The Mic's Top Albums of 2025

2025 has proven itself to be an incredible year for music. Throughout the industry, artists were taking big steps to reinvent their sounds, push boundaries between genres, and explore new emotional and sonic territories. This year saw veterans like Pulp and Suede return with records that balance nostalgia of the Britpop era with urgent modernity, while newcomers like Model/Actriz helped redefine what rock and punk can sound like today.

Across pop, indie, electronic, rock, latin, and R&B, 2025’s best releases reveal a shared willingness to embrace playfulness and sonic risk, whether that’s through diaristic songwriting, maximalist production, or genre-bending audacity. Whether it’s the scrapbook-like textures of Hayley Williams’ Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party or the hardcore energy of Turnstile’s NEVER ENOUGH, this year has offered a rich tapestry of music that is as alive as it is adventurous. 2025 proves that music is thriving, and these are the records that kept us moving all year long.

In alphabetical order, here are The Mic’s top albums of 2025:

YHWH Nailgun: 45 Pounds (Experimental Rock, Noise Rock)

If a slaughterhouse could sound like an album, it would be 45 Pounds. Ten songs, twenty-one minutes, it slices you open and wounds you in a flash. This is sincerely one of the most unique and original albums you’ll ever hear from the New York DIY band who find themselves making waves in the post-punk revival scene. Off-kilter percussion, grating guitar, unsettling synths, and Zack Borzone heaving out vocals like his life depends on it. This album is possessed. It’s raw. It’s guttural. It stutters. Punishes you. It’s an odd feeling hearing sounds you never knew existed, blended into one another like a science experiment born from a fractured mind. If you want a sense of just how far this album pushes itself, look no further than Pain Fountain, a visceral exploration of Zach’s psyche and inner shame. Frantic percussion fuels the song as a menacing combination of cavernous guitar and uninvited interruptions of synths almost gives it the feel of a panic attack. The song ends with rapid fire gun shots going off, without a care for rhythm and form. It’s as if we have gone down this spiral with Zach and we’re paying the price. You don’t dance to this album, you endure it. This all might sound off-putting and, yes, it’s not an easy listen, but if you can handle it, the reward is definitely worth it. Truly an “if you know, you know” record.

You can listen to 45 Pounds on Spotify here.

By Isaac Spackman

Suede: Antidepressants (Post-Punk, Gothic Rock)

Antidepressants, released in September, is the tenth studio album by 90s indie rock band Suede, and is the second album in an anticipated three-part run. Like their last release (Autofiction, 2022), what makes the album compelling is its refusal to dwell on the past. Suede don’t attempt to soften their sound or romanticise their “glory days”. Instead, they engage with the present as something ugly and psychologically corrosive. There’s a sense of anger simmering beneath the surface - not youthful rebellion, but rather decades old frustration with systems that promise relief and yet consistently deliver disappointment. As the title immediately suggests, lyrically the album covers themes like mental health and the anxiety of life in the modern age. The album being titled Antidepressants feels somewhat ironic: these songs intentionally make the listener uncomfortably aware. This is soundtracked by a post- punk inspired instrumental akin to the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Fall. Personal highlights include singles Dancing with the Europeans (a love letter to tour experiences backed by an equally sentimental music video filmed with fans at a secret gig in London) and Trance State, as well as the vocally impressive Somewhere Between an Atom and a Star. While other bands of the time reunite and look back to the past, Suede are willing to look forward and address modern concerns, showcasing some of the best work of a band who’s legacy and performance has endured for over three decades and will continue to do so.

You can listen to Antidepressants on Spotify here.

By Elise Chesterton

Reneé Rapp: BITE ME (Pop, Dance Pop)

Rapp’s sophomore album streamlines the strongest aspects of Snow Angel into a more consistent body of work. Within her catalogue, it has quickly become her cheekiest release while also being her most vulnerable and romantically alive – a testament to the range she can hold within one project. Unlike some of modern pop, where albums can feel loosely strung together, BITE ME maintains a clear, unified tone even as it diversifies conventionally. Leave Me Alone builds a playful caricature of the “diva pop star,” whereas Shy gently softens that image as her amorous vulnerability begins to show. She mirrors this again when the cyclical toxicity explored in Sometimes finds a resolution in the punky embrace of You’d Like That Wouldn’t You. Altogether, the album becomes a thoughtful way of confronting one’s flaws while still navigating the everyday chaos of life – falling in love, breaking up, and falling in love again. It carries a tone of accountability while remaining deeply self-reflexive.

You can listen to BITE ME on Spotify here.

By Dani Roux

Samia: Bloodless (Indie Rock, Singer-Songwriter)

On Samia’s third album Bloodless, the singer appears to be as devastatingly self-assured as ever. Her words have never been more profound, delivered with a clarity that slices through the record’s sharp skeletal arrangements and quiet indie-rock sensibilities. The writing is undeniably human, with lines like “You never loved me like you hate me now” on Sacred landing with the kind of emotional precision that makes the record feel bruised, but alive. Samia’s honesty is a weapon, letting plainspoken confessions wield more force than any ornamented metaphor could. It’s this unvarnished and unguarded rawness that transforms the album into her most arresting work yet – each song is a small reckoning of the selves she’s shed along the way. In a year full of great records, Bloodless stands apart as the clearest proof of an artist’s growing brilliance.

You can listen to Bloodless on Spotify here.

By Ben Dale

Sudan Archives: The BPM (Dance/Electronic, Alternative R&B)

The sentiment that the future has been cancelled and that individuality in popular music ended sometime around 2008 could singlehandedly be rendered obsolete by the creativity on display on The BPM. It has reference points of course: the beginnings of the hyperpop movement, 90s and 2000s R&B, and, sometimes, chamber music, but to claim that this isn’t as close to true originality as we get is cynicism for its own sake. The first track, DEAD, introduces classical violins into a propulsive electropop base layer in a way which feels not gimmicky, but entirely natural: the whole song feels like watching yourself from above as you run along a subway station, with the string line being the thing to truly escalate the tension of this situation. MY TYPE, meanwhile, is a perfect dance song built on Brittney Parks’ charisma as a vocalist, the rapped verses containing a multi-faceted character study which justifies the truly infectious earworm chorus. The piano line and use of traditional drums deep in the mix on A BUG’S LIFE also create a sonic gift that keeps on giving, with the kind of layered production wherein everything may never be uncovered. NOIRE also sees Sudan Archives play with the darker dimension of her sound, where the sleekness and detail masks something a little more positively uncomfortable at its core. The kind of record which there isn’t a sound system good enough for, and one I hope will be looked back upon as nothing if not forward-thinking.

You can listen to The BPM on Spotify here.

By Liz Clarke

Oklou: choke enough (Electronic, Ambient, Synth-Pop)

The success of French musician Oklou’s debut studio album choke enough earlier this year sparked a redirection of the avenues that can be explored in contemporary pop music. Restraint works to Oklou’s advantage throughout the record, with her demanding, impressive arpeggios and synth textures hushed to a point where they virtually disappear under her intimate vocals, almost like you’re listening to the album play behind a concrete wall. In that quiet space, Oklou situates herself in a community of artists like Sega Bodega, Danny L Harle, A.G. Cook, and other figures of the European club scene. While she might never reach the same volumes of projects like A.G Cook’s Britpop or Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want To Turn Into You (produced by Danny L Harle), choke enough proves that Oklou has a command on pop music which can’t be replicated. Bubbling arpeggios on ict feel reminiscent of a hot summers day, chasing sunlight beaming through a windshield. Album closer blade bird feels more like it belongs on a Bon Iver record, leaning into a folkier, more acoustic intimacy. Lines such as “I can’t help it / Blade is on the bird / I’ll be the one who ends up getting hurt” root themselves in acceptance, bringing an album fluctuating through vulnerability and self-discovery to a quiet, grounded close. With choke enough, Oklou proves herself a master of intimacy, crafting a pop album that is at once inventive, emotionally resonant, and delicate. It’s an unmistakable statement from one of contemporary pop’s most compelling voices.

You can listen to choke enough on Spotify here.

By Ben Dale

Djo: The Crux (Synthpop, Indie Pop)

Djo’s The Crux is a twelve track album arranged into a careful order. It only requires one listen to be able to distinguish between tracks with each one having something sonically different to offer. Djo shows off his range while remaining true to his recognisable style — his vocals flit between deep, smooth and lofi, to speaking ironic lyrics in a Pavement-esque cadence, to adopting a Talking Heads style to match the 80’s inspired sound. Tracks like Basic Being Basic and Charlie’s Garden are ironic in lyric and performance whereas others, Fly and Back On You, offer more candour. Just to reiterate the range of this album, what I really enjoy is how vastly different the introductions of each song are. Potion begins with a quick fingerpicked acoustic guitar, Golden Line introduces itself with a heavy but hopeful piano riff, Back On You serenades the listener with a church choir, and the rest I will leave for your listening. I have to mention Gap Tooth Smile as my favourite on the album with its incredibly catchy guitar riffs accompanied by Djo’s lively vocals. The production on this album is fantastic at marrying different styles with the “Djo genre” so you would not mistake them as any other artists’ masterpiece.

You can listen to The Crux on Spotify here.

By Aaliyah Field

Lucy Liyou: Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name (Electronic, Experimental)

The concept of loss is something that has been touched on by too many artists to name as 2025 comes to a close, but there’s something about Californian singer-songwriter Lucy Liyou’s latest take on the topic that leaves me struck like little else. Every Video Without Your Face… is based around an intersection of Liyou’s yearning for her parents to accept her trans identity, alongside the yearning for stability in the aftermath of her long-term relationship breaking down. Hence, the album is just as personal and grief-stricken as you might expect, and the result is undeniably stirring. Every single downcast lyric, every despondent appeal from Liyou is given two dimensions of emotion & power to back it up, leaving a haunting sense of desperation that is impossible to shake. Such desperation is magnificently entwined with the album’s ambient instrumentals, the dreamy swells of the likes of 16/8 or Imagine Kiss being the perfect accompaniment to Liyou’s broken, yet somehow resoundingly beautiful vocals. Hopelessly honest lyricism (“please stay, I have so much love to give”) and avant-garde sound collages help hammer home the singularity of the record’s writing, yet it somehow remains so universally relatable from beginning to end. It’s been some time since a piece of art affected me quite like this record, and I’d be a fool to name anything else my album of the year.

You can listen to Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name on Spotify here.

By Josh Holmes

Florence + The Machine: Everybody Scream (Art Pop, Baroque Pop)

Florence + The Machine’s album, laced with religious allegory, political tension, and poetic lyricism, culminates in a project centred around empowerment. The band captures the fizzling tensions of the modern era through a sharply crafted, almost mythic lens. In the titular track, Everybody Scream, Florence’s airy harmonies swell into chant-like bellows. She opens the album by urging us to dance, sing, and scream – offering catharsis rather than a polished depiction of empowerment. This clarity of vision appears again in Kraken, where the band transforms mundane present-day moments into folktale-like stories, preserving the emotions of this era. One of the Greats and You Can Have It All take a more confrontational stance, unafraid to explore the pressures of femininity. In You Can Have It All, the recurring imagery of fruit or lunar cycles reinforces the band’s instinct for symbolic language that enriches the listening experience. Florence’s howl-like belts and echoing vocals thread through the album, amplifying its emotional weight. The result is a project that feels textured and steeped in an immortally figurative storytelling.

You can listen to Everybody Screams on Spotify here.

By Dani Roux

PinkPantheress: Fancy That (Dance-pop, UK Garage)

This mixtape – importantly, in its mixtape form – feels like a culmination that highlights the one word that defines it: experimentation. Following Heaven Knows, PinkPantheress introduces an explorative, curious sound. Though she revisits some of her familiar dance-electronic conventions, each track carries its own sonic identity. Within her discography, this release acts as a coherent transition while still offering something entirely new. From the youthfully enamoured themes in Stateside to the breezy, freedom-chasing tone of Girl Like Me, the mixtape radiates diversity. For me, it marks a maturity in both sound and perspective, shifting from her more sombre, “teenage” lyricism into the loose, half-careless honesty of young adulthood. Alongside this project, PinkPantheress continued developing this new direction in the companion mixtape Fancy Some More?

You can listen to Fancy That on Spotify here.

By Dani Roux

Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong (Art Rock, Chamber Pop)

Three years after the departure of ex-frontman Isaac Wood, Black Country, New Road return with their most musically diverse and spellbinding album yet. The record is a triptych of the musical craftsmanship they’ve perfected over the past five years – a panoramic of chamber-pop, prog-folk, and twee rock that feels both deeply intimate and defiant. Moving between the slow burning swell of For the Cold Country to the eccentric Van Dyke Parks-inspired Socks, the feel of the album captures a band liberated by reinvention. With three new distinct voices now sharing the spotlight, pianist May Kershaw, bassist Tyler Hyde, and violinist Georgia Ellery step forward with a renewed clarity of purpose, transforming what could have been fragmentation into something unified, lucid, and triumphant.

You can listen to Forever Howlong on Spotify here.

By Ben Dale

Lucy Dacus: Forever is a Feeling (Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter)

Lucy Dacus’ Forever is a Feeling is an intimate testimony to what it means to be in love. The album’s March release, closely following the announcement of Dacus’ long-term relationship with Boygenius bandmate Julien Baker, outlined the passion enveloping this album. Dacus’ key message with Forever is a Feeling is perhaps best encapsulated within the album’s closing track Lost Time. The song harnesses a quintessentially Lucy Dacus sound, building to a crescendo of angsty guitar signalling the regret of not perusing a relationship sooner: “Cause I love you, and every day / That I knew and didn't say / Is a crying shame / It's a crime / A waste of space / Lost time”.

Devotion surrounds this album through the complimentary vocals of her bandmates Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers on certain songs, but it is most prominent on Bullseye, a sentimental track featuring Hozier, where the lines “I'll miss borrowin' your books to read your notes in the margin / The closest I came to readin' your mind” demonstrate Dacus’ ability to create magical out of the mundane. Despite shifting away from Dacus’ former methods of storytelling and sound, this album is nonetheless a beautiful landscape of faith, love, queerness and trepidation. A personal highlight for me is Big Deal, a delicate admission of romantic feelings paired with angelic vocals from Dacus. The stripped back production on the album, accompanied by Will St John’s stunning Renaissance style album art, creates an ethereal listening experience that nobody should miss.

Since its initial release, Dacus has released Forever is a Feeling: The Archives, a complimentary piece that highlights Forever is a Feeling’s strengths, most noticeably, the striking tenderness underpinning Dacus’ lyricism on the album.

You can listen to Forever is a Feeling on Spotify here.

By Suzannah Bedford

Virtua dx: Guitarpop Forever (Noise pop, Shoegaze)

Amidst the continuing resurgence in popularity enjoyed by many shoegaze musicians throughout the 2020s, Baltimore based Virtua dx stood out from their contemporaries in the scene with the fabulous debut LP that is Guitarpop Forever. From confident, slacker rock opener Running to ethereal IDM closer Take Care of Yrself, you can feel the album’s psychedelic and playful foundation through every second of its runtime. Nostalgic sampling helps make up a big part of the album’s identity, with principal member Devon drawing from acts like the Avalanches and the Chemical Brothers in his colourful experimentation. There’s everything from record scratches to cat meows used to accentuate one of the most fun products of the entire shoegaze revival movement. Every single song carves out such a unique sound and does something so different from the last that picking favourites is nigh-impossible, and you certainly wouldn’t be amiss for taking the post-rock/dance/noise spectacle that is Super Guit☆r, or the lush yet distorted sample-driven One of a Kind Prize Cow. For me, though, the choice cut has to go to Didgy Ring and Springtime, a summery noise-pop romp that uses its lo-fi maximalism to the fullest, with the result being one of 2025’s finest (and most replayable) moments.

You can listen to Guitarpop Forever on Spotify here.

By Josh Holmes

Anna Von Hausswolff: Iconoclasts (Art Rock, Drone, Post-Rock, Jazz-Rock)

It is of course, still categorically wrong to call anything made by Anna Von Hausswolff a pop album, but that doesn’t change the fact that Iconoclasts is Anna Von Hausswolff’s pop album. Which is not to say that this is a fully-fledged foray into accessibility, but that it is Von Hausswolff embracing the cinematic and the theatrical with wider open arms than ever before. The organist here allows other instruments to take center stage: most notably, the saxophone, with the jazz-based arrangements on the album merging gracefully with her singular cavernous soundscapes. Take Struggle With The Beast: an 11-minute jazz-rock odyssey born of a friend’s psychosis, which takes you further and further into the gulf between reality and illusion, erupting from an initially conventional jazz arrangement into Von Hausswolff screaming against a rapture of discordant tones. Tracks such as Aging Young Women, Von Hausswolff’s duet with Ethel Cain, toe the line of conventionality more closely than she has done before, and yet somber art pop balladry also proves to be an apt site for more personal reflections on family, growing older, and the societal expectation of motherhood. Her signature ambient and drone tracks also prevail on the record, with the likes of An Ocean of Time doing exactly what Von Hausswolff has proven herself to excel at: bridging the gaps between the esoteric and the universally divine through a mastery of texture. Perhaps the most aptly titled album of the year, it’s grander and more ambitious than anything she has done to date, and the scope of this ambition cements her status as, truly, an iconoclast.

You can listen to Iconoclasts on Spotify here.

By Liz Clarke

Social Youth Cult: The Lighthouse (Post Punk, Rock)

Goth music subculture in the UK has been stagnant for some time. The community now largely consists of ageing bands that cemented their names prior to the 2000s, with the majority of newer acts struggling to build an audience outside of their local area. However, Newcastle-upon-Tyne post-punk band Social Youth Cult have breathed new life into the scene with the release of their energetic debut album: The Lighthouse. Citing influences from the Northeast music scene, as well as Factory era post-punk, and more generally punk and metal, the band have moved away from their original brand of popular darkwave. Though elements of their old style remain, such as singer Shaun Greer’s Peter Murphy and Ian Curtis-inspired vocals, The Lighthouse is instead characterised by a heavier sound with a brooding and experimental atmosphere. Harsh guitar tones, hypnotic rhythms and memorable bass lines give the LP a mean edge akin to Bauhaus’s In the Flat Field; one notable standout is She’s Dread, which is given a haunting note by the addition of a 12-string acoustic guitar, played by Greer. Other highlights include Strange Times and Close to Nothing: the two songs occupy an ideal mid-point between The Lighthouse’s more intense sound and the darkwave-reminiscent style of the group’s earlier output (notable for guitarist Holly Moore’s catchy riffs). Amidst new releases from legends such as The Chameleons and Lebanon Hanover, Social Youth Cult stand out, having made one of the most interesting contributions to the goth scene this year.

You can listen to The Lighthouse on Spotify here.

By Sami De Jong

Pulp: More (Alternative Rock, Britpop)

In a year that saw the mega-event that was the Oasis reunion, 2025 was undoubtably the year of Britpop. For me however, the highlight of the year was the long-anticipated return of indie darlings Pulp and, let me just say, More does not disappoint. The album feels like a hug from an old friend, containing all the classic elements of the Pulp albums we know and love – witty lyrics, sardonic humour, and enchanting instrumentals – whilst reflecting their development in the years that have passed since their last album in 2001. There is a more “grown up” and heavy feel that looms over this though, with the death of bassist Steve Mackey in 2023 deeply felt in the more emotional content. The flagship single Spike Island was an instant anthem, exploring nostalgia and disillusionment with fame to reflect on Pulp’s journey as a band. Other notable songs include other singles Got to Have Love and Tina, as well as Grown Ups. All of this makes it clear that More is not just a nostalgia project or a money-grab. Individually the songs are all strong, but together the album creates an image of a Pulp who are still in their peak, more mature but not changed in spirit. This, plus the album’s nomination for a Mercury Prize, proves that after almost 25 years away, the band most certainly have still got it, and the wide celebration of this comeback is entirely justified.

You can listen to More on Spotify here.

By Elise Chesterton

Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH (Hardcore Punk, Alternative Rock)

When it comes to cultural moments this year, few have loomed larger than Turnstile summer. What started as a simple message on a Charli XCX jumbotron spiralled into a worldwide takeover for the Baltimore group. Hardcore became mainstream. Stagediving in arenas. Grammy nominations. The first ever NPR Tiny Desk crowd surf courtesy of frontman Brendan Yates. All this bringing their once-underground, mosh-heavy music into headline news. NEVER ENOUGH more than justifies that hype. Picking up where GLOW ON left off, Turnstile refine and expand their signature blend of hardcore and bursts of melody into brighter and more expansive territory, ready to blast into arenas around the world. It still hits like a truck into a brick wall, but the band’s positivity and sense of joy have never been more apparent. This is music made for moving, whether you’re dancing in your kitchen or throwing yourself into the mosh pit. It is finely crafted for the unavoidable radiation of the band’s positivity. Where GLOW ON hinted at the direction of groove, NEVER ENOUGH embraces it with open arms. What truly signifies this record, though, is connection. Fewer bands have cultivated a relationship with their fanbase as strongly as Turnstile have. If you need proof, look no further than their performance of BIRDS for NPR Tiny Desk – an unlikely setting for chaos, yet somehow transformed into a viral mosh pit and a stunning moment of togetherness between an artist and his audience. Turnstile didn’t just release an album this year, they sparked a movement.

You can listen to NEVER ENOUGH on Spotify here.

By Isaac Spackman

Maruja: Pain to Power (Post-Rock, Jazz-Rock)

Few albums in the last decade capture the times quite like Pain to Power. The album, and Maruja themselves, are hard to pin down. Heavy jazz, spoken word that transforms into rap-like flow or soul-bearing yells, an incredible lead sax, and a drummer who seems capable of anything. And yet, the record prioritises experience over genre. Formed of songs ranging from three-minute jazz-punk hitters like Bloodsport to ten-minute epics like Born to Die or Look Down on Us. What underpins this album is its soul. Sure, it’s abrasive and aggressive, a real force to be reckoned with. But underneath its spiky exterior lies a spirituality and pureness that preaches a message of love. Pain to Power transcends music and reaches something far more important – it feels like a guide to inner peace. This is even more apparent at live shows, where the band give absolutely everything to metaphysically imbue the crowd with that same message of hope. Something has to be said for the song Look Down on Us. Standing at 9 minutes and 58 seconds, it’s a statement of intent. Picking a fight with corporations that serve only their own interests, the track holds a mirror to the inequalities embedded within contemporary society. Traversing through chaos and rage, introspection and poetry, and lifted by beautifully picturesque jazz, it delivers its message wi

th the authenticity required, making it one of the most important songs, and records, of our time. As I sit writing this in my Maruja T-shirt, I can confidently say this is my favourite album of the year.

You can listen to Pain to Power on Spotify here.

By Isaac Spackman

Model/Actriz: Pirouette (Industrial Rock, Dance-Punk)

Everything that queer music should be in the 21st century and more, Model/Actriz’s sophomore record sees the New York band learning to find crackles of intimacy between sparks of their brash abrasiveness. Their signature staccato guitars, and Cole Haden’s tendency to move from a whisper to a scream and back again, persist from debut album Dogsbody, but that record’s overtly violent and hedonistic outlook gives way to something far more tender here. It sees Haden grappling intermittently with the contradictions inherent to being a queer person in the spotlight: a desire to be seen for all you are and admired unconditionally from afar (Audience) intermingling with a knowledge that this fundamental truth to oneself is still an act built upon rebellion. Nowhere is this clearer than on my song of the year, Cinderella: a dance-punk cry to be understood beyond the confines of gender roles, wherein propulsive club rhythms merge with confessional, conversational lyricism. The monologuing style is also seen on Diva, where a performance of flirtation against a House-inspired beat again serves to mark deeper insecurities. Acid Rain, meanwhile, is something new entirely - a confessional indie folk love song - which showcases exactly what makes this band exciting: a complete unwillingness to settle or to make an obvious next move.

It’s easy to call some records Albums For The Moment because they’re politically relevant or unique in style, it’s harder to find something which truly speaks to the times through its exploration of how our day-to-day performances, truths and relationships are changing every day. But I truly think that Pirouette does just that.

You can listen to Pirouette on Spotify here.

By Liz Clarke

Dominic Fike: Rocket (Bedroom Pop, Indie Pop)

Dominic Fike only teased Rocket for a week before it dropped. He is known to opt for subtle promotion over heavy marketing campaigns, and tends to focus on the music rather than the market. At first this sounds like an obvious approach, but it is difficult to stray from pandering when audience reception dictates your income. Fike does not seek to make music to fill a gap in the market, instead he focuses on experimentation and satisfaction with his artistic ventures. Rocket is a twelve track long mix tape with a 26 minute run time, but the guitar riffs and clever lyrics are enough to forgive Fike for robbing us of a third chorus in most songs. Fike knows how to hit this balance perfectly to leave the people wanting more — he is one of the only artists whose releases do not need time to grow on me to receive my full appreciation. Opening track All Hands On Deck is reminiscent of 2020’s What Could Possibly Go Wrong in terms of subject matter and sound, but this album carries remnants of all his previous ventures in one way or another. If you have never had the pleasure of listening to Dominic Fike before, this would be a perfect introduction to his sound. I strongly recommend revisiting his other albums if you like what you hear in Rocket.

You can listen to Rocket on Spotify here.

By Aaliyah Field

Juana Rozas: TANYA (Electropop, Deconstructed Club)

I was in no way familiar with Argentine singer Juana Rozas at the start of 2025, but her sophomore album TANYA has worked its way right into my most-listened LPs of the year. An immense switch-up from her more restrained 2022 debut, TANYA embraces a chaotic, industrial-influenced sound that works in harmony with the record’s pop and club appeal. The result is a sound that is not only varied, but at times familiar to and a natural fit for fans of the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. You’ll immediately be hooked in by the house tendencies of BAD CHOICE, only to be swept off your feet by the industrial rock roughness of QUÉ IMPORTA, or the utter whiplash that is sudden techno detour WANNA HOTEL. What’s more impressive is how the entire album works as a concept record, detailing the story of the eponymous ‘Tanya’ falling down a rabbit hole of drugs, parties, and a string of disturbing encounters that tie back so effortlessly into the album’s manic sound. For those looking for a place to start, you can’t get much better than the anthemic industrial club moment that is ANTONIO, which feels like the platonic ideal of everything Rozas sets to achieve on the album.

You can listen to TANYA on Spotify here.

By Josh Holmes

Not all gems make the main stage, but 2025 was full of albums that shined in their own way. These honourable mentions left an indelible mark on the sound of this year, refusing to be ignored and making us hit repeat one more time:

Titanic: Hagen

Dove Ellis: Blizzard

Smerz: Big City Life

Sam Fender: People Watching

Bad Bunny: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

Wolf Alice: The Clearing

caroline: caroline 2

Addison Rae: Addison

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Edited by Ben Dale

All photos courtesy of featured artists