Zach Bryan ft. Kings Of Leon – Bowery
Even in a year where Zach Bryan takes a year off (As of posting this his next album has since been released), he still manages a way to creep into my best songs list. I’ve always loved Zach’s constant love for his influences, even if they’re artists you might not immediately find interesting like The Lumineers and Kings of Leon. He joined the latter in a big concert earlier this year, and out of it was born one hell of a rousing banger. The slow start where someone messes up but they kick into the countdown anyway, coming out full force with a blaring guitar, a sea of acoustic strums and a fierce drum line really explodes the song to life and keeps you listening. Zach and Kings of Leon sing about an adventurous love. It may not last forever, but it’ll be one hell of a good experience anyway. The immense production with wicked guitar solos and the hangdog charisma of both Zach and Caleb Followill is enough to convince you that you’re about to have the night of a lifetime. Riding out into the sunset as you look back at the brief, but incredible encounter you just had.

Khadija – You Have No Choice
I’ve been following Khadija Mbowe for a few years now. They have a (now sadly dormant) YouTube channel where they talk about discourse and modern culture in a way that I always found deeply insightful and interesting. But they’re a person of many talents, and this year they made a song that kind of left me flabbergasted. Khadija takes an approach that I’ve rarely seen anyone take before: The Beyonce-esque glamor and flair where the song is built on zippy, warping synths, robotic percussion and an electric guitar that I swear to God has jumpscared me on multiple occasions. Khadija is a classically trained vocalist, and you can tell in how their voice escalates and soars with incredible power. But on top of an impressive vocal range, they’re also deeply charismatic as they enter a full-on heel turn and fall into deep existential nihilism. Normally that kind of thing would turn me off, but when Khadija puts that spell on you through their scale and charisma, it feels more like a full-on transformation that came from years of being battered and bruised. Their maniacal cackle at the end of the song really seals this as a borderline villain song. Just give up and love me. Not to dissimilar to the themes of “Your Idol” now that I think about it.

Chance The Rapper ft. Rachel Robinson – Letters
Quite the year for music with religious themes, huh? Though this one stands out in a very different way than what you’d think from a religious Chance The Rapper song. The uneasy pianos and dusty percussion soundtrack an uncharacteristically angry Chance, proclaiming his disgust at the Church turning its back on the people they claim to be a shelter for. From his own Church destroying programs that he grew up on to the prevalence of megachurches that grift honest Church goers through manipulation and outright thievery. His words are venomous throughout the song, and it’s echoed through the haunted voice of Rachel Robinson and the ferocity in which he spits these lyrics. You can hear not just the anger, but the hurt and betrayal he feels knowing that this religion that he staked so much of his life on, that has been such an important part of his family, especially his late Aunty, has been a complete lie. Just as prone to sin and debauchery as the very people they gossip about. He even goes after the hypocrisy of the black Church and their refusal to live up to their activist roots to protect their own greed. That final verse is what really cinches it for me, as all the anger dissipates and we’re left with a broken and battered Chance who, despite it all, still believes in the words he grew up with, but is willing to carry things out if he wants to. He’ll be on his way.

Fred again.. & PlaqueBoyMax ft. Skepta, Denzel Curry, Hanumankind, & That Mexican O.T. – Victory Lap Four
^{(Fan video linked due to no official upload)}
Yes, I specifically mean the fourth version where the song ends with That Mexican O.T., not the current version on streaming that adds LYNY and D Double E. Or even the original! Fred again.. delivers an absolute banger of a beat giving a digital bounce to Doechii’s already excellent song “Swamp Bitches”, helmed by a verse from Skepta delivering on the exact intensity and firepower this song needed. The original on its own is pretty fantastic with Skepta’s verses, but it’s even more exciting when the mic is passed to Denzel Curry who delivers his own spitfire of a verse. One of the big surprises of the song also comes in Hanumankind of “Big Dawgs” fame delivering a more slithery, spaced out verse that messes with the groove of the song in a way that keeps up the momentum and sounds cool as hell. And I’m sorry, for all the grief I’ve felt over That Mexican O.T.’s weirdo transphobia and MAGAisms the past few years, that concert chant leading into his rapid-fire verse is unfortunately the coolest entrance of the year. It reminded me why I saw so much potential in this guy in the first place. “Victory Lap Five” unfortunately sours the song with D Double E’s awful adlibs interrupting the song like a little brother trying to get in with his big brother’s friend group. His final verse isn’t even that good! For the time we had “Victory Lap Four” though, it was a triumph.

Earl Sweatshirt – Gamma (need the <3)
2025 was the year I finally “got” Earl. I mean, I got him before, I understood his appeal, but he never quite worked for me until this year when he dropped one of his happier and more sober albums in Live Laugh Love. I didn’t think any song from it was going to make my songs list, but I found myself listening to “Gamma (need the <3)” over and over again. The beat is just so bright, beaming with a warm, distorted sample and some blocky percussion that gives the image of a beaming sun on a hot summer day. Earl’s ramshackle flow fits so perfectly for a song that stumbles across the runtime. The different sound effects that echo throughout the song, including someone smoking a joint or different voices popping in and out make the song feel so communal. The video depicts Earl and his friends at a cookout, where the vibes are immaculate and the joy is palpable. Maybe that was the last step I needed to truly unlock this song.

Jesse Welles – Domestic Error
Jesse Welles has released a looooot of music this year. To the point where I could barely keep up with his output and missed out on some of the albums he dropped in 2025. Although, funny enough, my favorite song of his from this year wasn’t even from one of those albums. Instead, it’s one of his one-offs where he highlights the insanity of our current political climate, all through a jaunty guitarline and a killer harmonica. Jesse covers the gullibility of everyday people as the far right takes advantage of their fear and uncertainty and directs their fear towards minorities and smokescreens. That way, they don’t notice that the far right is also kind of a mess. “Folks get too close to the big White House and they lose their god damn minds”. He doesn’t exempt himself from this either. He also falls for people trying to sell him useless shit for the promise of “making it all better”, only to be left with coupons and someone listening to every waking minute of his life. It’s bleak as hell, but the bounce of the song and Jesse Welles goofy performance makes it all feel like one big circus. Which pretty much describes the political landscape of 2025.

Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA – luther
“luther” feels like the true evolution of “LOVE.” From DAMN. A straightforward, melodic love song that puts Kendrick in a more accessible, yet still compelling light as he primarily sings along with SZA about being in love and dedicating yourself to each other. The Luther Vandross sample anchors the soft harps and chimes, as the song is carried by a crisp, but still gentle drum pattern as strings swell into the sky and SZA gives a little extra oomph to Kendrick’s otherwise low and neutral singing voice. The two complement each other really well, no wonder they toured together. If nothing else, this song is such a comfort listen. The production is so lush and beautiful, and with Kendrick and SZA’s chemistry selling the pure romance of the song, it was one that long after GNX had left the public conscious, I was still swaying my arms to.

Fontaines D.C. – It’s Amazing To Be Young
Early in the year, I listened to some songs from Fontaine D.C.’s Romance that a lot of critics seemed to rave about at the time. While I did like those songs a lot, they fell more in the camp of songs I respected more than I liked. Turns out it’d be the deluxe track “It’s Amazing To Be Young” for me to truly feel that transcendent feeling everyone else was feeling. Those guitars sound so adventurous and huge, soaring through the cosmos through this incredible riff that pierces through the clouds. The little bell chimes add onto this joyous sounding song as Grian Chatten slinks over the track with his elongated, almost snake-like voice. He sings about, obviously, the joys of being young and alive. Almost as a counter to the idea that life must be dark and bleak. There isn’t much thought given to this euphoric feeling of being young and alive, but there doesn’t need to be. It’s that feeling that makes you want to run with your arms wide open. And that’s captured so beautifully in the music, the way the guitars ring and the howls of Chatten’s voice fill the air. I also loved learning that this was made in lieu of the birth of one of the band members’ children, giving this another angle of admiring new life and the endless potential that the world has waiting for them.

billy woods ft. E L U C I D, Cavalier & Willie Green -  Lead Paint Test
It’s kind of weird to go through the entirety of GOLLIWOG and reach “Lead Paint Test”. It doesn’t let up on the crushing horror of the rest of the album, but those humid trumpets and soft piano presses almost feel like a respite. It’s a gorgeously crafted beat, one that really stands out after the deluge of harsher noise, crumbling percussion and music that sounds like it’s closing in around you. It’s fitting that this song would be the moment where you take a breath and all you can do is reminisce on the memories that shape you. Whether they were good memories or not. All three rappers visit their childhood homes, and the mix of nostalgia and dread really swirls in them as ELUCID describes every detail of that old house, Cavalier reminisces of the family that once lived here and sacrificed a lot for him and his siblings, and billy can barely even bring himself to put his ear to the door. I never did get to that Armand Hammer album from later in the year, but even if I did, I don’t think anything on it would have gutted me as much as “Lead Paint Test” has.

Deafheaven – Winona
What a weird year this has been for there to be a substantial amount of metal on this list. Let alone a band like Deafheaven, whom I’ve had little to no interest in until the release of this new album. But if there was any year where I would get into the musical equivalent of a black hole supernova, it’d be 2025. “Winona” was the song that really won me over too. The gradual build into those furious drums and guitars burst through your eardrums like the beams of the sun. The relentless energy and scale that feels like your hair is being pushed all through the back of your skull. The power of this song is incredible, but most importantly it’s cathartic. Every blaring instrument, every frenetic drum roll, George Clarke’s shrieks of agony as he mourns what has been taken from him from those with empty, yet limitless power, so much of it feels like a much needed scream for not just the band, but the listener as well as they reckon with the things they’ve lost and the people they’ve been taken by.

Nourished By Time – Automatic Love
Nourished By Time’s The Passionate Ones opens on the perfect note. A steady drum beat with some keys and synths slowly easing in, only for Marcus Brown to come in full-force, bursting the production into this spacious, adventurous soundscape where the synths sprawl across the night sky and the guitars keep up a steady groove beneath the infectious drumline. Marcus Brown sings about love like it’s the greatest magic there ever was. There’s so much euphoria in his voice as it sweetly soars through the pink clouds and red skies. There’s a little bit of desperation in his pleading, but his voice is so sweet and gentle that you never feel like it’s just for him. He just wants you to feel the same incredible emotions he’s feeling. If it already feels this good just through his voice and his music, imagine what it will feel like when you both come alive again.

Little Simz ft. Yukimi – Enough
As much as I find Little Simz to be an incredibly thoughtful poet and writer, there’s a part of me that feels like one of her most underrated traits is that she can be an incredibly fun artist to listen to. Not just because of her distinct voice, but her beats tend to have a lot of great rhythms and sticky hooks that stick with me farther than some of the very albums they came from. In this instance, “Enough” is one of the most fun songs of Little Simz career. The combination of the chiming percussion and thick bass guitar is so incredibly infectious. Impossible to sit still to. Simbi is also completely locked into this groove, her flow effortlessly gliding across the bell chimes and whooshing sound effects. In an album that’s otherwise full of hurt and reflection, it’s such a relief to hear a song that simply lets loose and finds joy in her identity and the London girls she rides with. “Just know the brave survive, maybe that’s why I feel so alive” a mantra coming from someone who has been through hell, but is thriving.

Caroline Spence – Where The Light Gets Through
A sad note to end Caroline Spence’s stellar album Heart Go Wild on, but one that still beams with life through every corner. Whether that’s the breezy acoustic guitar, the low piano notes at the base of the song, or the more powerful guitars that really shine in the chorus. Every instrument of this song blends so beautifully, bursting with emotion but never feeling overwhelmed. Caroline Spence’s voice is the perfect bow on top.  She mourns someone in her life who occupies her mind as she traverses the empty home they once lived in. Occasionally imaging them reincarnated as a bird or hearing the same rumble of thunder she just did. The use of light that shines through the breaks is a beautiful and devastating image. Because though the song is sad, you can hear moments where Caroline’s voice soars a little brighter, living through the pain and still finding joy in little moments. Those silver linings that remind you of the beautiful world we live in. She only wishes this person could continue experiencing those with her.

Jim Legxacy – father
Having been tuned in to Jim Lexgacy since 2023’s homeless n**** music, I heard this song right when it came out early in the year, and I knew right away this was going to be a huge year for Jim. The chime of the beat alongside the sampled vocals of “I Love My Father” sparkles against the rougher percussion and Jim Legxacy’s bars of growing up without a father, making ends meets his own way. The way the sample is chopped up on this lovely nostalgic beat played in my head all year, even with how short the song was. Still, you get plenty of images and flashes of a young, broke childhood, listening to Mitski on the block and smoking joints trying to impress another girl who also grew up without a father. You’d think that theme would ring as a bit sadder, but here, it’s just another part of Jim’s come up.

clipping. – Dodger
This song is a whole thrill ride experience. The glitchy production that veers and stutters as the drums drive through the song at supersonic speed, all playing under Daveed Digg’s precise flow that tells a whole story you might miss the first time because it’s going so fast. An analyst finds a virus that ends up being so catastrophic that it causes the entirety of this society to crash, and no matter what she tries, she can’t stop this virus or the Dodger who planted it from causing uncontrollable mayhem. The stutter and stop of the hook, along with how fast and intense the verses are, dropping sudden details you can barely process them by the time you hear it, is such an incredible energy rush that leads to a supposed breath-catching moment in the outro. Except, the song speeds up again as the analyst realizes that her attraction to the Dodger and his fight against a system she thought was worth protecting might lead her to a better path than if she continued to try and stop him. After all, it looked like fun.

Bruiser Wolf & Squadda B ft. Chilly Gonzales & DJ Lucas – Pee-Wee Herman
Bruiser Wolf returns with yet another stupid fucking song that I love very dearly. There were a lot of bright gems on POTLUCK, but none of them made me laugh as much as “Pee-Wee Herman”. Right away, the dorky woodblock beat with a stomp clap rhythm reminded me of the Crash Bandicoot games, and hearing Bruiser’s goofy voice only amplified the comparison. From there, I don’t know what else I can tell you beyond listing off some of the insane lyrics on this song. “Asked if she want the wee-wee, she said, ‘oui, oui”! “Keep the reefer burnin’, I might need a feature with Keith Urban”! “I got a buzz when I walked in the room, sex store, nothin’ but plugs”! “I cut my timeframes when I release. So like a tampon, it’s a period piece”! And that’s before I even get to DJ Lucas’ verse, whose delirious delivery as he brags about going to the same school as Uma Thurman and that him linking up with Wolf isn’t comparable to Princess Mononoke, is just as insane and hilarious to pair with this already absurd beat.

Little Simz ft. Wretch 32 & Cashh – Blood
I’m a huge sucker for dialogue in music. That’s the character writer in me speaking, but still when a song does a particularly good job creating characters and giving them a back and forth, I will get invested so easily. “Blood” is a phenomenal example of this. In just a few minutes, Little Simz and Wretch 32 built an incredible scene between two siblings butting heads. One a touring artist who seems to use his career to avoid having to come home, the other the one who must take care of their mother and see all the pain and trauma she goes through. The moments when the guards are let down and the two can laugh together are heartwarming, but it’s also to the point where it hurts to hear them start turning against each other again. Wretch is too stubborn to admit he’s lonely, but Simz knows it’s for the best that he stays and will do whatever she can to convince him of that. That last confrontation is timed so perfectly and so wonderfully acted. A perfect escalation to that final confession that leaves a lot in the air, and leaves me hoping these two kids can sort things out from here.

Andy Mineo – I Swear, This Is Not an Andre 3000 Diss Song
I have little to no background on Andy Mineo. I listened to this solely out of curiosity for the title. I couldn’t stop thinking about this song afterwards. As the title suggests, this is not an Andre 3000 diss, not really. Still, the song is very critical of Andre and his pivot to instrumental flute music. Not that there’s anything wrong with Andre wanting to take this direction, but Andy can’t help but wonder why Andre won’t come back to rapping. Did he get insecure? Does he really think he’s too old to bring anything to the table? Is he really living up to his potential by leaving his very acclaimed, very beloved, and deeply missed rap career collecting dust? Overtime, it becomes obvious that Andy is also projecting his concerns a little bit, because they’re just as true about his own rap career as it is about Andre’s. The constant worrying about legacy and wanting to make your art as good as it can be, but struggling to really get anywhere with your audience, your finances, or even your own artistic creativity. Andre has already proven himself; he can leave rap and not worry about a tainted legacy. But can Andy do that? Can he let those years of silence keep going? Does he not have it in him anymore to keep making the art he was passionate about when he was younger? Can he move on from rap like Andre did? Should he? It’s something that deeply resonated with me this year as I had my own creative block and frustration with my art. But I think both of us agree the best course of action is to keep going. Keep your heart, share your art.

CMAT – When A Good Man Cries
I’ve heard CMAT compared to Chappell Roan a handful of times, a comparison I didn’t entirely get until I listened to her music more. While EURO-COUNTRY is more of an alternative country record and not as much a pop record, CMAT herself still has a level of showmanship that is very capable of rivaling Chappell’s. “When A Good Man Cries” starts off innocuous enough, with an acoustic guitar and steel guitar trailing over CMAT’s impassioned, yet restrained singing. But the song shifts ever so gradually, with the percussion ramping up on the bridge and bringing in multilayered vocals and CMAT starts upping the ante. Suddenly, the fiddle is more lively, the guitars feel fuller, CMAT starts singing with more enthusiasm and jovial energy, and as the song reaches its final minute, the song continues building into this absolutely mind-boggling outro where CMAT joyously dances with the production, bellowing her voice as everything comes together and she pleads to Jesus to save her from being forever someone gives out hate rather than love. Her chants of “Kyrie eleison”, which is Greek for “Lord have mercy”, feel closer to God than any explicitly Christian song that I heard get radioplay this year. One hell of a gospel.

sombr – 12 to 12
I didn’t really get into it on my best songs list, but I really like sombr. I think he’s already got some great hits under his belt, and his brand of smoky, sleazy pop music is the shot in the arm the mainstream needs right now. I didn’t think he’d keep surprising me throughout the year, but then he dropped “12 to 12” and swept me off my feet. The piano chords beam upwards as the bass groove and drumline get your head bobbing. sombr takes the stage, hogging the mic as he desperately looks for the girl who broke his heart, looking for one last chance before their story truly ends. The smoky guitars thrumming through sombr’s thick vocal layering and his truly electric performance had my hair standing on all ends. This hook is undeniable, one of the catchiest hooks of the entire year. There’s a bit of a pathetic streak to sombr’s desperation, but the way he believes every word he’s putting into this Hail Mary still keeps you turning back, maybe considering that second chance after all.

BONUS 2: Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime – Live
For MWE this year (Music Writer’s Exercise, listen to an album you haven’t heard before every day in February, etc etc), I filled in some gaps I had after the 80s albums and artists I listened to the previous year. There were a lot of great songs I was introduced to this year that I could have covered to represent MWE this year (including one that will be mentioned later down the list), but the one that stuck with me the most, weirdly enough, is the live version of a song I’d already known and loved years ago. Full disclosure, I don’t tend to go out of my way for live albums. Nothing against them, I just tend to like the studio polish over the live performances. I mainly included Stop Making Sense in my roster this year because I’d heard it’s essential listening (and watching) for the Talking Heads discography to understand what made the band truly special. And oh my god, I get it now. The progression of this show and how every song performed plays into each other, bringing in more instruments, more band members, more performers, and how David Bryne is completely locked in to every chorus, verse and adlib is kind of incredible to witness. I highlight “Once In A Lifetime” specifically because it feels like the greatest culmination of all of these traits. The already classic song feels even more beefed up with that thrumming bassline and the click-clock tapping of the percussion, the added verses and David Byrne’s spectacular performance match the exact deranged and brain-scrambled energy that makes “Once In A Lifetime” so great, and hearing the whole band come together to play Talking Heads’ most iconic song so perfectly that it might end up replacing the original in my eyes. Incredible craftsmanship in upgrading an already classic song. I’m glad I finally got to experience it.

Part 1
Part 3 coming soon!