The 2025 Soundtrack

Without further ado: my annual soundtrack for 2025.

Disparate Youth – Santigold // Don’t look ahead, there’s stormy weather / Another roadblock in our way / But if we go, we go together / Our hands are tied here if we stay

APT. – Rosé and Bruno Mars // My son’s first favorite song of the year.

Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar // The Super Bowl halftime show heard round the world.

Hostile Government Takeover – AGiftFromTodd & Vinny Marchi // Bless both of these TikTokers for releasing this ditty as an actual recording.

The Giver – Chappell Roan // Chappell’s next album is probably years away, so I’m happy she gave us this. Oddly I’m not that into The Subway.

Last Girls at the Party – The Beaches // What would be playing over a montage of pictures from my mid-30s.

Still Bad – Lizzo // Might catch that last flight out to Vegas, whatch’all think? Okay!! I DID.

Handlebars – JENNIE feat. Dua Lipa // This struck me as an early contender for Song of the Summer. I don’t think it ever took off, but it hits for me.

Archbishop Harold Holmes – Jack White // Between the Righteous Gemstones vibes and the Wayne’s World groove, this is probably my favorite song of 2025.

Sally, When the Wine Runs Out – ROLE MODEL // Somehow I am still not sick of this.

The Kill – Maggie Rogers // As someone who rarely gets to converse with her husband because we have a 4-year-old, I related to this tune about missing the old days and struggling to be on the same page with the person you love.

Porcelain (Reimagined) – JoJo // I first heard this song in a One-Day Choir video that JoJo attended!!

twilight zone – Ariana Grande // Some friends and I tried to get tickets to Ariana’s upcoming tour – in multiple cities – and sadly failed.

Holding Back – BANKS // Another (slightly older) banger from the queen of lesser-known beat drops.

Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter // So much fun.

moody – Royel Otis // While I don’t appreciate the “women are crazy, amirite??” vibes, this song feels like listening to the radio in the mid-90s.

running – Maren Morris // Did my wings get too wide? Did I whisper too loud? / Everything that I do’s an inconvenience now / I’ve apologized, still don’t know what about / So I guess I’ll just drive ’til I figure it out, figure it out

Best Guess – Lucy Dacus // So romantic and real.

True Believer – Hayley Williams // Hard to choose a track from Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, but this is a masterful skewering of the new Nashville and Southern evangelical culture. I recommend finding a line by line analysis of the lyrics for a history lesson.

Straight Line Was a Lie – The Beths // The most fun I’ve had singing a harmony in a while.

Golden – HUNTR/X // I love every song from KPop Demon Hunters, so I just gave the spot to the big hit. Note: Golden is the Let It Go, but This Is What It Sounds like is the Show Yourself.

Everybody, Elizabeth Taylor – Taylor Swift & Backstreet Boys, DJ Lydia Getachew // I really liked ET (original) from the first listen, but when I heard the BSB mashup, I created a SoundCloud account at the age of 46 so I could dance to it any time.

WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! – RAYE // Another song that had me from minute one. I hope all you single ladies are wearing it out.

Sympathy Magic – Florence + The Machine // So I don’t have to be worthy, I no longer try to be good / It didn’t keep me safe like you told me that it would / So come on, come on, I can take it, give me everything you got / What else, what else, what else, what else

The Life of a Showgirl – Taylor Swift feat. Sabrina Carpenter // Thank you for an unforgettable night year. Give it up for the band and the dancers. That’s our show, we love you so much. Goodnight!

About Brenda

Mom to a preschooler with T1D. Paralegal. Swiftie. Xennial. Grizzlies and Tigers. Pilates and Peloton. Books and fanfic. 901 / 305 View all posts by Brenda →