for—in an email to Business Insider about the feature: “There’s a feeling you get when you turn to a song and you know that the words have two meanings. Well it’s whispered that now if you go search the tune, maybe Google will lead you to reason. Ooh, it makes you wonder.”
