Ten Songs, Ten Lessons: My 2025 in Pop Music

 

2025 has been a slower year for pop music. Last year, it felt like we were living through a blockbuster era with Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX dominating the conversation. This year still brought good releases from great artists, but culturally, it felt different. 2025 became the year of Labubus, Team Conrad, matcha teas, and whatever else the algorithm decided to throw our way. Pop culture in America felt quieter, overshadowed by a bubbling recession, a new administration, and more real-world concerns pulling focus. It felt like there was a little more to worry about than new releases.

Because so many major artists dropped projects last year, the big releases in 2025 were fewer and farther between. Some of my usual favorites even fell short of what I hoped for (ahem, Taylor…). I needed something fresh, so I expanded my musical horizons, searching high and low. I listened to artists who were brand new to the scene, artists I had somehow missed over the years, and sounds I would not normally gravitate toward. I even let the TikTok algorithm do some of the searching for me. My playlist became a little more selective, and I want to spotlight my favorites in this year-end list.

For my own little set of rules, I limited this list to songs released in 2025 with no repeat artists. No double dipping from an album I loved. No ranking either. These are ten songs that carried me through the year in one way or another. All of them left me with something too, whether it was a moment, a reminder, or a lesson.

These are the ten songs that soundtracked my 2025 and the ten lessons they taught me along the way.

DOECHII — “DENIAL IS A RIVER”

Lesson #1: The truth has a way of sneaking up on you.

Okay, so yeah. “Denial Is a River” technically dropped last year on Doechii’s Alligator Bites Will Heal album. We’re not off to a great start, are we? This might make my list feel a little less credible, but hear me out. The music video for this song dropped on the very first day of 2025, and it was a new release to me. It was literally the first song that hit me this year, so I’m claiming it. But then again… denial is a river.... Bad joke.

“Denial Is a River” was my personal introduction to Doechii. I know. I’m totally late to the party. She just made one heck of an impression on me. I was immediately blown away by both the song and the music video. When I tell you this girl runs a masterclass in top-notch storytelling, I mean it. Lyrics, visuals, everything. The sitcom-style setup in the video is just as clever as the track itself, creating a bright, controlled TGIF world that slowly falls apart as the unfiltered lyrics push through. The song plays like a conversation between the version of you that’s in denial and the version of you that clearly knows better.

What starts as a Hollywood fantasy unravels into the story of a young woman realizing her personal life is kind of a mess. Doechii exposes the cracks beneath the surface of the classic “rise to fame” memoir we have all read before, but this time she does it with humor, sharp detail, and a whole lot of self-awareness. That’s what makes this track stand out. It feels like an anthem for the strange, hazy rush of the post-COVID years. It reminds me how fast everything has moved, how little time I had to process any of it, and how often I told myself I was okay even when I wasn’t.

Her 2025 Grammy wins for Best New Artist and Best Rap Album, the first woman in hip hop since Miss Lauryn Hill to do so, thank you very much, along with her star-making mashup performance of “Denial Is a River” and “Catfish,” sealed the deal for me. The moment made history, and it made me a fan. On a marketing level, her aesthetic is everything. The preppy tomboy looks, the Floridian motifs, and the confidence that lights up the stage. She feels fully formed as an artist in a way that is so exciting to witness in real time.

Musically, it’s the best kind of blend of old and new. A throwback to classic hip hop with modern humor layered on top. It’s honest. It’s funny. It’s incredibly real.

Why does this song matter so much to me this year? Because it feels like a mirror. A complicated conversation with myself that I didn’t even realize I was having.

And honestly? It might just be the best pop hit of the year in my book. Well, last year technically…but whatever.

DUCKWRTH — “ESCAPISM”

Lesson #2: Pay attention to what you run from…and why.

Duckwrth, a hip hop newcomer who began releasing music in the mid-2010s, released his 2025 concept album All American F*ckboy. It’s a full-on concept record about reckless love, questionable decisions, ego, vulnerability, and complicated emotions. The lead single, “Escapism,” is the perfect entry point into that persona.

As soon as the track starts, the song feels like both an intriguing promise and a dangerous warning. The lyrics say, “Come, come with me. Take a ride, take a seat. F*ck your phone. Let’s escape. I need some peace.” Duckwrth is inviting us into something that sounds thrilling on the surface but complicated underneath. Sonically, it almost feels like a late 2000s Black Eyed Peas hit warped through Duckwrth’s own bad-boy charm. There’s even this mariachi-flavored, border-crossing sports-car energy running through it that makes everything feel a little more reckless.

What I love most is how funny and self-aware the writing is. Lines like, “You text me on the plane. I’m just tryna watch Shrek. I know that I’m a mess. Somehow you’re still impressed,” probably shouldn’t work, but somehow they do. And the brutal pre-chorus about past relationship habits, “Sometimes I feel uncomfortable, so I gotta go, I gotta go,” feels like emotional honesty wrapped inside an edgy dance-floor groove.

It’s a real escapism anthem, but not in a shallow way. It’s about knowing you are running, knowing you have baggage to unpack, and not doing it anyway. There is something a little sinister lying underneath the promise of a getaway.

It’s not a song I can personally relate to, but it’s exciting to witness such vulnerability, ego, persona, and self-awareness in an up-and-coming superstar. You’re watching someone unpack themselves in real time, even while they are still trying to avoid what hurts.

And that complexity is what makes “Escapism” hit so hard.

ADDISON RAE — “HEADPHONES ON”

Lesson #3: You are allowed to heal right where you are.

If I were giving out a Pop Girl of the Year award, Addison Rae would absolutely be taking it.

Watching her evolution this year has been kind of unreal. Addison’s shift from Southern TikTok girl next door to full-fledged, taste-driven it-girl pop star feels surprising…but oddly authentic. I’ve seen plenty of internet discourse about her “authenticity,” but any small-town girl who has ever had a bigger dream for herself gets it. There’s a sincerity in the way she’s building her world that makes it feel earned, not forced. This side to her as been here all along, and she’s finally letting it out. In other words, she is bringing back the Tumblr girl in a way that feels very modern. With her debut album Addison, she didn’t just introduce herself as a pop artist, she introduced her entire world view.

Every track on the album works for me, but “Headphones On” is the one that stayed closest to my heart.

On a personal note, even though 2025 was a better year for me than it had been in a while, grief still showed up in a lot of expected and unexpected ways. Some days still felt heavy. “Headphones On” understands that emotional space. Sometimes all you can do is put your headphones on, listen to your favorite song, and imagine something that will eventually feel better than right now.

There is a tender optimism in the way Addison delivers this track. It’s as if she’s saying yes, things may seem a little hopeless, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way. It feels influenced by what she learned from her mentor Charli XCX after the two worked together during the Brat era. She’s learned how to let pop music be vulnerable underneath all the glitz and glamour.

The album is also rooted in the genre trip-pop, which feels like one of the defining sounds of the year. It’s hazy, emotional, reflective, but still grooving forward. If this is where pop is heading next, I’m down.

The music video seals it for me. Addison is a checkout girl working a shift at a convenience store, on her break, putting her headphones in. Suddenly she’s somewhere else. Anywhere else. Somewhere lighter. Somewhere safer.

She’s just a normal girl trying to get through her day with an extra dose of imagination, magic, and good music.

And a lot of the time, so am I.

AFTER — “DEEP DIVING”

Lesson #4: Not everything needs to make perfect sense to matter.

“Deep Diving” by After was one of those songs that completely stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. It was one of those accidental discoveries through a TikTok edit, of all things, that instantly feels like fate.

After is a newer alternative indie band that formed in Los Angeles in 2023, and their music has been quietly making its way through social media like a middle school note being passed around during English class. Their sound pulls from the 90s and early 2000s but in a soft, airy way. It lives somewhere between The Cranberries, Donna Lewis, and Liz Phair, but crafted by dreams and digital pixie dust. I don’t know how else to describe it except this: After makes me feel like I am living through the sweetest, softest girlhood moment all over again.

This song feels like it belongs in a happy little coming-of-age movie. It would fit right in with something like 13 Going on 30 or Uptown Girls. It is breezy and boho, a little pop, a little coffee house, a little light rock, a little synthy. “Deep Diving” in particular feels like looking at your reflection in a crystal-blue spring. There are DJ scratches tucked in that bring me back to 1999 in a very Hanson or Sugar Ray kind of way. I love the odd, meandering lyrics in the bridge. “All the stones on the beach and the shells on the beach and the sand in your teeth. It’s a false memory, but I taste in my mouth the sound of it now” taps directly into a childhood feeling where life still felt like something you half remembered.

Listening to “Deep Diving” feels like riding on the back of a butterfly. I don’t even fully know what the song is about in a literal sense, and that only adds to the childlike wonder. Emotionally, though, I get it. Completely. It touched something in me that didn’t need words.

Their genre is another example of trip-pop, and their visuals lean into this nostalgic Frutiger Aero aesthetic. The bluest skies, the greenest grass, and the most silver linings in the clouds is what After is made of. It was hard to pick just one song from them because their growing discography is already super stacked, and they don’t even have a full album out yet.

But “Deep Diving” is the one that stayed with me. The one I kept returning to when I needed to feel light again.

THE PARADOX — “DO ME LIKE THAT”

Lesson #5: You’re allowed to feel nostalgic for a time that wasn’t really yours.

You know when TikTok actually does its job and drops an absolute banger right in your lap? Like… okay, algorithm, I see you. TikTok did a great job this year, and “Do Me Like That” by The Paradox takes the cake. This was one of those mid-2000s moments that had me fist pumping in the air. Emo is back, baby.

“Do Me Like That” is by The Paradox, an alternative pop punk band straight out of Atlanta, and this song instantly transported me into a pretend version of my youth, one where I was actually old enough to experience pop punk in real time. I was a little young to fully appreciate the mid-2000s pop rock heyday, but “Do Me Like That” unlocked the feeling anyway. It took me right back to being a ten year old blasting Simple Plan and Good Charlotte, to “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous,” “I’m Just a Kid,” and even the What’s New, Scooby-Doo? theme song.

The Paradox sounds like minivan rock blasting from a garage band with big dreams. It feels like it belongs on the soundtrack of John Tucker Must Die or some forgotten 2000s teen movie where the main characters run through the school hallway in triumph. There is something so sincere and unpolished about it. It works because it feels true, with no sense of irony. It’s a lot of fun.

This year really did feel like a mini revival of that whole pop rock sound. Between The All-American Rejects showing up at house parties to perform, The Jonas Brothers touring with Boys Like Girls, and the return of Warped Tour, it all felt perfectly timed. And this time, it includes diversity. I love that The Paradox is an all Black band. That kind of representation in this genre still feels rare, and seeing it done with this much authenticity is cool and exciting to watch.

Their debut EP is a blast, and yes, it features a collaboration with Blink-182’s Travis Barker on their track “Bender.” It is a rock solid EP, but “Do Me Like That” is the clear standout. Their social media presence is killing it as well. Their TikToks capture the perfect suburban 2000s teen fantasy: running down the cul de sac, hanging at the mall, kicking it at the skate park, and throwing house parties in their parents’ backyard to their hearts’ content. The lyrics are messy, a little gossipy, very high school, and maybe a little questionable at times. But listen, I’m wearing my nostalgia goggles proudly. Forgive me.

This song makes me yearn for a version of youth I only ever experienced through movies and nostalgia. The Paradox is a good time. They make me want to scream sing in the car with the windows down. That is the perfect recipe for making my top ten songs of 2025.

ADELA — “DEATHBYDEVOTION”

Lesson #6: Standing on your own can be the strongest power of all.

Pop newcomer Adela Jergová, or simply Adela, feels like one of those artists you discover right before the rest of the world catches on. Her 2025 single “deathbydevotion” was the moment I knew she had the potential to explode at any given moment. Look out, babes. The world is not ready for Adela, but the girls, the gays, and the theys are going to love her.

You might recognize the Slovak singer from Pop Star Academy on Netflix, where she trained for a potential spot in the global girl group KATSEYE before being cut from the program. She was told she might shine brighter as a solo artist. Though that decision may have been heartbreaking at the time, whoever made that call might have been right. In her solo work, Adela doesn’t feel like a trainee anymore. She feels like a fully formed pop star already in motion. She is even set to open for Demi Lovato on tour in 2026.

You can hear the echoes of Gaga, Britney, and Madonna in her DNA, but she’s not a copycat. Much like the pop girls of today, she is building her own visual world and crafting a defining aesthetic for herself. She is unmistakable with bubblegum colored hair, ballerina precision, pastel goth color palette, and a deliberate bad-girl streak. It feels intentional. Adela has a signature style without feeling artificial. And her single “deathbydevotion” is the song where all of that clicks into place.

“Deathbydevotion” pumps through my veins every time I hear it. It’s fierce, dark, moody, and electric with tension that cuts straight through the surface. It builds with a slow, brutal anticipation that makes you feel like you are gearing up for something. A fight, a breakthrough, a transformation. You feel her hunger in every second of it. The lyrics scream, “Don’t stop, I keep it goin. Stuck in perpetual motion. Turnstile my ego shows. Sentenced to death by devotion.” She is dedicated to her craft in performance art. She is that girl, and she’s here to work until she gets the title she knows she deserves. I know it’s only a matter of time.

Sonically, this track is adrenaline electro pop that moves effortlessly from the gym to the club to a late night drive where you are speeding through red lights when no one else is around. It’s a power move. It’s the kind of song that makes you ready to take on the world.

If there is a breakout pop girl of 2026, my money is on Adela. And “deathbydevotion” is the receipt.

ARTMS — “BURN”

Lesson #7: You are not late in life. You are right on time.

Dare I say that “Burn” might be the hottest track of the year? More Cheesy joke…but who says I’m joking?

K-pop girl group ARTMS, made up of former LOONA members Heejin, Haseul, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, and Choerry, finally brought their long-awaited single “Burn” to life in 2025 after years of legal limbo. The song was originally meant to be a LOONA single back in 2019 before everything with their company fell apart. Six years later, it finally saw the light of day, and somehow it still feels ahead of its time.

From the very first line, “You can see me when you punch your face,” the song makes it clear that ARTMS is not here to play. The production is sleek and minimalist at first, built on subtle synths before snapping into a chorus that is chic, feminine, fierce, and unapologetically cool. There is a little funk in it, a little jazz, and just enough genre play to make it feel dangerously hip in all the right ways.

There is something about this track that gets better with every listen. It doesn’t reveal all its secrets at once. It’s a slow burn.

Of course, there’s a bittersweetness to it too. As an Orbit who is happy to follow all twelve members’ musical careers no matter where they go, I will always wish we could have seen “Burn” performed by all the members of LOONA. That loss is sewn into the song’s history whether we like it or not. But at the same time, there is something powerful about the fact that it survived. That it waited. That it still arrived exactly when it was ready.

To quote Julie Andrews in The Princess Diaries 2, “A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early.” That applies here. “Burn” is a reminder that some things are worth waiting for, and timing is everything.

TYLER, THE CREATOR — “RING RING RING”

Lesson #8: Vulnerability doesn’t have to mean sappy.

If I were handing out another hypothetical award to someone on this list, my Artist of the Year award would go straight to Tyler, The Creator. It’s simply no contest. Less than a year after the massive success of his comeback album Chromakopia, he surprised everyone again with the release of Don’t Tap the Glass, a dance pop infused hip hop triumph that feels playful, confident, and completely unbothered. If I were being truly unrestrained, my entire top ten might’ve come from this album alone. But for the sake of variety, I limited myself to just one. After all, I already broke my own rule about only including releases from 2025. I’m not about to break another. I refuse to lose street points. Anyway.

My favorite track on Don’t Tap the Glass is easily “Ring Ring Ring.”

This song is fun, playful, sweet, and it even goes out of its way to teach us the art of yearning in a very Tyler, The Creator way. “Ring Ring Ring” is infectiously catchy. The phone motif threaded throughout the track gives it this flirty sense of anticipation, like you’re waiting for a call that might change everything. Sonically, it’s drenched in 80s MTV energy, and it makes me want to lace up a pair of skates, head to a retro rink, roll under the neon lights, and eat overpriced nachos to my heart’s content. It pulls clear inspiration from Cherrelle’s “Saturday Love,” and that homage feels intentional and loving toward the classic track.

It’s retro, smooth, and sparkly in the best way. Honestly, it would feel right at home as a deep cut on Off the Wall era Michael Jackson. “Ring Ring Ring” is all glow, groove, and emotional openness.

But what really elevates “Ring Ring Ring” is how vulnerable Tyler allows himself to be. Repeating “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you” like a triumphant confession instead of a punchline feels deeply sweet, especially coming from one of the unserious figures in modern hip hop. His heart is completely on his sleeve here. He isn’t hiding behind irony. He’s putting himself on the line. On the phone line, that is. `

And that sincerity is what makes it unforgettable, adorable, and one of his best singles to date.

LEVEN KALI — “CRYSTAL BALL”

Lesson #9: You deserve your big romantic movie moment in real life.

There are some songs that feel brand new the first time you hear them. And then there are songs that feel like they have always existed. “Crystal Ball” by Levon Kali feels like the second kind.

For a little context, Leven Kali is a Dutch American singer, songwriter, and producer who has been quietly shaping some of the biggest pop, K-pop, R&B, and even country records of the last few years behind the scenes. When I first looked into his production credits, my jaw actually dropped. He has worked on “Bodyguard” and “Alien Superstar” by Beyoncé, “Crazy” by LE SSERAFIM, and “Rookie” by Red Velvet. Basically, he has already been involved in all my favorite songs without me even realizing it.

He even earned a Grammy through his work with Beyoncé. Levon has been releasing his own music since the late 2010s, and his solo work feels like a playground for experimentation. His sound lives somewhere between R&B, soul, hip hop, and classic rock and roll. It is textured, emotional, and effortlessly cool. “Crystal Ball” is a standout within his discography so far.

From the fuzzy guitar opening, the song blooms into something timeless. Levon’s voice carries that warm, earnest, almost Hendrix like tone. Tender yet powerful. The way the verses slowly build and stretch into the chorus feels cinematic, like the emotional crest of a romantic movie right before everything finally breaks open.

It is repetitive, but in the way true ballads sometimes are. The repetition becomes a ritual. Each return to the chorus grows with passion. By the time the background singers come in with those gospel inspired vocals, the song feels like a grand gesture.

When he sings, “You know I’d give, you know I give, you know I give everything for you,” it sounds like a popcorn movie moment where the two leads finally give in to their love for each other. I always picture something like Say Anything. In fact, the way this song builds reminds me of “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel on a structural level. Maybe that’s a reach, but it gives me that same feeling. Endless devotion. Public declaration. No more holding back.

There is something deeply classic rock and roll about this track. Not retro in a trendy way, but timeless in a way that feels eternal. Like it could have existed in any decade and still landed with the same weight. The bridge, “Oh we could start today, we should’ve been in love by now. Oh we start today, don’t you wanna be in love right now,” feels triumphant, hands in the air, happy ending. I am rooting for this fictional couple in my head every time I hear this song.

I don’t even feel like I can say much more about “Crystal Ball” without repeating myself. Just listen to it. It’s GREAT.

JOEY VALENCE & BRAE — “LIVE RIGHT”

Lesson #10: Growing up doesn’t mean outgrowing joy.

Party boys get sad too. Right?

Joey Valence & Brae built their rise on chaos, humor, and high energy anthems. Since around 2023, they’ve made their case as Gen Z’s answer to the Beastie Boys with nonstop dancing, bouncing, and crowd igniting hype. But in 2025, with the release of their album Hyperyouth, we finally got to see a new side of them.

The party tracks are still here. “Wassup,” “Billie Jean,” and “Bust Down” keep their signature energy alive. But the album also makes space for the songs you sit with after the lights come on. “Party’s Over,” “Have to Cry,” and “Disco Tomorrow” capture that exact “it’s 3:00 a.m. and now I’m wondering where my life is going” feeling.

“Live Right” is where their growth really hit me. On the surface, it still sounds like a chanty sing along. But then the lyrics say, “I’m kinda scared to admit I’m afraid of growin’ up. No one here wants to dance, things are changin. As long as I got my friends, I don’t want this sh*t to end.”

That fear feels universal. I felt it especially hearing the song live this year, sung back by a crowd of strangers who had probably felt the same way. In that moment, none of us were alone. It was electric and emotional at the same time.

One of my favorite parts is: “Throwback playlist, bumpin No Doubt. No plans, good friends and good weather. I wanna feel like this forever. Forever eva. Forever eva.”

Anyone who shouts out No Doubt and Outkast in the same bar already has my loyalty. But more than that, the lyric nails what that phase of life feels like. Nostalgia in one hand, uncertainty in the other. The outro, where the chanting rises above the vocals, hits the hardest. It is okay to grow up. It is also okay to hold on to your joy.

“Live Right” reminded me that you don’t have to outgrow your happiness just because you’re getting older. And honestly, that felt like an important lesson this year.

I wish I had some deep and cool “in conclusion” moment here, but honestly… y’all just read everything. It’s long enough. Y’all get it. I hate conclusion paragraphs anyway. Bla bla bla.

This year healed me, pushed me, and handed me more growth than I was expecting. And through all of that, music kept showing up exactly when I needed it.

I’m not a music critic. I don’t really get BPMs or production breakdowns or anything like that. I just know when a song hits, it hits. These ten tracks just did it for me, dude.

So yeah. That’s the list. That’s the year. And those were the songs that held me together.

Byeeeeee! :)