Writers chase 'vibe' when they should be choosing one specific emotion and engineering every section to serve it.
Vibe is a result, not an input. The songs that move strangers were written by people who made a single, specific emotional decision before they wrote a line.
Name the emotion in one word before you write. Not 'sad' — that is a category. 'Resigned.' 'Defiant.' 'Grateful with regret.' The more specific the word, the easier every later choice becomes.
Once the emotion is named, every craft decision is a yes-or-no question. Does this chord serve resigned? Does this rhyme serve defiant? The choices stop being subjective.