SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
2025 was a great year for music. So many songs filled us with joy, love, reflection. With the year coming to a close, we wanted to look back with NPR's resident music critic, Ann Powers. Hey, Ann.
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Hey. How are you doing, Scott?
DETROW: NPR Music had a list of, like, 125 great songs of the year. We sadly cannot talk about all of them. Let's do a few. Where do you want to start?
POWERS: Well, I want to start right at the beginning of 2025 because nobody in pop right now has more swag than Bad Bunny. And he released an album called "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" in January that ruled the zeitgeist all year. And from that album, the biggest hit was a song called "Baile Inolvidable" that absolutely set people dancing all year long.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAILE INOLVIDABLE")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
POWERS: This song is one of my favorite kinds of songs. It is a dance song about dancing. It's just such a fun song. Hey, it's also about heartbreak, though - I have to say - and that message comes through. But the ultimate quiet agenda of this song is to, you know, promote the beauty of Latin music and Latin culture, which is totally Benito's thing.
DETROW: We're going to shift gears here. And the name of this next song is kind of funny in itself - all caps and exclamation point at the end - "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!"
POWERS: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!")
RAYE: (Singing) Baby - woo-hoo - where the hell is my husband? Woo-hoo. What is takin' him so long to find me? Woo-hoo.
POWERS: Raye is a British singer, and to me, she's in the line of the great theatrical pop singers like Barbra Streisand, Cyndi Lauper, Amy Winehouse. She has so much wit and intelligence. And this song hit home, I think, for a lot of women this year. I mean, a lot of women are frankly struggling to find a partner who treats them respectfully, and she has created a really fun battle cry.
DETROW: All right, Ann, everybody loves a band with a big breakthrough year. This year, that band is Geese, especially the...
POWERS: Yes.
DETROW: ...Song, "Taxes."
POWERS: So Geese. Yes. Geese is definitely one of the stories of 2025. They're a Brooklyn indie rock band. Their singer, Cameron Winter, has this huge voice and this wild singing style. And Geese is really taking the rock song apart and putting it back together in every song they do. Their songs are poetic and strange, but they still hook you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAXES")
GEESE: (Singing) You're gonna (ph) have to nail me down.
DETROW: Then there's Dijon, another singer with a big year. Your team picked his song "Yamaha."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YAMAHA")
DIJON: (Singing) How do you pull it off?
DETROW: He was all over the place, wasn't he?
POWERS: He wrote songs for Justin Bieber's album, "Swag." But Dijon's own album, "Baby," was really the breakout. And this song is, to me, the best song on the record. He's kind of similar to Geese, in a way, in that Dijon is taking R&B apart and putting it back in shapes that are unexpected. "Yamaha" kind of reminds me of early Prince in that way.
DETROW: Let's end with this, something I know you have a lot of thoughts about, "Spangled" by the band Fust.
POWERS: Yeah, Fust is another North Carolina band. I'd been hearing about them all year, and I got to see them here in Nashville. And when they played this song, I realized this is greatness right in front of me. It's about a hospital that has been torn down and the ghosts that are floating around - you know, the ghosts of all the souls who are in this hospital.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPANGLED")
FUST: (Singing) And I'm now floating off the 8305.
POWERS: And that is really a message, to me, that rang so true this year. I mean, the economic blight that so many people are suffering from, the changing landscapes of our country, and yet, this song, it makes this horrible situation something transcendent. I just love it.
DETROW: That is NPR Music's Ann Powers. You can get a playlist of all 125 of NPR Music's favorite songs of the year at npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPANGLED")
FUST: (Singing) You can't get enough to drink. Well, I've been drinking. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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