Google has started a major update to YouTube Music to show real-time lyrics on mobile devices. This feature is being rolled out in phases, so it may take time before everyone receives the update. Now you can sing along to any of your favourite songs without worrying about missing a beat.
For a long time, this feature needed to be added to YouTube Music. Apple Music has had real-time lyrics for years unlike other popular music streaming services like Spotify. With the latest update, YouTube Music now has a real-time lyrics feature. This is a welcome feature as many users have been requesting it for years. It can be quite useful if you want to learn the lyrics, especially of a new song, or want to sing along.
As this comes free with YouTube Music, and YouTube has one of the biggest libraries of songs, it is a great addition. In the past, YouTube had lyrics that were not synced with the song you were playing. YouTube Music only offered static lyrics, meaning users had to scroll alone. This has been resolved with the real-time lyrics feature.
YouTube Music is finally catching up to the competition. Still, new features have already been added to its competitors, like a karaoke mode that allows Apple Music Sing users to sing along to a song with adjustable vocals and real-time lyrics. Also, Spotify has been working on a short-form music feature for TikTok or Instagram Reels.
How to use real-time lyrics on YouTube Music:
Users don’t need to enable anything; this feature will be enabled by default. Just ensure you have updated to the latest version of YouTube Music. To access YouTube Music lyrics, all you need to do is head over to the music you want to play and tap the Lyrics button at the bottom of the screen. After tapping on the Lyrics icon, the app will show you the music lyrics in real time.
- Open YouTube Music and play any song.
- Tap on the Lyrics button that appears at the bottom of the screen.
- Now, the lyrics will appear on the screen in real time.
Note: Not every song has lyrics. Only a limited number of songs have this lyrics functionality. This is familiar; Spotify and Apple Music also don’t have lyrics on some songs.
The lyrics will be highlighted in a white line, and the text size and line spacing within the lyrics tab will increase. The background colour changes depending on the music cover style, so it will be easier to follow the lyrics. Like other popular streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music, lyrics will scroll automatically, making it easier to follow along with a song, especially if you are listening to it for the first time or unfamiliar with the lyrics. This also works with previously uploaded songs and will continue to evolve with future uploads. Some users also reported a background blur effect for the lyrics page on iOS devices, which could also come to Android later when Google starts rolling out this update widely.
Google partnered with MusixMatch, providing lyrics to other streaming like Apple Music, Spotify, and Instagram lyrics. The same company has partnered with Google to integrate real-time lyrics into YouTube Music. Some reports also suggest that Google has partnered with LyricFind to power the real-time lyrics on its YouTube app. Currently, it’s only available on Android and iOS. Still, it will likely expand to Google TV/Android TV, allowing even more people to enjoy this feature in the coming weeks. As reported, YouTube Music tested real-time lyrics on Cast Players in December.
There are several benefits of having real-time lyrics, as it makes it easier to sing along to your favourite song, helps to learn the lyrics of a new song, allows people to understand the meaning of the songs with lyrics, and makes the interaction more fun with music. The company is also working on adding support for other languages. It could allow artists to create custom lyric sheets in the future.
There are various reasons why users want to use YouTube Music over other music streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music. YouTube Music has a wide library, especially regarding remixes and cover versions. While Spotify and Apple Music don’t have these in favour, Google is also improving by making the songs available for offline use and adding song credits for users to make it easier to know the artists.
YouTube Music still needs some features to compete against other music streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music. Hopefully, Google will continue to invest in this service and bring more attractive options to overcome some of the major shortcomings in the future. This feature is based on individual accounts. Even if you update your YouTube Music to the latest version, you might not see the updated YouTube Music yet until Google rolls it out in a server-side update. This feature has yet to be available on desktop or web player. Still, this feature should be coming to the web player after the company makes it stable on mobile apps, as YouTube confirms that it is currently being actively developed.
