Another year has passed, which means another crop of albums has released. From long-awaited drops to sudden, meteoric rises from up-and-coming artists, 2025 had a lot of great music to offer. As the world faced strife, conflict, and challenge, musicians and fans alike sought out and gathered around inspiring, cathartic expressions that functioned just as much as refuge as they did acts of resistance. That isn’t to say that 2025 was all bad, though, as it was one of the most momentous years of my personal life. The selections that I’ve made for my top albums of the past year reflect both of those realities simultaneously — music that was both necessary for the world but also extremely important and transportive for me through a new job, a move, and a dream wedding season. I took extra time to reflect and decide the order of the list this year, as there was simply so much incredible material to choose from. I wanted to be confident with my selections, and at last, it’s time to unveil my top albums of 2025. Without further ado, let’s get into the list. But first, I’d be remiss not to list some honorable mentions that had an impact but didn’t quite crack the top ten.
Honorable mentions (in no particular order):
Cancionera - Natalia Lafourcade
Revengeseekerz - Jane Remover
Glory - Perfume Genius
Alfredo 2 - Freddy Gibbs
Dead Channel Sky - clipping.
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS - Bad Bunny
God Does Like Ugly - JID
Hurry Up Tomorrow - The Weeknd
Don’t Tap The Glass - Tyler, The Creator
The Life of a Showgirl - Taylor Swift
10. Pain to Power - Maruja
To kick off the list, I felt the need to highlight the Manchester-based Maruja and their hard-hitting, bombastic debut album Pain to Power. There is a familiarity and maturity to this project that gives the impression that the band has been doing this for decades. But that couldn’t be further from the truth; instead, this potent group is completely fresh on the scene. Inspired by the likes of Black Country, New Road, black midi, and Geese, Maruja embraces a post-punk, noise rock sound that both overwhelms and hypnotizes its audience. At the same time, though, Pain to Power is thoughtful, poignant, and political in all the right ways. I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
9. Getting Killed - Geese
I discovered Geese through their lead singer Cameron Winter and his recent full-length album Heavy Metal. His gorgeously grating, instantly-recognizable vocals translate incredibly well to a group-based project, as Getting Killed is one of my favorite experimental releases of the year. There is a captivating balance of tenderness and unabashed aggression throughout this project, with syncopated melodies and unique subject matter. This project is wide-ranging, covering subjects from spiritual searching, anxieties of modern life, apocalypse, to loneliness and seeking purpose in our current society. A whirlwind, Getting Killed is a must-listen from 2025.
8. People Watching - Sam Fender
Another new discovery for me in the past year, Sam Fender and his newest full-length album People Watching immediately had me hooked. The English singer-songwriter’s heartfelt and evocative lyricism discusses nostalgia, class struggle, addiction, and the importance of reflection. The instrumentation on this project is vast and whole, and the production value is very impressive for a modern rock album. Certain tracks evoke a young Bruce Springsteen, but Fender’s originality and unique perspective make him much more than a copycat of any other artist. The original release of this project was impressive enough, but the deluxe version and the additional tracks and collaborations he introduced on it bring People Watching to the next level.
7. Portrait of My Heart - SPELLLING
The first full-length follow-up to her enchanting 2021 album The Turning Wheel, SPELLLING’s Portrait of My Heart is the stylistic and thematic curveball she needed to both evolve and live up to the incredibly high standard that she set for herself with her last project. Self-reflective, raw, and honest, Portrait of My Heart lives up to its namesake with Chrystia Cabral’s most introspective lyricism to date. But this emotional clarity and availability isn’t masked by understated instrumentation; instead, this album’s alternative hard rock sensibilities amplify and strengthen the themes that Chrystia gets across to her audience. The theatrics are still present, and Chrystia’s unique vocals will always be a staple of her sound, but this project was also a step into a new direction, and I couldn’t get enough.
6. Forever Howlong - Black Country, New Road
With perhaps the highest stakes at hand with their 2025 album release, Black Country, New Road had the Herculean task of attempting to follow up the release of their 2022 smash hit sophomore album Ants From Up There after the departure of lead singer Isaac Wood, who for many fans, defined and sculpted the group’s identity. But the group didn’t regress into safety or mediocrity after this switch up — they rose to the challenge and doubled down by fully embracing their progressive, baroque-pop inspired sound and highlight each member’s unique talents brilliantly throughout the project. While not reaching the same cohesive and spellbinding heights of AFUT, Forever Howlong is an inspired, imaginative, and impressive showcase that proves Black Country, New Road is going nowhere but up as it features some of their best pieces yet.
5. Lotus - Little Simz
I truly believe that Little Simz is one of the greatest living hip-hop artists and is greatly underrated in the genre. Her 2025 album Lotus is another entry into her increasingly legendary discography that proves just that. After the public fallout with her longtime producer and collaborator Inflo, Simz had a chip on her shoulder and a point to prove. Lotus opens with a bang, addressing the conflict head on with the hard-hitting and direct “Thief,” but the project doesn’t linger and overly focus on a subject that proved he isn’t worth Simz’ time. The project expands to let her loyal fanbase into the mindset she was in when navigating this difficult period of her life, which often led to uncertainty and a lack of creative direction. But that struggle is also what was needed to create this beautiful, somehow relatable project. After seeing her live in concert in November of last year, I believed even more firmly that Simz is one of the best rappers alive.
4. Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You - Ethel Cain
Another installation of the lore-heavy sonic universe created and inspired by Hayden Silas Anhedönia, otherwise known by the same name as her title character Ethel Cain, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You serves as part two and a prequel to the trilogy that her 2022 album Preacher’s Daughter introduced. This Americana, slowcore project delves into the depths of doomed young love, generational trauma, and disillusionment over the course of its sprawling seventy-three-minute runtime. While much of this project’s tracks are intentionally and methodically drawn out, its peaks are among the highest of the previous year, with tracks like “Nettles” and “Tempest” stealing the show with their inescapably poetic lyricism. “‘Cause baby I’ve never seen brown eyes look so blue” still twists the knife every time. I can’t wait to watch this trilogy conclude once Hayden is ready to tell the rest of her compelling and heart-wrenching story.
3. Let God Sort Em Out - Clipse
The reunion of Clipse’s founding brothers Pusha T and Malice is exactly what hip-hop needed in 2025. Not only is this project as hard-hitting and downright fun as their past work, like 2006’s classic Hell Hath No Fury, but Let God Sort Em Out showcases a maturity and emotional vulnerability that humanizes the brothers more than ever before. The album’s opening track, “The Birds Don’t Sing”, discusses and reflects on the passing of the brothers’ parents in the time since their most recent project, setting an emotional tone for the rest of the album. But that isn’t to say that the brash confidence of these two is gone — in fact, it’s stronger than ever. Tracks like “Chains & Whips” and “P.O.V” also employ the use of collaborations and features masterfully, with Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick Lamar offering some of the best verses of the year, respectively. This project’s production is top-notch, its melodies are infectious earworms, and the aura of Let God Sort Em Out is unmatched. Despite strong competition, this is by far the best rap album of the past year.
2. The Art of Loving - Olivia Dean
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I know. I get it. This is one of the more unexpected selections that I’ve ever made on a top albums list, especially considering its very high placement at my number two spot for 2025. What you may be even more interested by is the fact that Olivia Dean was my top artist of 2025 according to Spotify’s Wrapped. Yes, I’m serious. I know.
But you, like I wasn’t, also shouldn’t be surprised. The Art of Loving is one of the most soulful, romantic, and uplifting albums of the decade so far. Olivia Dean’s ability to deliver timeless, vulnerable, jazzy pop music in a modern context is second to none. Songs like “Man I Need,” “So Easy (To Fall In Love),” and “Let Alone The One You Love” sound like they’ve always existed. And the emotional finale of “I’ve Seen It,” an interpolation of Bill Withers’ “Just The Two of Us” is simply exquisite. Dean is warm, welcoming, audaciously-talented, and we are lucky that she is sharing her gift to tap into this genre of music so delightfully with the world. This album served as the soundtrack for my Maui honeymoon, and I will continue to return to its brilliance for years to come.
1. Vanisher, Horizon Scraper - Quadeca
Vanisher, Horizon Scraper was easily my top selection for best album of 2025. The artistic progression we are witness from Ben Lasky, known by his performing name of Quadeca, is unrivaled and truly inspiring. I knew that we were in for a treat once the intentionality of this album’s rollout became clear — every detail accounted for, not a single stone unturned. Then came the singles to introduce the new era: “GODSTAINED” and its Bossa Nova-inspired art pop, “MONDAY” and its progressive baroque tendencies, and “FORGONE” and its progressive chamber pop sprawl. What I could never have imagined was how Ben would be able to tie these tracks from one to the next so seamlessly, creating a narrative depiction of the sailor’s journey that explores individualism, existentialism, the search for meaning, and a futile pursuit of the impossible. This project’s themes and tracks resonated with me on a very deeply personal level, and the cyclical structure of this narrative is continually submerging in all of the best ways.
What truly sets this album apart as an incredible work of art, though, is its accompanying film. Not just a cheap visualizer, but a full-length narrative in-and-of itself with some of the most creative, symbolic, memorable, and cinematic imagery I have ever seen put behind a concept album. If you haven’t yet, you owe it to yourself to get lost in the world of Vanisher, Horizon Scraper as I have many times. You can do so by clicking this link. I can’t wait to discover the universe that Quadeca introduces to us next.
And there we have it! Always my favorite blog post to write, my top albums of the previous year list is complete, and there are so many great projects to revisit and choose from. What music did you get into last year? Which projects are you looking forward to or hopeful for in 2026?
2025
Album Review: Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You - Ethel Cain
Ethel Cain has returned with her highly-awaited sophomore album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You three years after her critically-acclaimed debut Preacher’s Daughter. That project, highly-regarded by fans, immediately established a universe of characters and sonic motifs that are being elaborated throughout its follow-up Willoughby Tucker. The music is warm, patient, and slowly unraveling — full of characters you’re growing to know by heart without ever meeting them. The album story is set in 1986, years before Preacher’s Daughter, and right away it’s clear this record is more intimate. There are smaller stakes but heavier silences, and this project is more emotionally resonant to me in many ways.
The album follows Ethel and Willoughby — young, codependent, soft lovers whose relationship seemed destined to crash. The project is structured like memories, full of fragments, half-shared feelings, and songs that stretch without needing to arrive anywhere. Ethel moves between drone, ambient-folk, and soft southern pop, letting the production engulf her, dissolving around her voice.
“Nettles” is the emotional center and my favorite song of the album — almost eight minutes of emotion wrapped in organ and banjo. This song also contain’s my favorite line from the album: “I’ve never seen brown eyes look so blue.” “Fuck Me Eyes” leans into synth and shoegaze in a disarming way — it’s very messy and raw. There’s a tension between the album’s characters wanting to be looked at and wanting to disappear entirely.
The pacing is gentle but precise. “Dust Bowl”, “Tempest”, and “Waco, Texas” are just as expansive and devastating toward the end of the album, constantly building in emotional intensity. After the storm, everything feels hollowed out. This album depicts a specific kind of aching, prolonged heartbreak that Ethel seems eerily familiar with depicting through her characters.
There’s no final act at the end of this project, as it serves more as a prequel. You know from the first track “Janie” that something is going to be lost in the end. The cinematic storytelling Ethel’s known for is still here, but it's quieter. The drama happens in sideways glances and things left unsaid. At its simplest, this album’s songs are about wanting to stay in a moment that’s already slipping away.
Willoughby Tucker is more stripped back than Preacher’s Daughter, but it lingers longer. The album slowly unravels and is in no rush to resolve anything, never needing to over-explain itself. Ethel understands that the most devastating kind of love is the kind that feels like it could last, even when you know it won’t.
Favorite tracks: “Janie” — “Fuck Me Eyes” — “Nettles” — “Willoughby’s Interlude” — “Dust Bowl” — “Radio Towers” — “Tempest” — “Waco, Texas”
SCORE: 9.2/10
Album Review: Revengeseekerz - Jane Remover
Some kinds of chaos feel calculated. Not clinical, but intentional. Jane Remover’s newest album Revengeseekerz is packed full of that kind of chaos. It's erratic, loud, and glitchy in all the right ways, and yet it never loses control or overexerts itself. Coming off the heels of 2023’s Census Designated — a luscious, soft-focus record about isolation and suburban sprawl — Revengeseekerz rips the curtains down. It’s loud where Census Designated was muted, shouts where Census whispered, and emotionally feral in a way that feels like a natural evolution, proving Jane Remover is developing their musical repertoire.
The biggest, baddest moment on the album is “Psychoboost feat danny brown” and sounds exactly like its name. Like its title reference, this song is a Pokémon battle — drums clash, basslines implode, and Danny Brown sounds like his usual unhinged self, in the best way. Jane’s production here is wild but airtight like they’re testing the structural integrity of the song without ever letting it collapse. If you’ve been waiting for them to fully lean into noise and speed and digital distortion, this is your reward.
Then there’s “Dancing with your eyes closed,” which in many ways is the inverse — there is the same sharp detail, but this time aimed at the dance floor. It’s hazy, nostalgic, and maybe the most accessible track they’ve ever made. There’s something earnest in the vocal layering, the way the beat almost stumbles but finds its footing again. Jane doesn’t lose their edge here — they just bend it into something warmer.
The whole album lives in the tension between rage and release. “TURN UP OR DIE” is straight-up aggro rave destruction, while “Dark night castle” pulls things back into something more spacious and haunted. But no track here feels tangential. Even the weirder, spikier cuts have a sense of direction, like Jane knows exactly where they want to take you — even if they’re kicking up sparks along the way.
Revengeseekerz isn’t easy, accessible listening, but it’s not trying to be. It’s a breakup album, a power fantasy, and a digital exorcism all rolled into one. And it might be Jane Remover’s best work yet — a sign that their artistry will continue to evolve, mature, and improve with time. If Census Designated was about observing the world through a dusty lens, Revengeseekerz is Jane smashing that lens and dancing in its shattered glass.
Favorite tracks: “Psychoboost feat danny brown,” “Star people,” “Experimental Skin,” “Dreamflasher,” “TURN UP OR DIE,” “Dancing with your eyes closed,” “Professional Vengeance,” “Dark night castle,” “JRJRJR”
SCORE: 8.6/10
Album Review: Portrait of My Heart - SPELLLING
With her fourth studio album Portrait of My Heart, SPELLLING, also known as Chrystia Cabral, has decided to step confidently into new emotional terrain. Peeling away the layered symbolism and surrealism that once defined her work in favor of something more personal, Cabral invites us into the vast and complex reality that exists within her. Known for crafting worlds from otherworldly textures, Cabral instead turns inward on Portrait of My Heart, exchanging her usual mythic narratives and celestial metaphors for a more grounded, humanist vulnerability. The result is a rich, emotionally saturated record that expands her sonic palette while simultaneously clarifying and centering her voice as an artist.
To fully appreciate Portrait of My Heart, it’s important to first trace the entirety of Cabral’s discography. Her debut album Pantheon of Me introduced us to a DIY experimentalist with a taste for spectral R&B and gothic synth-pop, channeling bedroom-produced mysticism into a haunted tracklist. She refined this sound with her sophomore record Mazy Fly, a critically acclaimed release that pushed further into Afrofuturist storytelling and eerie, analog dreamscapes. Then came The Turning Wheel, her magnum opus of theatrical orchestration and baroque pop grandeur. This record served as a kaleidoscopic concept album about transformation, societal structures, and rebirth. The Turning Wheel flirted with Broadway-style melodrama and chamber pop, setting the stage for what felt like a definitive culmination of her maximalist vision.
But Portrait of My Heart is something almost entirely different. It’s more vulnerable but no less ambitious or at times abrasive, demonstrating a move from operatic allegory to more confessional and heartfelt songwriting. Tracks like “Alibi” utilize 90s alt-rock aesthetics and instrumentation, while “Keep It Alive” pulses with the kind of emotional urgency Cabral previously disguised behind her character-driven songwriting. “Destiny Arrives” is an obvious standout — its soaring chorus and cosmic arrangement channels the spiritual awe of Mazy Fly, but with a new emotional clarity. Cabral’s voice glides with conviction and wonder, turning fate into a kind of gospel. Equally compelling is “Drain,” a slinky, bass-heavy dirge that morphs and winds its way into an earned cathartic release. Its ghostly atmosphere and stark lyrics evoke emotional exhaustion without sacrificing its groove, capturing the ache of disillusionment in a way that feels haunting and hypnotic. Her closing cover of My Bloody Valentine’s “Sometimes” wraps the album with grace by distilling shoegaze melancholia into a heartfelt plea; it encapsulates the record’s emotional transparency. By choosing to cover this song, SPELLLING identifies herself with the progressive and visionary artists that paved the way in the same genre that she’s now exploring and defining.
Collaborators such as Toro y Moi and Turnstile’s Pat McCrory help translate the album’s emotional intensity into genre-blurring arrangements. The fingerprints of SPELLLING’s past remain: otherworldly synths, spectral vocal layering, and theatrical flourishes emerge like ghosts from older records, gently reminding us that Cabral’s surreal sensibility hasn’t vanished, but instead that it has grown and evolved.
Ultimately, Portrait of My Heart doesn’t abandon Carbal’s past; it synthesizes it. Where her previous work explored mythical identities and societal abstractions, this album brings those lessons inward, asking what it means to love, to hurt, and to heal. It’s SPELLLING’s most vulnerable and personal work yet, and thus her most bold and courageous. By unmasking herself, she invites and encourages the listener to do the same.
Favorite tracks: “Portrait of My Heart,” “Keep It Alive,” “Alibi,” “Destiny Arrives,” “Ammunition,” “Mount Analogue,” “Drain,” “Love Ray Eyes,” “Sometimes”
SCORE: 9.0/10
Album Review: Forever Howlong - Black Country, New Road
Shortly after its release in 2022, Black Country, New Road’s sophomore album Ants From Up There was heralded by many critics and fans as an instant classic. Packed to the brim with complex instrumentation and deeply-compelling lyricism, the album helped the young band achieve heights that many bands simply dream of, and this was with only one release (For the first time) under their belts. Ants From Up There’s rollout perfectly complemented the bittersweet themes of success despite struggle throughout the project, as the group’s lead vocalist and co-founder Isaac Woods announced his departure just days before its release, citing his mental health. Ants From Up There, which I consider a masterpiece, exists as a time capsule of Black Country, New Road and who they were when Isaac was contributing both musically and spiritually to the outfit. While his identity is found deeply throughout every moment on Ants From Up There’s tracklist, the gorgeous backing instrumentation and talented musicians who supported him also helped lift the project to the level of ascendancy that it reached. There was just one problem with this success… the group no longer had its lead vocalist moving forward, and fans’ hopes and expectations for their future were sky high.
Luckily for them, though, those same talented instrumentalists also happen to serve as incredibly unique and gifted vocalists with their own perspectives, aesthetics, and performance choices. In 2023, the group released Live at Bush Hall — their first output since Isaac’s departure. This performance was not released as an official album, but instead as a collection of dynamic performances and tracks that showcased each band member’s individual skills and styles. While there were some growing pains found throughout this release, the cohesion and raw talent that put the band on the map in the first place was still very apparent, and there was hope that they could forge a new identity upon future releases.
That brings us to the subject matter of this review. On April 4th, 2025, Black Country, New Road released their third full-length studio album Forever Howlong. Over the course of this project’s rollout, the band released three ambitious singles: the opening and harpsichord-laden track “Besties,” the beautifully discordant “Happy Birthday,” and the long-awaited, until-then-unreleased fan favorite “For the Cold Country.” Each of these tracks features a different lead vocalist, with Georgia Ellery, Tyler Hyde, and May Kershaw takings the reins, respectively. All three women have a cohesive and somewhat similar sound, but their differing perspectives and artistic nuances add so much character throughout the album as a whole. While all of these singles are great and serve as reflective examples of what the album’s themes consist of, the album is best consumed from start to finish, because there is just so much you don’t want to miss.
The sometimes larger-than-life, grandiose, and progressive instrumentation and vocal performance found throughout Ants From Up There is turned up a notch on Forever Howlong. The group has no hesitations when deciding to ignore standard time signatures or experiment with typical song structures, instead opting to create songs that constantly develop, build tension, and defy norms. That allows moments like the whimsical opening of “The Big Spin,” the insane tempo change on “Two Horses,” or the signature peculiar lyricism of the title track to not only pay off, to build upon one another to create a cohesive experience.
Each song on this album is absolutely necessary, and while there are still some areas of opportunity for the group’s new identity to expand, many of the tracks here are among the group’s best, which is saying a lot when considering the absurdly high bar they have set for themselves. Haunting lines like “I make eye contact with the dawn / We both look away” and vignettes like those found on “Nancy Tries to Take the Night” are both career highlights for the band. Additionally, the project gains new depth and complexity upon each listen — sonically, lyrically, and thematically.
Ants From Up There is my favorite album of the decade so far. While I was cautiously hopeful that Black Country, New Road would be able to pivot and adjust post-Isaac, I never expected them to craft such a unique and impressive sound and identity so quickly. Isaac’s impact is still felt deeply on this album despite his absence, and I hope he is well. While they may not have been able to capture lightning in a bottle twice with this project, Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong is a joyous and jubilant clap of thunder signifying a rebirth of some of the world’s most talented musicians proving that they are here to stay. How long? Forever, I hope.
Favorite Tracks: “Besties,” “The Big Spin,” “Socks,” “Salem Sisters,” “Two Horses,” “Happy Birthday,” “For the Cold Country,” “Nancy Tries to Take the Night,” “Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)”
SCORE: 9.3/10