I stood in a lot of different places this year. I stood on my roof in disbelief as a dome of opaque smoke enveloped the city. I stood at the altar next to my dearest friend as she gave her hand in marriage. And I stood waist deep in the Merced river as strangers sized like ants risked their life to scale a 7,000 foot cliff. All the while the array of hooks, verses, and bridges of 2025 funneled through my mind.
I welcomed this year’s trip hop revival with wide open arms as those down tempo beats slowed my scattered brain. And aside from new releases I listened to a lot of Madonna, Ukrainian indie music, and diiv this year. I also made the big bad transition from thepeelingblog.com to Substack. A fresh new hairdo for this baby’s fifth birthday.
You should be well aware by now that my end of the year list is always subjective. Superior, of course, but indeed a reflection of my taste which remains occupied by R&B, electronic, indie rock, and a lot of pop (the good kind).
So without any further ado, presenting my personal favorite albums & tracks of 2025. Mmmmwah.
2025 favorite albums of the year:
1. LUX – Rosalía
God said, “Let there be light.” Rosalía echoed, “Fiat lux.”
A renaissance painting with golden trim, LUX asks, do you desire a rebirth? Well, through unapologetic humanity and divine intervention, you just might be able to find the light. The light that flows at the splitting of the core.
In LUX healing is found through acceptance and celebration of mortality, and the medley of saints that Rosalía meets along the way help her position her understanding of femininity as it has transcended places, centuries, and deities. The act of betrayal is an ancient one, don’t you know?
In an age where we can’t indulge in any media without an AI “enhancement” shoved in our face, Rosalía has birthed a work of art that is so defiantly human that it took thirteen different languages to communicate. The striking orchestra and choir that rushes through the veins of the entire body of work is too a testament to the work of the human, and the life that it breathes into this supreme record.
LUX is the most viscerally striking breadth of work I have encountered in a long time. With layered production unlike anything of this decade, LUX is an anthology that details the complexities of sound and story through an operatic exposition. Rosalía goes easy on the bubblegum hooks in this pop record, and rather, leans into the neighborly art pop, flamenco, waltz, and opera and trains the listener in the art of reaching peace through patience.
2. Showbiz! – MIKE
“Heyyyy—oh, look what we have here!” was the rolling introduction into 2025 with this January release. And what we have here is a new perspective on the passing of time, and the movement in the spaces we occupy.
The flow of Showbiz! is inherent—each moment is an inevitability to the next. Like fate. MIKE’s signature crisp and mellow rap stays wrapped around us like a blanket, cozy and encompassing. The hazy storytelling meanders through a timeless space ruled by a rolling assortment of momentary thought, feeling, and touch.
A work of some exquisitely-written, deeply spoken words that find their place seamlessly into 80s groovy elevator music, Showbiz! is exceptional.
MIKE’s lyricism explores his position in relation to the ones he loves, and the ones he used to love. And above all else, MIKE remains a girl’s boy: “That’s my sister / treat her like my daughter really.”
3. Addison – Addison Rae
I’m going to Primavera next year and the two acts I’m bursting at the seams to see are 1) my bloody valentine and 2) miss Addison Rae. On her debut record, Addison interlaces her fingers in ours and, with a giggle, shows us that yes, we most certainly should be taking her seriously.
With comparisons to Madonna’s Ray of Light, Addison is a necessary ode to the intimacy of her late 90s predecessors. Swathed in atmospheric beats, this record is a cooling drink of pure pop with a fresh perspective that we desperately needed. What remains predictable in the vocal delivery is blown out of the water in dazzling production and simplistic yet nourishing lyricism; “Guess I gotta accept the pain / need a cigarette to make me feel better.”
As a sitting member of the trip hop revival, Addison skips along in her kitten heels to the heady thumping, letting it guide her lush and breathy tune.
And the hit after hit after hit in that single rollout, goddamn. At the moment of “Diet Pepsi,” I said ok, didn’t know she had that in her. Then came “Aquamarine,” and I said, shit, maybe she’s lucky. But then, “High Fashion,” and I stopped listening to anyone else. And at last, “Headphones On,” and I knew. Addison Rae is pop perfection.
4. Getting Killed – Geese
Has anyone figured out why these Gen Z waterfowl are sweeping us all off our feet this year? That distinct ache in Cameron Winter’s voice puts these New Yorkers in a category of stark recognition. The seemingly sluggish bass in his voice wraps around words in such a way that unearths an unexpected energy, and delivers revelation to the youth’s shared feelings of uncertainty and pain.
The title track gorgeously captures the frustration I myself feel daily, in this big city called Los Angeles, spending a quarter of my life in a car, every day just barely curbing a work-stress-induced vertigo episode; “I’m getting killed by a pretty good life / I have been fucking destroyed by the city…”
Brilliant guitar melodies make way for a weightless groove on “Cobra.” And some self-worth is sacrificed on “Au Pays du Cocaine,” as Winter moans and begs for the one to love him back, reminiscent of a similar delusion expressed by LCD Soundsystem.
“You can change you can change you can change / Baby you can change and still choose me….”
5. Through The Wall – Rochelle Jordan
Miss Rochelle Jordan, what a record you have made here. A pristine understanding and appreciation for the roots of dance music comes through so clearly in this glorious collection of disco, house, rhythm, and trance. A work of loyalty and honestly, pure dance music that does not beg for a new acceptance, but rather, casts a fresh light on familiar favorites. If it ain’t broke, do not fix it!
Through The Wall opens with a demand to “say grace,” and stretches shimmery vocals into a dream-like state, as if we’re being pulled through a time machine. Whether to the future or the past, it’s up for debate, but once we arrive, we dip into this suite of eclectic house beats with “Ladida.” Listen to that song and tell me that we, as a society, still have a need for Azealia Banks.
6. Bleeds – Wednesday
Dainty details of small town days guide the storytelling of frontwoman Karly Hartzman in Bleeds, like legs sticking to a leather seat in the summer, or parking too close to someone at the grocery store on Christmas Day. The bleeds, an exposition of what’s inside turned out, show us why we’re alive, while threatening to kill us, that is, if we bleed out.
Bleeds is a record abundant in crisp country melodies that build into blazing noise music with a prickly tone that doesn’t seek apology but instead, a brief chuckle, and acceptance. Pristine world building puts the listener on a creaky North Carolina porch while the stark introspection forces us to consider, are we bitter?
7. EUSEXUA / Afterglow – FKA twigs
Is it lonelier to dance in a room of strangers, or to face the morning after alone? The healing you might find in the darkness of the dancefloor can’t always surmount to the sunrise of the afterglow, as FKA twigs discovers through the EUSEXUA to Afterglow trajectory. The dopamine-pulsing highs of shiny dance tracks like “Room of Fools” and “Drums of Death” shed into the existentially aimless comedowns of “Cheap Hotel” and “Lost All My Friends.”
You can feel FKA twigs reaching into the chambers of her heart to express this yin and yang, and the result is a new level of dance pop expression.
8. Lifetime – Erika de Caiser
On Lifetime, Erika de Caiser’s vocals are delicate, and fleeting across the wave of lo-fi pulsing beats. This rather seraphic soundscape seems to exist somewhere just before or immediately thereafter the present. It begs the question, “where are you going, and where have you been?”
Songs like “Seasons” and “You Got It!” burst with the heartbeat of trip hop, and fuse into a lush whirlpool. Like a visit from a whispering angel in the twinkling night, Lifetime morphs the reality of solid ground with an ethereal fantasy.
9. In the Blue Light – Kelela
Perhaps the first time a live album shimmied its way onto my EOTY list. Because wtf—just when you thought Kelela could never sound better you can literally hear her lips part and her diaphragm at work. Drinking in the juice of jazz atop the Blue Note stage.
On this record Kelela strips her electronic and R&B-fused bops and retires that highly-applauded production to unleash the power in simplicity. In songs like, “Waitin’,” she delivers a harmony of tension in just one note. The soul pours out of her voice in such a way that it becomes more than just an instrument; it’s the conductor. The arbiter of all control.
10. Choke enough – Oklou
If a liminal space was a sound, and if a place without walls were a room. Choke enough tests our ability to flip popular music inside out. The deconstruction of these songs can feel eerie, much like the visuals that accompany them. Why do you keep looking at me???
The beat without a beat, Choke enough is a quiet, celestial soundscape that holds a colossal weight. In an eternal dawn where everything is always muted blue, Oklou delivers the underbelly of hyperpop.
Ethel Cain said it perfectly—Choke enough is pop music for bugs.
11. Cry Yourself to Sleep (demos) – CRYYS
Yes, a collection of demos is one of my favorite releases this year, by none other than Black Marble’s Chris Stewart. Debuting his new project, CRYYS, Stewart continues to lean into his ever so loyal synthesizer, but this time, make it lo-fi and up that bpm, baby!
A delicious douse of what Stewart had up his sleeve this whole time, these demos are the morning light after the evening ball of Stewart’s darkwave medallion, A Different Arrangement. Most know him for that record and the sheer brilliance of “A Great Design,” a song that once single-handedly awoke me from a 22 year slumber.
Cry Yourself to Sleep (demos) is a fruitful collection of moves and grooves to keep you light on your feet and well injected for the dancefloor, while holding to the foundation of synth pop. CRYYS introduces a golden edge to Stewart’s craft. Fluent in electro beat, these demos offer both gritty opulence and airy delight.
12. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS – Bad Bunny
I didn’t know that America made Puerto Rico change their flag until I saw the original delicately spread front and center when Bad Bunny performed these songs on Tiny Desk.
With a rich historical ode and revolutionary heart, planet earth’s sweetheart Bad Bunny has produced a library of education and velocity with DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. Marinated in the details, DTMF embraces every generation of vibrant Puerto Rican art by bridging the classical genres like perreo and salsa with modern thu-thumping Latin club. But this time, the fusion of old and new is molded into an armor against colonialism.
Velvety layers keep the hips in motion throughout the duration of this splendid record, establishing timeless power.
13. We Will Annihilate Our Enemies – Real Lies
The rapturous players at that petrol station have returned with a new collection of UK electro that is still searching as these Real Lies boys always have been. I don’t always know what they’re looking for, but in the journey, they always manage to uncover meaning. This time, it’s largely via love.
“You met me at a strange time in my life / It was almost always 6AM / But you picked me up, dusted me off / And blew me from your open palm into the stars.”
For Real Lies, the UK accent is an instrument. The tone in the spoken word of Kev Kharas rests atop the fusion of house, garage, and electropop like a floating vessel; it’s intentionally a bit divorced from the smooth sounds that buoy it to ensure it doesn’t get lost in the swirl of beats. That contrast ensures we dance, but we don’t escape.
14. Stardust – Danny Brown
Rockstar, popstar, rapstar, it’s the trifecta in the Book of Daniel. On Stardust, Danny Brown is sobered and six-packed up, ready to test out the bounds of his animated rap.
The past year has been a game of “Where’s Danny?” as he seems to be a guest on any stage that’ll have him. He can be found hopping out of a telephone booth at AG Cook’s Coachella set to spit fire against “party 4 u,” or head banging with new hyperpop friends half his age. Wherever he is, he’s having a good time, and opening up his craft to embrace new sounds.
On Stardust, Danny bounces along with house track “Lift You Up,” while songs like “Baby,” have a beat that could have been on the how i’m feeling now deluxe. Abundant in pop-punk, hyperpop, and glitchy goodness, Stardust honors Danny’s inherent versatility and desire for new adventure.
15. It’s a Beautiful Place – Water From Your Eyes
Brief yet bursting with personality, It’s A Beautiful Place is a frothy swirl of indie rock’s possibilities. Eccentric riffs that are easy on the ears are woven into more experimental spirals in this largely unregulated piece of work. Rage shredding on “Born 2” bleeds into an ambient, spiritual quest on “You Don’t Believe in God?” while tracks like “Spaceship” teeter on the edge of dream pop and shoegaze.
Water From Yours Eyes are no new kids on the block; this is their seventh studio release, and they’re only like 27 years old. But with It’s A Beautiful Place it feels like they’ve reached a new level of musical maturity, and it’s the beauty in this place that will be sticking around.
Other albums I loved this year, but just not as much as the above:
The BPM – Sudan Archives
From The Private Collection of Saba and No I – Saba, NO ID
Headlights – Alex G
I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away – Hayden Pedigo
Fancy That / Fancy Some More? – PinkPantheress
ICONOCLASTS – Anna von Hausswolff
Luminescent Creatures – Ichiko Aoba
2025 favorite songs of the year:
- The Rolling Stones – Cameron Winter
- Drums of Death – FKA Twigs
- Land Of The Tyrants – Benefits
- Reliquia – Rosalía
- Headphones On – Addison Rae
- Counterclockwise – billy woods
- Waterfalls – Oneohtrix Point Never
- Is It Still You In There? – Alex G
- obvious – Oklou
- Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed) – Cameron Winter
- Elderberry Wine – Wednesday
- Don’t You Worry Baby – Tyler, The Creator
- ms60 – Amaarae
- For the Cold Country – Back Country, New Road
- Free – Little Simz
- The Field – Blood Orange, The Durutti Column, Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar, Tariq Al-Sabir
- The Whole Woman – Anna von Hausswolff
- Stars – PinkPantheress
- exhaust – Earl Sweatshirt
- Shulgin – Real Lies
- MTBTTF – Clipse
- Nettles – Ethel Cain
- Abracadabra – Lady Gaga
- Dumbo – Bbyafricka
- LOOK OUT FOR ME – Turnstile
The Peeling 