MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2025
Here are my 10 favorite albums of 2025, alphabetical by artist:
Silver Deliverer by Aly & AJ
I am not super familiar with Aly & AJ, but this album draws heavily on Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, and other country-leaning 70s sounds to show a depth of musicality and song lyrics that genuinely surprised me. Former Disney kids are everywhere, and they continued to be a force in pop culture.
If You Asked for a Picture by Blondshell
I’m a decade removed from my 20s, but Sabrina Teitelbaum already writes about her recent life experience like it is a vivid memory of a more distant past. Not too far off from Beach House or other sad girl music, it captures that particular melancholy of realizing you’ve been an adult for a good while and you still have no idea what you’re doing.
SABLE, fABLE by bon iver
I run hot and cold on Justin Vernon’s work as bon iver, but SABLE, fABLE immediately struck me as a great blend between the two disparate poles of his sound: the introspective isolation of for emma forever ago and the all-synapses-firing-at-once of 22 A Million. SABLE, fABLE follows the earlier release of the melancholy SABLE EP release by adding the fABLE section, turning the late night depression feeling into a hopeful dawn we could all use right now.
Everybody Scream by Florence and the Machine
This is likely the overall best album on this list. Florence Welch is already an icon in my mind, but Everybody Scream is her most personal album yet, and explores a fascination with medievalism as a relief from the constant churn of the 2020s. The topics clash with the sounds in a way that feels both entirely unique to Welch and yet become universal, like scrolling through Instagram while listening to a medieval choir.
Die in Love by Greet Death
This entire album is filled with jangling, bitter acceptance of the state of the world, but listening to it provides an affirming and uplifting feeling, like opening a geode.
I quit by HAIM
Featuring samples from George Michael and U2, the Haim sisters gave up trying to care and put together an album that pulls together their previous California AM sound and adds in a ton of other musical styles they love. The result is something as wholly original and heartfelt as it is derivative and silly, which sums up both Haim and 2025 supremely well. This album hit me so hard, and I’m glad that I was able to see Haim live again (see header image).
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams
Hayley Williams has always been a gifted songwriter, but her ear for production makes her truly stand out. Like Petals For Armor before it, Ego Death… has a distinct feel from Paramore albums. It is great to see Williams continue to push herself. If you were an 00s Paramore fan who stopped paying attention, she is well worth catching up with.
Forever is a Feeling by Lucy Dacus
Like many of the albums on this list, Forever is a Feeling combines introspective lyrics with a cornucopia of rock influences to create something that feels cumulative for the artist. I first heard Lucy Dacus as part of boygenius, a project I am thankful for because it introduced me to Dacus and Julien Baker (I was already a Phoebe Bridgers fan). This album is full of all of the complexities that come with love, and it feels like taking a walk by yourself In the best way.
is by My Morning Jacket
I have loved My Morning Jacket for 20 years, and I have been waiting for at least a decade for them to return to the quality of output they had in the 00s, so when I heard “Time Waited” from is, I was excited, and then the album itself turned out to to be even better, and easily their best since 2008’s Evil Urges. I’m glad to have them back.
Bleeds by Wednesday
MJ Lenderman is the biggest thing in indie rock right now between Wednesday and his solo stuff, and Bleeds is maybe the apex of his output so far. Bleeds is one of the best examples of blending Southern gothic sensibilities with rock music, which continues to prove that no one needs to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd ever again.
▶ Working at: My desk at home
▶ Podcast in my ears: Cerebro
▶ Current reads: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
▶ Album on repeat: Any of the albums named above
▶ Find me: https://linktr.ee/silberwhatever
SOFIE UPDATE
