There are multiple explicit songs here. Age 17+ recommended for songs from LAUSSE THE CAT and Clipse.
The Five Greatest Albums of 2025:
1. The Mocking Stars - LAUSSE THE CAT
What a dark horse shocker this was. Releasing in mid-November from someone I’d never heard of before, this is a triumph and magnum opus after seven years of disappearance and handily earned the number one spot on my list.
It’s a direct sequel to his debut in 2018, but you don’t need to hear that first and it’s like comparing the quality of X-Files to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul combined just because it’s Gilligan. Or just Breaking Bad. With any luck there will be something even better after like BCS even if it takes another seven years.
It has the strongest and most fleshed out concept of any album I’ve ever heard and that’s including albums later turned into musicals (the Broadway cast recording SUCKS compared to the original Hadestown release and I stand by that!), to me this is so far the culmination of what the Beatles started with Sgt. Pepper.
I wouldn’t be mad if this album kickstarted a whole new microgenre of hip hop. It would make sense if it did.
2. Let God Sort ‘Em Out - Clipse
A dream come true. In 2016 Kanye fell off my list of favorite rappers and Pusha T claimed the number one spot, right before he would destroy Drake (already my least favorite rapper back then!) and inspire Kendrick’s later movements.
Now, finally, the brothers are back together. E.B.I.T.D.A. (ranking as my third favorite Clipse song below, and #15 overall) was the song of the summer for me and the Travis Scott diss in the song above it on my list was as addictive as E.B.I.T.D.A. was.
3. I Love My Computer - Ninajirachi
What a joyous surprise. If she had debuted during lockdown with anything like iPod Touch or Delete, she’d be mainstream by now. And her music videos and lyric videos are incredible, and overall her oeuvre is stupendous to witness. This debut major album starts with a song that seems to be telling a lover that Nina would go to London with them, a typical love song theme.
Then you listen through, start the album over again, and realize she’s talking about browsing the Internet. Iconic and hilarious moment, and just the beginning of this adventure with only ONE ☝️ (1) love song about a real human.
4. Lux - ROSALÍA
I can’t believe this is the BIZCOCHITO girl. Thank goodness she enlisted Venetian Snares and gave me a reason to check this album out. It may not be the strongest concept of the year (see my number one pick) but it’s absolutely the most gorgeous concept. May she be even further acclaimed for this album in days to come, as she deserves.
5. Tie: HYPERYOUTH - Joey Valence & Brae; Fancy That - PinkPantheress
HYPERYOUTH is a remarkable evolution from JVB, another concept album for 2025 this time about a quarter/third-life crisis. It even foreshadows further development in the final song. “One day Imma pour my heart out on the beat/But for now I’m just living young, I’m living free”
———
Fancy That is the first album from PinkPantheress that really grabbed my attention. Banger after banger, especially the picks on my list of 25 greatest songs, and quite the fun joyride through her nostalgic, derivative and yet equally novel and unique production style.
25 Greatest Songs of 2025
Further blurbs incoming. Hang tight.
#1 - Reliquia by ROSALÍA:
I could go on longer about this but in “short”, it’s the second track on an insane thematically obsessed with female saints including Joan of Arc concept album, talking about how she left various parts of herself in different parts of the world and feels as if she is only made of memories now. Also, the ending is drums programmed by Venetian Snares, one of my favorite childhood artists and introduction to breakcore, which was what got me to check out LUX in the first place.
#2 - The Mocking Stars by LAUSSE THE CAT:
I really wanted to put this at number one, but couldn’t. And it doesn’t even make sense without hearing it in the context of the rest of the album. But it’s incredible and blew me away just like the rest of my best album of 2025. I hope a subgenre of hip hop is started based entirely on this title track, no need for influence from the rest of the album.
#3 - Delete by Ninajirachi:
The only song on Nina Wilson’s brilliant EDM debut that is actually a love song about a human and not a computer. Relatable and heartbreaking to anyone who’s ever posted an ill advised picture of themselves hoping for a certain person to see it before it’s deleted. True #femcelcore here.
#4 - I.D.W.G.A.J. by LAUSSE THE CAT:
This was the song that I first heard from LAUSSE THE CAT, and it immediately grabbed my attention and required me to go to 🍎 🎶 and begin a listen from the top.
A hedonist druggie street cat whines about capitalism and how he hates that money exists, but when asked if that means we shouldn’t give him money, he responds that we absolutely should, because a rich life without any happiness or a soul is better than a poor one of the same and etc and then it all gets very Great Gatsby in his daydream that closes things out.
(Later he literally accidentally triggers the apocalypse because he’s trolling the sun but that’s a spoiler, the title track above takes place immediately after that happens)
#5 - EURO-COUNTRY by CMAT:
I mean what more can I say about a song whose label sneakily promoted it by issuing a radio cut that takes out the Irish at the beginning and then claimed the radio stations did it without consulting them and went instantly viral and had everyone on their side and nobody cared by the time the truth was figured out?
And then that song ruined the presidential dreams of the Irish politician that it is a diss track about?
Yeah, I don’t know what I could say that would really measure up to those simple facts about the song.
#6 - The Birds Don’t Sing by Clipse:
It quotes a filmmaker that my dad was friends with, who tried to buy him a hat once. My dad declined because his head is big, and regretted it for the rest of his life since he could’ve gotten it sized.
Anyway, besides the Werner Herzog reference, this is a heartbreakingly tragic song that is by far the most heartfelt song Clipse has ever put out, even including the solo careers. It deals with the death of both parents, and oh man it is just so so good and touching and autobiographical in a really detailed way. I am going to move to the next song before I start crying.
#7 - So Be It by Clipse:
Okay okay whatever, it’s one of the most popular songs and whatever, but an underrated aspect (somehow) is the Travis Scott diss. Come on, it’s chillingly brutal and Pusha’s only direct diss verse following or during the Year of Diss! Why is this not celebrated as the best track on the album? (Even if I think the above is better.) Sure, Kendrick and Tyler did admirably, especially Tyler, but why can’t those tracks be celebrated as close seconds?
#8 - iPod Touch by Ninajirachi:
An instantly nostalgic song, even if you’ve never used any of the devices namedropped. Everyone has a song from their childhood that brings back memories. With expert precision, Nina crafts a song that sounds vapid and airy before you listen to the lyrics, and then echoes in your soul once you do.
#09 - Berghain, ROSALÍA
#10 - Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, CMAT
#11 - Infohazard, Ninajirachi
#12 - CSIRAC, Ninajirachi
#13 - Peonies for Breakfast, LAUSSE THE CAT
#14 - Headphones On, Addison Rae
#15 - E.B.I.T.D.A., Clipse
#16 - Space Cadet Cat, LAUSSE THE CAT
#17 - You got time and I got money, Smerz
#18 - DISCO TOMORROW, Joey Valence & Brae
#19 - Fame is a Gun, Addison Rae
#20 - M.T.B.T.T.F., Clipse
#21 - Illegal, PinkPantheress
#22 - TRUST!, Rebecca Black
#23 - BILLIE JEAN, Joey Valence & Brae
#24 - Noises, PinkPantheress
#25 - Sugar Water Cyanide, Rebecca Black
