my favorite overall of 2025

Through the Wall - Rochelle Jordan

sABLE fABLE - Bon Iver

Rochelle Jordan is an innovator. She's veteran in the house-pop genre, and on Through the Wall, she evolves. Bringing back long-time producer KLSH, she draws on influences from modern house staples, and takes this sound to the next level. Her voice ascends over the bouncy, base-filled beats, creating a danceable project that injects the listener with an energy not found in any other projects this year. The first taste of this enegry is in the breakdown in "Ladida", and Jordan just continues as she glides through different tempos on songs like "Get it Off" and the dance-feuling "Close 2 Me." The project grabs your attention, and never lets up, creating a precedent on how electronic pop should sound.

If Justin Bieber's SWAG was an appetizer to Dijon's style, Baby was the five Michelin starred steak. His styling of R&B certainly isn't new; artists like Daniel Caesar and Giveon have been working in the genre for the past decade — Dijon took guitar-guided R&B to the next level. The explosive intro "Baby" teases whats to come in a grab-your-attention opening, and right when it ends, "Another Baby." The cathartic openings take you into an album that is a modern-day release from traditional R&B styles, and reinvigorates a genre that has evaded the spotlight the past two decades.

PinkPantheress’s songs aren't short to make TikTok clips, its intentional. "My voice is a little shroud, I don't know how appealing it would be to listen to for four, five or six minutes." she tells Zach Sang. She's right. Fancy That is no different, on the nine song, twenty minute EP, her conciseness and consistency creates a project with very little downtown. She keeps her signature, fast-paced "shroud" style throughout, but its fast pace keeps listeners invested for the full twenty minutes. While the album itself is great cover to cover, PinkPantheress capitilized on her virality creating a remix album filled with big names across genres: Ravyn Lanae, KAYTRANADA, Nia Archives and more. The two together create a choose your own adventure listening experience leaving the listener to decide which version of the album they want. 

The Art of Loving took Olivia Dean out of the "rising star" category — she's a superstar. Its a such a pretty album, leaving the listener with the thought "it doesn't have to be like this." Her voice is extraordinary, and the album builds around it, creating a home that suggests our favorite stars aren't so different than the rest of us. The cozy lyric-instrumental pairings force contemplation on relationships, love and life as a whole. That's the Art of Loving, a specific, loving intentionality between people, but it doesn't require two people. "I've Seen It" ends with exactly that, revealing the Art of Loving has been in all of us all along. 

This album might have been the biggest shock of the year for me. It's Bon Iver, and his consistency means any drop will be quality, but I was surprised at how he evolved his sound. He completely modernized the sounds of his classic albums with the help of musicians shaping modern sounds. Producer and frequent collaborator Jim-E Stack uplifted sounds, with SABLE opening the album with a cathartic release into the joyful fABLE. "Day One" layered-keyboards crescendo into powerful guitars Justin Vernon asking to "get a rewind, just this once." The following track, "From" is something you would listen to on a drive during the late hours of the night. The entire album has a certain hominess to it, ditching Iver's typical yearning for constant release of emotional baggage.