2025 music thoughts, I guess?

[screechfox]

Apparently when I sat down to do an end of year wrap-up thing for music and books and stuff my brain went 'no. just music'. So here you go. 

I still don't listen to much music (by the standards of real music-heads) but mid-year I put a lot of time into getting off Spotify and organising my own music library in MusicBee. It's meant that I've spent more time listening to the discographies of artists I'd only listened to a few songs from, being more intentional in my general listening, and even discovering some new artists. 

Here's a selection of songs from my top 10-15 songs from the latter of the year, and some thoughts, because why not?

• High in Brighton, FIZZ. (Also... most of the rest of the album.) I listened to this album SO MANY times this year. I was neutral on it on my first listen, but then I kept relistening to it, and now I love it for the chaos it is. I want to use the word 'riotous', but there's slow moments too, and it all comes together in a way that it really shouldn't.
• Eat Your Young, Hozier. Resolution for 2026 is that I need to actually listen to a full Hozier album, because I'm pretty sure I never have. I like folky/bluesy stuff, and Hozier himself seems like a cool guy. I'd love to see him live if I ever get the chance, I bet he puts on a good show.
• Hate Myself, dodie. (Also I'M FINE! and Old Devil Moon.) Big year for dodie for me, between FIZZ and this. She was one of the artists I intentionally listened through the discography of, partly because I'd listened to very little for someone who thought of himself as a fan of her, but also because I was seeing her live and I wanted to brush up! 
• WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!, RAYE. I mean, this was a chart-topper for a reason, it's a bop and the layers of production are delicious. I did find out about it in the most nerdy way possible, probably, though - Tom Scott linked a live performance of it in his newsletter.
• Red River, AlicebanD. (Also Doing Well.) Another discography quest, although I still have one album to go. I really enjoy her jazzy rhythms and melodies, and the layered harmonies of her voice. I feel like this pair of songs are a slightly depressing ones, but they're also both very catchy - Red River especially has the feeling of being a very traditional round-style song.
• Little Sadie, Crooked Still. Came across this in a Tumblr post about murder ballads, and had to spend a few days wracking my brains before I remembered it had been in a trailer for The Last of Us 2, sighs. Very catchy, and I like the other songs on the album too.
• Your Idol, Saja Boys. Yes, I liked KPop Demon Hunters. Yes, I like a villain song. No other comments required.
• MANINGEN, ATARASHII GAKKO!. One final discography quest. I'm also pretty sure they were a Tom Scott newsletter find for me, via a Captain Disillusion video about music video VFX he linked to back in... 2022, okay. I think I like their earlier jazzier stuff more than their more recent album (although their latest single was gospel-inspired, so who knows where they're going), and this EP got the most listens just because I reliably liked all the songs on it. 

There's a couple of artists I want to mention too, whose individual songs didn't make it into my top ones, but who overall got a lot of listens: Cerys Hafana (Welsh triple harp music), Chappell Roan (you know), Tom Cardy (comedy synth-pop), Montaigne (non-comedy synth-pop - except as they overlap with Tom Cardy). 

I'd like to carry on my discography quests in 2026, because I have so many albums in my To Listen playlist that cover everything from brand new 2025 discoveries to 'I've liked this one song since I was literally a toddler, is their other music good?'. I should probably prioritise Florence + The Machine, weirdly, because I'm seeing her in a couple months. That's another thing I'm happy about music-wise this year - I saw a lot more live music! (Not so happy about the impact on my wallet from travel, but that's its own thing.)

I do also want to try and diversify genres a bit more - maybe take a look more into R'n'B, I listened to a bit of a few new-to-me artists who I was enjoying but didn't go in-depth. There's just so much music in the world. ;-;

Comments

[yarnofariadne]

Hozier's Unreal Unearth is so gorgeous. If you like his bluesier stuff, I think you'll enjoy Wasteland, Baby!

I've only heard a few AlicebanD songs but I've really enjoyed them! I should do a deeper dive.

[screechfox]

Hozier's a fun one where I think I've heard at least one song from all his albums but just haven't gotten around to listening to them in full. I will keep that in mind!

I like AlicebanD a lot! I think my favourites are their self-titled album and the EP Strawberry, but they're all solid (I still need to listen to the album Spider in the Bowl at some point.) To add to your deep dive, the Alice of AlicebanD has some music up as Alice Walker as well, which is very similar in style!