welcome to my list of songs 2025! these songs are all good, verified by me!

thanks for reading. to be clear, these are songs I heard for the first time in 2025. hardly any of them actually came out in 2025. but recency shouldn't matter.

Sam Scrib - Maggie and Max

first heard it featured in Joel Haver's It Just Takes Time, a solid, ambitious, emotional movie about loss. this song came at a terrific time in the movie, amplifying its themes that you should figure out on your own by watching it.

on its own, though, I take is as a song about empty nesting and maybe a hint of emotional abuse. maggie and max are pets that are way too eager to leave the house, which I take as a stand-in for, in the best case, kids who are bored of home and ready to see the world, or in the worst case (maggie took another bruise/to cover for max), siblings trying to save each other from an abusive parent situation. course I think it does a great job of falling in the middle. bruises can be emotional and all, it can be as much as one of the siblings feeling bad about leaving home. a rare song that made me cry.

Gunch - Snakes

this song is stupid. but also a very good parody of 90s alternative. the melodies being spent on really stupid lines (I like snakes/I think they're kind of gay/But I am also gay) is pretty epic. It even has a rap verse.

New Edition - Boys To Men

a beautiful, empathetic song about the pressures being put on teenagers. reading the lyrics while listening to this song feels like a soft but passionate lecture that you needed to hear as a teenager. it's just wonderful and a classic in its own right. a tearjerker if you had the right (or wrong) upbringing.

Fulu Kolektiv - Nfuka

I can't understand or find the lyrics anywhere, so I'm not sure what they're talking about. I was obsessed with this song for a while, though. it sounds like a chase scene through a lively, sandy town. I went through a phase where I listened to it a lot, then couldn't stand it anymore, then liked it again. it has some themes throughout that repeat in neat ways. the gravely tone of the refrain is intoxicating.

Annie and the Caldwells - Wrong

another song I got a little obsessed with. I found it to be pretty catchy. I think I liked that it feels cut off in the beginning, going into the refrain right after the first verse. it has a kind of rushed feeling to it that makes you want to listen to it again to hear what's missing. I also like the story it tells. it's a short song but she tells a film's worth of story in it. humility songs are also good.

Ahero - Lady

this feels like the vaporwave equivalent of a love song. it's soft and there's the feeling that it was made for someone. there isn't much else to it, but it's a nice, optimistic song with a hint of passion.

Bartees Strange/Anjimile/Kara Jackson - Wolf Like Me

a cover of the song by TV on the Radio. it takes the original and transfers it to a low-key version that still retains the feeling and intent of the original. which is about hardcore beastlike lovemaking. hell yeah.

Jett Holden - 6,5,6,11

summer girls by LFO was a song about someone's tale of a woman they never crossed paths with again but longed for forever. okay now i'm not trying to compare this terrific country song with so-bad-it's-good 90s white hip hop groups, but stay with me. summer girls is like how the guy dementia'd up on his deathbed describes this woman while his wife cries in the background, where it's like a "just missed it but if I got it then it would've been epic." but 6,5,6,11 is like the true story. an obsessed, insecure guy who needs therapy because this obsession of someone he never knew is ruining his life. you know what i'm saying? it's tragic on its own, and you can create a cool story combining it with the greater music canon.

you know by now that I have a thing for unrequited love songs.

Lavender Country - Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears

essential queer history. singling this song out because it encompasses the social justice themes and the vulgar presentation. not free until we're all free.

Kindrid/Keliza - Wrong Reasons

this is just a catchy love song with a slightly unconventional theme of realizing that the other person is bad for the narrator. it's a party bop.

Toy Bastard - Daddy Was a Starship Captain

the grand conclusion of the excellent progressive rock concept album The War. this reads like a fantastical interpretation of having an absent rich father. a child who has heard so much about his own father and desperately wants to meet him with a slight feeling that he's not all he's cracked up to be. somber. got good pacing for the runtime.

The Rippingtons - Earthbound

all the best of pan flutes, guitars, drum beats, saxophones. an inspiration to cd-based video game music for an entire decade. it tells an otherworldly story in arpeggios alone. and it's full of action and romance.

Vylet Pony - My Love is a Quickscope

it has a killer music video. very catchy gamer themed music that's fun to listen to. the innuendos are funny and nearly incomprehensible.

Ithildin - Clematis

would take too long to explain this album series (lord of the rings plant dictionary in music) but this is one of the best songs. I don't know where the plants appear in the books, but it looks (and the song makes it sound) like something on a trellis going into the elf kingdom.

Ithlidin - Bramble

the other one I wanted to highlight. can't imagine a song that sounds more like brambles than this. the distorted guitar riffs makes me feel like I'm a camera zooming slowly into a bunch of spiny vines. the dark breaths and roars of unknown beasts making me feel unsettled. I gotta get outta here man. and when the chase starts halfway through? WOOF.

Tanika Charles - Here When You're Ready

another nicely put together toxic relationship song. you only get it from her point of view you know.

Tanika Charles - Consistency

feels like Here When You're Ready from the opposite point of view. it's also catchy and well-written. someone desperate to keep a relationship going but sees the writing on the wall.

Songs: Ohia - The Old Black Hen

an excellent, somber song. the refrain Bad luck lullaby is etched in my mind. the way it starts at a middle intensity, gets higher, then goes low at the end is as descriptive as the lyrics are. to me it feels like somebody who keeps trying but runs into bad luck no matter what. I think all the songs on the album are sad but this one had the catchiest melody.

Infinity Knives - Everyone I Love is Depressed

the backing track is an incredible bop. subtlety is for suckers. alcoholism is somehow more acceptable than having mental illness according to society. amusingly vulgar outro skit. trying to find a reason to live in a world that sucks ass. can make for an awkward party beat if your crowd isn't expecting it.

genius has the first two lines as Bobby Brown is my north star/And rehab is my new addiction when I thought it was And rehab is my New Edition. the second way feels more appropriate for the rhyme but I can't tell from listening. but azlyrics has New Edition in there. so maybe i'm right!

Jerry Paper - Brown Thumb

relating the artistic process to failing to tend a garden. trying and trying but it's just not growing like it's supposed to. slightly psychedelic in a way that is very appropriate to the garden metaphor. very relatable for people who stare at the screen trying so hard to find out what to put on it.

kendall :3 - swallow

it's a bop. love the beat and the little melody in the back. I don't know what it's called. it's got indie rock vibes lyrically but it's electronic. i really like the double entendres (means the world when it comes from you) and when you listen close it's kind of sweet. being a tequila fan is also a plus. swallow me up!

Masai Bey - Microslave

very relatable to my job quest failures. very simple construction. great song, very funny. class consciousness song.

Masai Bey - Transit Authority

this one has more going on than microslave and is my personal favorite from the album. which is a great album by the way. lots of great rhymes. fun, catchy. mentions transit and calls it the heart of the city so that's always nice. a person trying to keep optimistic in a world of the grind.

Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange - Whos the Kid ?

80s action movie soundtrack vibes. not a lot to say other than that. the title makes me want to think it's for a scene introducing a character who will become significant later in a good way.

Michael Cera Palin - Murder Hornet Fursona

I just like the words and the poetic way they are performed. I don't want to spoil my favorite line but I am sure you can guess it lol.

renforshort - feeling good

this is a pretty good and well-written pop song. I like the way the lines are short and then culminate in a long line. but to be honest I mostly like it because the way I miss the feeling is performed sounds to me like I'm mister feeling!/I'm mister feeling!. apologies to ren but that's how I would perform it cause it's funnier.

ELLiS·D - Homecoming Queen

a competent byrne-like. I had to transcribe the lyrics for this one since I can't find them anywhere. some lines I couldn't quite make out but maybe I'll post it up to a lyric site. anyway, I like how odd it is, how strange, how unhinged the narrator seems to be. like somebody who has lost themselves in sheer boredom talking to their wife or girlfriend or mom who just came home after a while. I like how the song keeps building and building up then crashing.

DJ Stonik1917 - Polo

very catchy bop. translated (with a machine), it's a song about desiring old clothes. the way it's performed is super catchy and the production helps with that a lot. I should finish listening to this album, it's full of bops.

Sunny War - Walking Contradiction

depressing! doesn't offer any solutions. doesn't have to.

Capital Cities - Breathe (In The Air)

you know what? this is a fine contemporary rendition of pink floyd. I know plenty of people will listen to this and have an aneurysm over it not surpassing or perfectly replicating the original, or being low tempo indie pop instead of psychedelic rock, but I still think it's good.

AWOLNATION - Party People

upbeat pro-partying music. it's good song.

Ninajirachi - iPod Touch

terrific nostalgia song. brilliant ending if you have a song afterward. I listened to this one a lot and it really encapsulates being young and online and into music. finding obscure tracks online, games. lots of people from that era has something they experienced that now only exists in their head. or the hard drive of a very old computer.

Kaizo Slumber - An Exercise of Self-Preservation

I would personally call this a nu-metal revival success. it's a very optimistic song that's in your face about it. it's a nice confidence booster and mood lifter. and it sounds good, too.

Loïc Jaillet - Moving On

a delightful, jazzy instrumental piece. this was a youtube algorithm hit. I feel like it nails the title, the chord progression in the horns feels like moving on. feels like something that would play as someone is transitioning to a new life. maybe with an urban simcity tinge to it. it's nice and expressive.

Thee Marloes - Midnight Hotline

a very smooth performance. a sexy song. it's not subtle about the phone sex, but it's not explicit either. the horns and drums make it feel grand. the music video has a... different vibe though. it's a good video.

YEM - all of my years, all of my hope

one of those emotional instrumental breakbeat tracks that shows a dichotomy of emotions through a slow, overarching melody and a chaotic breakbeat underneath. it's one of those tracks that show that beauty and optimism can coexist with radical chaos.

CHANCE デラソウル - Sports Men

this is also a, albeit chaotic, good contemporary cover of sports men that clings to its progressive electronic roots while creating a sound for the new age. I also feel a lot of CHANCE in it, with their characteristic chiptune walls. the vocoding must sound terrible to someone who isn't familiar with the original though. if you listen closely you realize it's actually incomprehensible without knowing the words yourself.

Worthikids - Pinned My Dreams On A Shooting Star

this is just a bop. great lofi-rock music with delightfully loud singing. a little bit of overlapping melodies too. the theme of overpromising your own life is a classic in emo.

Queen - It's a Beautiful Day

optimism to the very end. I wish he was alive more than anyone else. not even to meet him. just for him to stay on this earth and make it better. the untitled final track complements it very well.

Cime - A Tranny's Appeal to Heaven

a great album and this is a terrific piece of it. there's so much going on and it is such a joy to listen to and pick apart and piece back together. I think religious analogies to transgender experiences are some of the strongest within the realm of religious analogies. all of the act of creation and renewal and spirit is there.

Moses Sumney, ANOHNI - Is It Cold in The Water?

the vocal performance in this is spectacular. one of the best i've heard all year for sure. it's been a great year for covers. it takes the ethereal unreality of SOPHIE's and makes it more grounded and earthy. would be awesome to see this live.

Cassandra Jenkins - Hard Drive

spoken word melting into song with a phenomenal musical backdrop. the narration is like a slice of life as it recounts conversations with various people. it's a wonderful track. it's a little bit of a treatise on how other people can positively affect the way you think and see things. which is basically why I listen to music.

Google Earth - something complicated

kind of a less hardcore iglooghost beat. that's a good thing to me. I like how the instruments are all short, put together very quickly with some melodies underneath. the minimalist lyrics and vocal melodies add a mysterious depth.

Magdalena Bay - The Ballad of Matt & Mica

I'm not as enamored with magdalena bay as a lot of people but this track is my favorite off the album. it's an undeniable jam. that chorus is performed so well. the way it harmonizes is wonderful. can't deny a track with a weird strange sonically offputting ending too.

Space Cadets - Bar in the Belt

great conclusion to the album. classic sci-fi human in unhuman circumstances. narrator has regrets but also a mission. it's hard to tell what the mission is about, but you can imagine someone doing this whether it be a long voyage or a life-ending mission. although from the previous songs it might just be another war. seriously, Wars of Expansion is a good song but it makes me uncomfortable with how human supremacist it is.

Gregory Porter - Mister Holland

heard this song in a restaurant. the performance is exquisite and the subtext is subtle. for white people, anyway. I wasn't sure why the narrator was so appreciative of mr holland until I read that this is a song inspired by a time when he was trying to date a white girl with a racist dad. it clicked then. it's a song of racial unity but still has that racial trauma.

Papa Wemba - Yolele

upbeat and dancey but still somber. I looked into the lyric translation and what do you know? it's another unrequited love song from somebody too afraid to admit it to their crush. it's like I knew it from the way the chord progression and vocal performance feels somber despite a surface listen making it seem like a party beat.

Guante & Big Cats!

video game analogy to life and learning. you know how like everyone's been pining for a video game movie that goes beyond simply fish out of watering the protagonist and tries for something deeper than a tutorial on how video games work? this is that in song form. someone living lives over and over but never feeling fulfilled because they tried to be an island instead of connecting with their community.

Tom Canning - The Oh Of Pleasure / Ray Lynch

a wonderful and spacey new age track that makes you wonder if it was the influence for donkey kong country's water music.

Eagle Eyed Tiger - Put on a Smile

I'm a sucker for unrequited love songs and also a sucker for attempts at chillsynth with vocals. and I like this one! I like how energetic the vocals are even if they are a little amateur. it adds to it, especially when it's about a delusional guy who is longing for someone who's moved on long ago. course this one is more poppy than chillsynthy but it's in the territory!

Eagle Eyed Tiger - Call of the Night

this is the my favorite instrumental track from that album. and there were a lot of tracks on it. I like the deep repeating synths.

Jacob Wick Ensemble - Rough and Rocky

this feels like a creepier variant of "baby it's cold outside." but this time it's a guy getting pushed out of the house while making excuses to leave. it's says a lot in a little. and the way the line "rough and rocky" is performed is satisfyingly dark and ominous. nooo haha don't send me out there it looks dangerous! yeah.

Everything Everything - Cold Reactor

I didn't like this album much except for this song. this is like a hikikimori anthem that talks about the disposition and circumstances that lead to people giving up everything and playing gooner gachas. plus it's high tempo and catchy. the way the notes in the chorus progress add to that feeling of panic and not knowing what to do in your life.

QUEEF JERKY - THE GATE

really the only thing that elevates this over the other songs on that album is how much I like how the refrain is performed. it's kind of like an LFO song in that it has exactly twice as many lines as needed to get the point of cross. not like there's much of a point to get across other than the consistent ominous The Gate mentioned. that's why I find it amusing though cause it's trash talking followed by Tell 'em about the gate like that means something. the musixmatch lyrics having (?) in parts for the lyrics is a chef's kiss moment though.

trndytrndy - Information Superhighway

great 90s revivalist computer music. although with headphones it sounds like my ear bones are popping. still it's got that lovely tech future optimism.

Syzy - Dancing on my own

terrific techno/electropop. there's a lot of little subtlies underlying the main melodies and bleeps and bloops. the electronic vocal melody morphs when put in different backdrops. the cheers make it seem like everybody's having a good time. feels good.

BarbWalters - Tell Me

future funk bop. the vocal sample goes so hard it makes you want to sing along. you can imagine a music video in your head with how hard the side-chaining and sample arrangement goes. I can't find the song the sample itself is from so email me if you find it.

Men Seni Suyemin - Believe

I'm pretty sure this song is in english but it's very shoegazey and I have a hard time piecing together the lyrics. either way there's a lot to like and a lot to wonder about here. mostly because it's very deeply rooted in Kazakh culture and I have no skills to research it that well. except for this interview I found with minona volandova which is nice to read, although there are some funny misspellings like "Chemical Brazers." anyway, the quick underlying melodies combined with the classical guitar and soft vocals make it great. check out the music video for dark waves too.

Kirara - Alienity/Queer

not to be confused with the transfem electronic music producer KIRARA from south korea, this is transfem electronic music producer Kirara from france. queer music that's in your face about it is always refreshing. it's clean and it's cool as hell. get it!

Alex G - Planetarium (Inside)

the most striking, beautiful, cogent track from I Saw The TV Glow. I think it has a beauty to it outside of its context, but you should watch the movie since adding that in makes it an incredible piece of soundtracking. the piano going up and down, the slow strings connecting everything together. it works perfectly in the scene it's in.

Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction to Your Mind

it's a bop. it's got that classic 1970s social commentary style in generally being vague about government tyranny. but it's pretty cool, cool because of that even.

Gunch - Jerkin' Off

jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off jerkin' off