How to Pick a Song for Your Raya Profile

Pick a song you genuinely like, that fits the mood of your photos, and that you would be happy to talk about if she asked on a date. On Raya your profile plays as a slideshow of your photos set to any song you choose, so the song is the soundtrack to her first look at you. Raya's terms count music as content you are responsible for. They ban anything offensive, rude, tasteless or sexually explicit.

Mashable describes building a Raya profile from photos, often synced with Instagram, and choosing a song. Garbo describes the result as a slideshow of photos set to any song the member picks. Raya's privacy policy lists song selections among the things members provide, next to images and a biographical description.

So the song is not decoration. It is one of only a few things a woman gets from you before she decides, and it sets the mood for everything else she sees. The same six photos feel different over a slow acoustic track than over a loud party anthem.

That is the whole job of the song: to make your photos feel the way your life actually feels.

Most men pick a song they love and then hope the photos fit it. Do it the other way round.

Look at your slideshow first and describe it in three words. Maybe it is outdoors, easygoing and social. Maybe it is city, sharp and a bit nocturnal. Then find a song that sounds like those three words.

A warm, relaxed set of photos from hikes and dinners wants something warm and relaxed. A set full of travel and nights out can carry something with more energy. When the song and the photos agree, she gets one clear impression. When they fight, she gets two, and neither one sticks.

The song is also a small window into you, and that is an opportunity.

A song that everyone has heard a thousand times is safe, and it tells her very little. A song you genuinely love, from an artist you have seen live or an album you know by heart, tells her something specific. It also hands her an easy opener. "Wait, you like them too?" is a much better start to a conversation than anything either of you would write cold.

You do not need obscure taste to do this well. You just need the song to be yours rather than chosen to seem cool. If she asks about it on a date and you have nothing to say, it was the wrong pick.

A few choices reliably backfire.

Explicit or aggressive lyrics. They make a bad first impression, and Raya's terms ban sexually explicit, offensive or distasteful content. Music counts as content under those terms.

Breakup songs and sad songs about an ex. Whatever you meant by it, she hears a man who is not over something.

Songs that are all about how rich, famous or wanted the singer is. Over your photos, the lyrics start to sound like they are about you, and it reads as bragging.

Heavy irony. A joke song can work if your photos are clearly playful and the joke lands without explanation. If it needs you standing next to her to explain it, it will not land on its own.

Yes, if the rest of the profile backs it up. A funny pick works when your photos already show a man who does not take himself too seriously, like you losing a snowball fight or wearing a terrible costume at a party. Then the song confirms something she already sees.

A funny song over a serious, polished set just confuses her. She cannot tell which one is the real you.

Treat the song like any other part of the profile. Change it when your photos change, or when it no longer sounds like your life.

If you want to test whether a new song helps, change the song and nothing else, then give it a couple of weeks. a dating coach's advice on testing any profile change is to move one piece at a time. Swap the song and three photos on the same day and you will never know which one made the difference.