So this is a wee trick that Killabeez mentioned at the last FanWorks con in a panel around music choice and I’ve used it since. I always, before I decide for sure if a song is likely going to work, drag a previous vid (or someone else’s vid if I haven’t vidded in that fandom yet) onto the timeline and drag the song in and see if they match tonally/thematically etc.

Obviously I don’t use the same clips, but it does give me a chance to see if it FEELS right on an emotional/tonal/stylistic level.