From the Intercom: The Best Songs of 2025

Balming Tiger, Yaeji – “wo ai ni”

Uninhibited joy. I gave “wo ai ni” a glowing review in our Weekly Bullet column and I was sure it was going to be one of my highlights of the year. It’s a big group hug that everyone is invited to, and it completely excels at expressing the uninhibited joy of being with people you love. After all, the music video even features the cameraman’s mom!

Just as “wo ai ni” means ‘I love you’, “Everyone deserves to be loved / To give love” encapsulates the track’s thesis in a short statement. The song is so upbeat, funky, and honest to itself that it strips away facades — who can deny the concept of love?

Silica Gel – “南宮FEFERE (ft. Japanese Breakfast)”

“南宮FEFERE” is bitter, inexplicable, abstract and transcendant. One of the comments under the video asks, “삼차원의 존재가 사차원을 보는게 이런 느낌인건가? (“Is this what it feels like for a three-dimensional being to see a four-dimensional world?)” I couldn’t describe “南宮FEFERE” any better.

The song and video feature many motifs: an orange, dung beetles, childhood, nature. The lack of explanation blends these motifs into blurs of theme and raw emotion. The cyclical song construction builds every section up only to exhale into the hook like a foregone conclusion.

NENE – “BANANA BOAT (ft. Elle Teresa)”

NENE’s single releases this year span an incredible breadth of subgenres within rap. The throwback crunk of “KITERU”, boom bap of “HAJIMARI”, and smooth autotuned singing of “INDIANA JONES” — this year’s output dwarfs some discographies in range alone.

Unlike other NENE releases, “BANANA BOAT” isn’t a song to vibe to in the traditional sense: it’s stark, unsettling and won’t fit into playlists. The video’s aesthetic feels like a Venn diagram between kink and kitsch. With latex and S&M surrealism contrasted with the macabre vibe, the video is a collage of alt-cultural elements taken out of context. Just as everything is about sex except for sex itself, the innuendo core to the song is blanketed by the absurd and unerotic.

Koshy’s hype-filled beatmaking is stripped back to the bouncy and minimal. Vocal chops define the hook with repetitions of “banana boat” hard panned left and right while smoky vocal textures loop in the back, feeling uncomfortably intimate. “BANANA BOAT” is oddly catchy, like a virus. It’ll have you reciting the hook and doing the dance too.

keshi – “WANTCHU”

“WANTCHU” by keshi has been on repeat for me ever since its release. The production sets it apart from the rest of his discography, containing probably one of the longest lists of collaborators on any keshi song including Daniel Chae, boylife, and Porter Robinson.

There’s a softness to the synths and instrumental that remind me of karaoke tracks that are produced for you to sing to, but the production is almost restless with the constant rotation of secondary elements that keep the sound fresh. It twinkles with bells and screams in guitar but knows when to hold back for maximum effect — it pulls out all the stops.

toe & Jonah Yano – “(AND) NOW I SEE THE LIGHT”

Jonah Yano’s voice and toe’s technical mastery make for a song with mounds of depth. A great song to listen to over and over.

AOTO – “バイオリン”

An unexpected hit with me — very catchy. Hard instrumentation and autocrooning was always going to make me love it.

ZOMBIE-CHANG – “KAGOME”

Entrancing electronica with a simple core melody that feels primal.

Microchild – “The Last Håyun Lågu”

In 2024, the last Håyun Lågu mother tree on Guåhan fell. Microchild, in their signature dreamy style, imagines the tree’s long life as the landscape around it changed, as land was cleared for a US Marine Base, as the surrounding landscape changed. How can a tree be conserved in a machine gun range?

Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover – “In Bulosan’s Words”

“In Bulosan’s Words” is named after Carlos Bulosan, writer of America Is In the Heart. Funnily enough, I have a copy at my desk. It’s an uneasy read, an attempt to reclaim an irredeemable country. “In Bulosan’s Words” is a song about silence and the many ways it hollows you out inside. This is a song for those who are afraid to speak, to name what is in front of them, their “bravery still nameless, in expressionless expression.”

9

Camp Kona – “Everything”

This song makes me so happy and hopeful. It’s audio sunshine. Just infectious positive energy. I always played this track through when it came up on the playlists this year. One of the highlights of our Weekly Bullet Reviews this year.

8

CAM GIRL, Gaszia – “Need Ya”

I got a major, nostalgic hit listening to “Need Ya” for the first time almost causing me to log back into my Tumblr to reblog it. It’s got the e-sugar fizz from when vlogging and ringtones you buy from commercials were raging. Majorly fun and made to dance to in your bedroom.

7

Leah Nawy – “Mixing Patterns”

A gem from the Weekly Bullet Reviews. On “Mixing Patterns”, Leah Nawy draws cinematic scenes of moving forward, no longer waiting for change to come. Equal parts folksy, hopeful, and theatrical— the track doesn’t settle in one place and changes from beginning, middle, and end. It’s a complete, nutritious meal of a song that belongs in your playlist.

6

Mei Semones – “I Can Do What I Want”

Loaded with adventurous, instrumental, mad scientist behavior. In this one track, Mei Semones proves she’s not interested in playing it musically safe. She was meant for music and always was. I mean… it’s in the name.

5

Star 99 – “Gray Wall”

Unfortunately, there was a time this year when this song was played so much my wife could not listen to it anymore. But having listened to it again for this list, “Gray Wall” is one hundred percent still an amazingly soft and signature track in Star 99’s discography.

4

Unflirt – “Shame”

There’s something so familiar and addictive about “Shame”. I can’t shake the headcanon of it being on the Twilight album. It’s so mysterious, cold, and spiral shaped in its sound. Lovingly crafted and fun to sing to.“Shame” confidently opens an EP with so many strong other tracks. I can’t wait for more Unflirt.

3

Echo Lanterns – “Can’t Risk It”

Every time this song comes on, it feels right. This is such a delightful, roadtrip tune that voiced a freeing energy I craved all year. I can’t help belting out “to looooooooose” each time the chorus comes around. 

2

Jay Som, Mini Trees – “Cards on the Table”

My full thoughts are in my review, but “Cards on the Table” is so chillingly evocative of a lot of my feelings this year. Rhymes with the disappointments out of my control, the tired panic of treading water, and the motive to finally get on the life raft of what’s to come.

1

Lola Young – “Not Like That Anymore”

The very first time I heard this, I played it on loop through my morning ritual, my 20 minute commute, and as I was parking before clocking in for work. This track has everything I want: thoughtful, energetic production, hard-truthed humor, and a shocking vocal performance. It’s radio ready, karaoke ready, and prime time ready. And you know I’m singing that last part until my voice is cracking!

“Not Like That Anymore” is a damn iconic track that is forever emblazoned in my brain, and is definitively my Song of the Year.

11

The Beths – “Straight Line Was A Lie”

I recently came across a screenshotted tweet on Instagram (yup, that’s the state of social media memes these days) that said, “Looking back, I actually think I got farther away from my goals in 2025.” Hey, I couldn’t have said it better myself. If you took that energy and compounded it into the tight, indie rock/power pop jams The Beths are known for, you’d have “Straight Line Was A Lie.” Lead singer Liz Stokes has openly spoken about the folly of thinking that there’s a linear pathway to self-improvement, and I’ve definitely related to that on a personal level all throughout the year.

The Beths tap into that anxious energy, creating an anthem for those who feel like things are slipping away despite their best efforts. And when the whole band comes together on the chorus a second time around, it feels powerful and unifying. You’re not alone in thinking so! Yes, the straight line is definitely a lie, but it’s important to remember that things will always get better. We’ll all take the long way together.

10

BADVILLAIN – “THRILLER”

Audacious, bold, inspired! What’s not to like about BADVILLAIN’s amazing comeback single “THRILLER”? I’m admittedly a huge fan of South Korean alt-R&B artist SUMIN, who wrote and produced the single (check out their solo and duo work with Slom), but “THRILLER” raises the bar and the BPM by making a K-pop/rap group part of a SUMIN’s whimsically bouncy R&B palace, if only just for one song.

BADVILLAIN play their parts as a too-cool-for-you girl group to an astonishingly successful degree. “THRILLER” delivers on the thrills – if there was any justice in the world, I could see it turning into a dance choreography staple. It really feels like BADVILLAIN may be entering a new era. Don’t let this flop!

9

Babebee – “7 Minutes In Heaven”

All throughout Babebee’s stellar, ghostly debut album all that heaven allows, there’s a heavy dream-like atmosphere that is thick enough to swim in, amplifying each of their emotions. Case in point: the album’s layered, molasses-like centerpiece “7 Minutes In Heaven” is when they really revel in that echoed feeling. It’s a track that evokes a feeling of time outstretched – a honeyed wave of guitars that Babebee is not afraid to douse you in throughout the track’s melancholy, eternal world. 

8

Bridge Dog – “Counterweight”

Every time I hear Bridge Dog’s “Counterweight,” the opening track to the Sydney band’s long-awaited debut album Auto Fictions, it takes me back to the noisy shoegaze pop of the 90s that I now associate with a sort of digital nostalgia. The dream-like quality of “Counterweight” is chock-full of staticky movement, washing over you with its dynamic lyrics and singer Grace Ha’s saccharine vocals. There’s also a sense of chaotic order from the wildly liberating guitars, reigned in only by Ha’s anchored command. It’s a dizzying experience, and one that’ll definitely make you fall in love with the band. I should know – it worked on me.

7

Lauren Juzang – “Thursday in June”

On Lauren Juzang’s absolutely enchanting “Thursday in June,” the singer-songwriter wants to let someone know that it’s okay. It’s okay that a relationship didn’t work out. It’s okay if there’s some space to be had. And it’s okay if the person the song is about doesn’t want her around. She’ll move on reluctantly, but she’ll do it for them. It’s a love song that feels healthy but not without the pain; imagine if the maxim “If you love someone let them go” was turned into an indie folk hug.

The magic of the song isn’t just how Lauren Juzang can turn such an intimate and delicate topic into a tune worthy of countless replays, but it’s a gorgeous showcase of her vulnerable vocal ability to turn each trembling note into a heavy statement of a reluctant goodbye. It may just be another Thursday in June to everyone else, but on this one occasion it feels much more than that.

6

haloplus+ – “Open Air Backseat”

You know how coolness is something that feels inherent and can’t be taught? Well, maybe someone should harvest the energy that haloplus+ put out on “Open Air Backseat” and study it! The Copenhagen-based trio of Isa Nam Sook, Joakim Wei Bernild, and Stine Victoria put out a great album called Musicality this year (which you should check out), but “Open Air Backseat” serves as a quasi-thesis of the album – merging off-kilter beats, strange vocal pitch shifting, and sonic experiments into a pop song that can people more online than I have jokingly labeled esoteric. There really must be something in the water in Copenhagen: “Open Air Backseat” is an earworm from another dimension that feels almost too stylish and calculatedly spontaneous to exist. Yet, here it is.

As the song makes left turn after left turn into weird 90s evoking samples, cool poetic chants that feel like they don’t make any sense, and a deteriorating loose musical structure, I can’t help but laugh as haloplus+ do on the song at the very end. Something about creating a piece of music like this just feels wonderful.

5

torr – “gum!”

Few songs this year made me want to dance – no, scratch that, “danc[e] in the kitchen all alone piss drunk” to borrow a line from the song – this year more than torr’s pop rock single “gum!” There’s an infectious energy that is worked into the very fiber of this song’s DNA that makes me just want to skateboard down the block with my Walkman, earbuds in (never mind that I’m in a boring suburb and the fact that I don’t know how to skate).

“gum!” is tailor-made for raucous bouncing-off-the-wall energy, and you just have to match its freak. It’s an exciting sugar rush of a song, and it’ll be responsible for me breaking a few bones at high speeds for sure.

4

Galdive – “Stay (ft. RINI)”

Galdive and RINI are a match made in heaven. Galdive’s “Stay” was originally released back in 2023 was already a great track – Tisha’s whispered vocals and Osvaldorio’s sleek production work already make it a relentlessly catchy earworm – but RINI’s inclusion takes it to soaring heights that elevates it into a classic. RINI’s vocals add a wonderful contrast to the song that provides a soothing balance that feels nothing short of heavenly. Perfect for snuggling next to a loved one, the pillowy, soothing sounds of “Stay” will surely make its way onto a playlist for your next romantic night in.

I’m usually not one for slow-jam R&B pop that gets too cloyingly mushy (and it unapologetically dips into that multiple times on this track!), but maybe this song is a guilty pleasure that could change that.

3

Peterparker69 – “Hey phone”

With a group name like Peterparker69, it’s clear that the rap-duo of Yeter and Y ohtrixpointnever is inherently born from the Internet. On their debut album yo, (yes, the comma is part of the title), they’ve proved that much – collaborating with your favorite electronic underground musician’s favorite producers like Two Shell (“Magic Powers”) and Tennyson (“skyskysky”) to create a starry electronic rager of an album that keeps the good times flowing.

On album standout “Hey phone,” though, there’s a tint of longing sadness that peeks out through that bulletproof exterior. It’s a song that’s surprisingly nostalgic for the past: when hanging out with your homie was the only plan on your schedule and the world felt like something you could conquer together. Chopping up English and Japanese lyrics to create something larger than the sum of its parts, “Hey phone” glitches out to reveal its slick pop interior before getting swallowed up by Peterparker69’s mischievous antics elsewhere. 

2

Afternoon Bike Ride – “Oh No!”

Would it be too much to say that “Oh No!” is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I heard all year?

The Montreal-based electronic-folk trio Afternoon Bike Ride has nailed a fuzzy sort of chamber pop that just feels warm to the touch. Though it’s a song about “drowning in [one’s] own thoughts” out in public, you’d wouldn’t expect it from the tenderness that is inherent in Lia Kurihara’s soft vocals amongst a field of lush strings and woodwind instruments. “Oh No!” almost has an enchantingly melancholic quality that makes you feel like you’re floating along despite the heavy thoughts that haunt you.

1

KATSEYE – “Gnarly”

Where were you when you first heard “Gnarly”? In its own way, it’s kind of hilarious how divisive the song was when it first dropped back in March. Fans, or ahem, EYEKONS, were eagerly anticipating a follow-up similar to the global girl group’s follow-up to the widely-loved “Touch”. More new-gen NewJeans adjacently twinkling R&B pop, perhaps? Holy airball!!!

Instead, they were met with “Gnarly,” a completely screeching left turn (no, actually a rapid free-fall) into a completely different sound. This Alice Longyu Gao-penned hyperpop heater is slathered with a range of disparate lyrics that barely make sense together on paper, but somehow it all subconsciously coalesces into a monster banger in the age of brainrot and short-form social media videos. Like its own Katamari of what makes the Internet great, “Gnarly” is an amalgamative ball of pop culture references – Takis, parties in the Hollywood Hills, Teslas (derogatory), “gang-gang,” uncalled-for sexual moans, kitschy sound effects – that spell out a certain anxious doom representing a terminally online generation. Just know that when we’re all hurtling towards the digital apocalypse after AI takes over, “Gnarly” will be the only thing that will be playing on our burnt, fried out speakers. Everything’s gnarly… (complimentary).