The album review dump
A lot has dropped this year. Let’s see what I remember!
I’ve been pretty absent in terms of music this year. Outside of a handful of reviews, I’ve kept my mouth shut on most of the releases of 2025. But that changes today. With this week’s dumping of records pre-Swift, it feels right to look over what 2025 has given us. At least some of it. I don’t doubt we’re about to see a lot of this get forgotten, if it hasn’t been already.
And obviously, it’ll mostly be pop and pop-adjacent. Because that’s what we do here.
So in no particular order…
This trance-y record is dreamy and euphoric at points, playing into the rich sonic landscape that FKA Twigs is known for. It also features an uncomfortable and unnecessary feature from North West, which soured the experience for me. An album is only as good as the weakest moment, and I never really got over that choice.
But this is still a mostly-stellar body of work, and I cannot recommend every other song enough for at least one listen.
Best track/s: Girl Feels Good, Drums of Death (feat. Koreless), Sticky, Striptease
Worst track/s: Childlike Things (feat. North West), Perfect Stranger
I found myself wishing the album had no singing on it. Luckily, a lot of it is that. Then those voices poke through again and I want to die.
Best Track/s: Ride or Die, Beyond Salvation, She Cries Diamond Rain
Worst Tracks: Pink Elephant, Year of the Snake
Scarlet had personality. Despite all efforts, this sounds like it could have been from anyone.
Best Track/s: Cards, All Mine, Happy
Worst Track/s: Acts of Service, Come Back
Lady Gaga has the curse of competency. ‘Mayhem’ is a series of poses that suggest movement without injecting any energy. Lifelike, but lifeless. There’s no abject misses in terms of sounding bad, but that clean run exposes a lot of calculation that is why no Gaga album has worked since ‘Born This Way’ (2011). It’s a floundering mess by an artist I’m not convinced likes making music anymore. She’s a nerd, but not a passionate one.
Best track/s: Perfect Celebrity, Zombieboy, Garden of Eden, Die With A Smile
Worst Track/s: The Beast, Disease, Abracadabra, LoveDrug
Ambient and weird. This was my first exposure to Ethel Cain outside of people mentioning her on Twitter, and my main takeaway is that I don’t need a fifteen minute track of mostly droning. The Lana comparisons I have seen throughout the years make sense, although I do think Cain has a more naturally appealing voice. There are moments of beauty here, but if I want meandering noises, I’ll listen to the better Yoko Ono tracks.
Best track/s: Vacillator, Amber Waves
Worst Track/s: Onanist, Punish, Pulldrone
Something Beautiful - Miley Cyrus
A veteran of the music industry takes on high-glam aesthetics and classic pop sounds in a record that explores personal themes through a universal framework. I just could have described a Mariah Carey record, but Miley Cyrus is also really great at that here. The music is glorious, if sometimes a touch heavy handed, and Cyrus sounds better than she ever has.
Best track/s: More To Lose, Give Me Love, Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)
Worst Track/s: Golden Burning Sun
Debí Tirar Más Fotos - Bad Bunny
This was just some good food. Bad Bunny released what should probably be my album of the year - it definitely features my favourite production of the year. It’s a rich tapestry of his best instincts, with vibrant Latin sounds and generally fantastic beats. Genuinely fantastic.
Best Track/s: Eoo, Bokete, DTFM, Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii
Worst Track/s: El Clúb
A very solid sophomore album often let down by uninteresting or straight up bad features. Cardi B remains one of the most effervescent personalities in mainstream Hip Hop. It’s also bloated and much less fun than it should be.
Best Track/s: Magnet, Pretty & Petty, WAP
Worst Track/s: Pick It Up (feat. Selena Gomez), What’s Goin On (feat. Lizzo), Check Please
I like Ringo. I like his voice. There’s something uncanny about an old British man singing country music, but this works for me. The lack of pretension that has always defined Ringo makes his laid back and warm presence throughout feel just so comforting.
Best Track/s: Come Back, I Live For Your Love (feat. Molly Tuttle), Thankful (feat. Alison Krauss)
Worst Track/s: You Want Some
DON’T TAP THE GLASS - Tyler the Creator
There’s something decidedly nostalgic about this album for me. There are moments that Tyler’s choice in grooves and melody remind me of will.i.am in the late 2000s, which is a sound I’m particularly fond of. There’s a crass sleaziness to this record that speaks to a hot summer party.
Best Track/s: Sugar On My Tongue, Mommanem, Ring Ring Ring
Worst Track/s:
It’s a shame that her personality barely appears in her music.
Best Track/s: Mad, Good Girl, At Least I’m Hot
Worst Track/s: Sometimes, I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone,
The Human Fear - Franz Ferdinand
There’s a lot to like here, which is why I feel so disappointed I don’t enjoy it more. Part of me wants to dismiss the record as sounding like various commercial soundtracks, but that would be unfair. This isn’t Coldplay levels of polish. It’s just an older band making music they’re very good at. Once I gave up waiting for an explosion, I found a lot to like.
Best Track/s: Hooked, Cats, The Birds, Tell Me I Should Stay
Worst Track/s: Bar Lonely, Audacious, The Doctor
There’s something very dated about Erivo’s approach to this record. The affect of her “pop voice” just reads as very false and put-on. She sounds beautiful, but in the way that ‘Glee’ covers were sometimes lovely. I also cannot remember any single note.
Best Track/s: Save Me From You
Worst Track/s: Worst Of Me
A confronting record that left me incredibly off balance. I’ve found myself leaving it behind as my grief settles.
Best Track/s: Acid Rain, Baton, Diva
Worst Track/s: Ring Road
I just don’t like posthumous releases on principle. Particularly not ones released so far from the artist’s passing. But this is handled and justified about as well as any could be. The actual record itself is experimental and weird, with a handful of successes that are surrounded by tracks that don’t quite feel finished to me. It’s impossible to know if this is the version he would have released had he lived.
I will not be picking best or worst tracks from an album released without the artist’s consent.
The Art of Loving - Olivia Dean
Sophisticated and dreamy pop that manages to maintain intimacy even across it’s more radio-friendly outings. There’s a danger in this sound in falling into the generic or bland, but Dean’s sweet performance mostly prevents this.
Best Track/s: Man I Need, Close Up, I’ve Seen It
Worst Track/s: Something Inbetween
I think it’s unfair to compare Benson Boone to Harry Styles. His brand of vapid Americana posturing and instincts towards retro glamour feel much more authentic, and his music is so much worse. There’s a soul here. It’s just wrapped in an unappealing package. But I hear potential.
Best Track/s: I Wanna Be The One You Call, Take Me Home, Momma Song
Worst Track/s: Mystical Magical, Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else, Man In Me
This is boring. Justin Bieber does not make interesting music. Why is Druski here?
Best Track/s: SWAG (feat. Cash Cobain, Eddie Benjamin)
Worst Track/s: THINGS YOU DO, GLORY VOICE MEMO, STANDING ON BUSINESS (feat. Druski)
Every few years we get some no-name pop starlet who releases a truly great album that Reddit and Twitter are extremely protective of. This isn’t it, but I can already see the foundation being laid for Rose Gray to be that figure with her next record. As for this…I unfortunately wasn’t feeling it. It’s “good pop” without being distinct or particularly compelling. Tove Lo does this so much better.
Best Track/s: Free, First, Switch
Worst Track/s: Party People, Damn
Old man music - mostly neutral. Sometimes it’s vaguely unpleasant.
Best Track/s: Gimme The Weight, Still Dancing
Worst Track/s: 77 (feat. Avril Lavigne), John Wayne (feat. Alison Mosshart)
I’m not sure who any of Barnes’ music is for, but it’s always nice to know he’s alive. Australian royalty.
Best Track/s: That’s What You Do For Love, Beyond the River Bend
Worst Track/s: Defiant
Here For It All - Mariah Carey
What does a Mariah Carey record sound like without her singular vocal ability?
That is the question this record seeks to answer, as the standard girlish sweetness and virtuosic melisma of previous records is replaced by the new normal of raspy whispers and coarse belts. She still sounds great, but it is a shift that needs to reflect in the way Carey structures her songs.
The actual result is an album that doesn’t quite sound right. Much like Carey’s feature work over the past few years, the texture of her voice can be used to impart feeling quite effectively, but the songwriting often leaves her moving into unpleasant and clearly uncomfortable phrasing. Not helped by lyricism that veers between the overly wordy and the painfully generic.
There are bright spots, particularly the final third, where she seems to find a groove and goes for sounds she has been more historically comfortable with. But if this record represents the new normal for Carey, it is my hope that she spends more time experimenting with how she wants to sound on mic.
Best Track/s: I Won’t Allow It, My Love, Jesus I Do (feat. The Clark Sisters)
Worst Track/s: Type: Dangerous, Mi, Confetti & Champagne
She finally did it. This album is so fun. Released too late to be a summer record, but as an Australian that doesn’t bother me.
Best Track/s: Midnight Sun, Hot & Sexy, Girl’s Girl
Worst Track/s: Pretty Ugly, Puss Puss
I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2) - Teddy Swims
I won’t pretend to care about Teddy Swims, but I appreciate that the man blows. A lot of this is very boring in it’s wailing, but there are points that his brand of belting and little funny asides feels Adele-esque. It’s wedding music, and I won’t begrudge the brides their first dance or the divorcees their last one.
Best Track/s: Your Kind of Crazy, Guilty, If You Ever Change Your Mind
Worst Track/s: Hammer to the Heart, Black & White (feat. Muni Long), Funeral
Even as a certified hater, I was shocked by how hollow a lot of this record is. Lorde speaks about sex with the same pretensions she always has. It’s a gross record, not because it’s explicit, but because she’s trying so hard. I’m sure this felt explosive to write in the moment. It isn’t.
Best Track/s: Man of the Year, GRWM, Clearblue
Worst Track/s: Current Affairs, What Was That, Favourite Daughter, Shapeshifter
I think this unpolished, kinetic, personal record is what Lorde thought she was making. It’s much better.
Best Track/s: Meat on a Stick, Plægirl, Knife
Worst Track/s: Who Said, Lose Yourself
I get her. The appeal is obvious. It’s also not very..appealing? She’s got a weird voice and makes music with a very clear and obvious point of view. Her vibe is retro with a knowing wink. In many ways, she’s like if Raye made worse music.
Best Track/s: The Man Who Came Back, Ur Bill Is Big As Fuck
Worst Track/s: 1965, Heroin, I Like How I Look
Boring. Bland. Shawn Mendes music.
Worse, actually.
This is AUSTRALIAN IDOL second place music. Minivan in hell music. I don’t like it. It’s also telling that every featured artist wipes the floor with him.
Best Track/s: Rescue (feat. Khalid), Things We Quit (feat. Brad Paisley)
Worst Track/s: I Am, Backseat Driver, Body Talk (feat. Katelyn Brown), Gorgeous
Other than the truly unnecessary use of ‘Toxic’ on the chorus of ‘Taste’, this is a pretty solid debut project by a really talented singer. I
Best Track/s: Here We Go (Uh Oh), By Myself, AEOMG, Why Not More? (feat. YG Marley)
Worst Track/s: Taste, Thang 4 U
Hurry Up Tomorrow - The Weeknd
Appropriately cinematic, but this really is a retread of themes and ideas he’s done much better elsewhere. I appreciate the ambition, but maybe he needs a break.
Best Track/s: Open Hearts, Big Sleep (feat. Georgio Moroder), São Paulo (feat. Anitta)
Worst Track/s: Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti), The Abyss (feat. Lana Del Rey), Enjoy The Show (feat. Future)
HYPERYOUTH - Joey Valence & Brae
It’s showy and obvious but I can get down with pastiche when I don’t need to pretend it’s original or groundbreaking.
Best Track/s: GIVE IT TO ME, THE PARTY SONG, PARTY’S OVER
Worst Track/s: HAVE TO CRY
Music for People Who Believe in Love - Joe Jonas
This is music for people who still crave DNCE but are scared of sharp corners. It’s fine. The only interesting parts are bad.
Best Track/s: Only Love, Honey Blonde
Worst Track/s: Parachute, Velvet Sunshine (feat. Franklin Jonas)
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U - Drake, PartyNextDoor
A solid attempt by Drake to shift his public persona back to something (a) people like and (b) people won’t associate with “certified paedophile” - but not good enough. Drake is a worse singer now than when he started making music, and I don’t enjoy how he sounds on a lot of this. PartyNextDoor is also on the record.
Best Track/s: NOKIA, CRYING IN CHANEL, DIE TRYING (feat. Yebba)
Worst Track/s: WHEN HE’S GONE, RAINING IN HOUSTON
British bitchiness! I don’t actually have much else to say. It’s just a pretty great record.
Best Track/s: Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come, Blood On The Hospital Floor, Grim Reaper
Worst Track/s: Kate Moss
Kali Uchis is a very talented woman who makes beautiful music that often leaves me hollow. But when it hits, it makes me feel so light or extremely heavy. She’s not my favourite of Lana Del Rey’s daughters, but she is probably the most consistent
Best Track/s: Heaven is a Home…, Territorial, It’s Just Us
Worst Track/s: All I Can Say, Breeze!
I finally got to this album the week my grandmother died, and started crying midway through. I then didn’t listen to it again until the start of September, and cried again.
Best Track/s: Take Your Time, Dandelions, Sirens, Lasso
Worst Track/s:
It’s bloated and unyielding. Shocker. But there’s some great stuff in there, if you’re willing to search for it.
Best Track/s: Bells, Maria (feat. Andrea Bocelli, Wyclef Jean), Peanuts 2 N Elephant
Worst Track/s: These Days (feat. Bono), If I Played Guitar
I don’t get it. This is a poor imitation of better artists, sung without any particular virtuosity or charisma. It makes me appreciate Addison Rae as a singer, which I guess is a positive outcome.
Best Track/s: TRUST!, Sugar Water Cyanide
Worst Track/s: Salvation, Tears In My Pocket, American Doll
It’s a tight, genuinely exciting twenty minutes of music.
Best Track/s: Illegal, Girl Like Me, Stateside, Tonight, Stars
Worst Track/s: Romeo
There’s an awful amount of risk in releasing music as a non-musician in the public eye. You have to be prepared to be laughed that. The fact this record comes from a comedian makes the slyness of certain lines make sense, but the real problem is that Mae Martin is both not a great singer and influenced by other not-great singers. But the record remains a tender, sweet collection of songs.
Best Track/s: Big Bear, Quiet Street, Garbage Street
Worst Track/s: I Love You So Much, Try Me
As a rapper, LISA is a credible singer. As a singer, she’s not a credible rapper. This album’s Hip Hop focus is absurd. The production sometimes overwhelms everything and that’s when the music works. Which is rarely.
Best Track/s: Chill, Born Again (feat. Doja Cat, Raye), Rockstar
Worst Track/s: Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me), Elastigirl, BADGRRRL
Fine. It sounds expensive. She’s not devoid of personality.
Best Track/s: Damn Right (feat. Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis), start a war,
Worst Track/s: Mantra, Zen, ExtraL (feat. Doechii)
I Said I Love You First - Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco
Easily one of my surprise favourites of the year. I don’t know why, since I tend to really get into Gomez’s full projects. Maybe because ‘Single Soon’ was an abomination. But this is slinky, and delicate, but still very vulnerable. It just works for me.
Best Track/s: Cowboy (feat. Glorilla), Ojos Tristes (feat. The Marias), How Does It Feel to Be Forgotten, You Said You Were Sorry
Worst Track/s: Call Me When You Break Up (feat. Gracie Abrams), I Can’t Get Enough (feat. Tainy, J Balvin)
The Swedes are just unnaturally great at music.
Best Track/s: Medicin for Horses, You N33d Me
Worst Track/s: Dirty Boyz
It’s not bad, but Kesha’s hedonistic pop landscape feels like a nostalgic call to the pass for the most part.
Best Track/s: Attention, Joyride, Boy Crazy
Worst Track/s: Delusional, Yippee-Ki-Yay (feat. T-Pain),
This was a lot of fun, but it’s about 4 songs too long.
Best Track/s: Vacay, Cool About It (feat. Lido), New Flower! (feat. Leon Thomas)
Worst Track/s: Temptations, Be Easier On Yourself, Sage Time
The best Ciara record in almost two decades is still a Ciara record. But she sounds better than she has in years, is clearly invested in the record, and is working with people who understand what she’s good at.
Best Track/s: This Right Here (feat. Latto), Winning (feat. Big Freedia), 2 in Luv
Worst Track/s: Wassup, How We Roll (feat. Chris Brown)
I can't believe so many people ended up releasing albums on September 26th. Thanks for all the reviews!