Playback’s 2025 Albums of the Year

Rosie’s Pick: The Art of Loving, Olivia Dean

Whilst I personally went through the most experimental year of my life in terms of my music taste, I can’t help finding myself coming back to Olivia Dean. This year, her album ‘The Art of Loving’ not only topped the charts, putting Dean on a global stage, but we also got a glimpse into her new sound: softness and glamour combined. In various interviews she speaks about how the concept of the album is not only focusing on romantic love, but also how love exists everywhere in life, in family, partners, friendships, and even in the relationship you have with yourself. This album also pays homage to that.

As a songwriter myself, these pieces of information affect the way I experience music (especially when I’m listening to it for the first time). But simply as a fan, there is a sharp-edged elegance to this album that she embraces both within and outside of her music. The mix between classic ballads like ‘Loud’, bossanova infused anthems like ‘So Easy to Fall in Love’, and the now world-famous pop song ‘Man I Need’ demonstrates her new era of embodying the genres that have influenced her sound over the years, whilst bringing an Olivia Dean bounce to the end of summer.

Colette’s Pick: Who’s the Clown?, Audrey Hobert

Without a doubt, my album of the year is Who’s the Clown?, Audrey Hobert’s debut studio album. I really appreciate the whimsy and nonconformity in Hobert’s approach to storytelling. In choosing creative hooks to represent the mundane, particularly as it relates to love (romantic and otherwise), she constructs an authentic voice that makes her music so effortless and easy to listen to. Each song is a playful romp that feels part rom-com and part sitcom theme: welcoming, familiar, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s also refreshing to see a female artist feel comfortable with herself rather than pandering to a particular gaze to be perceived as more palatable. Overall, a 10/10 album.

Valentina’s Pick: Unreal, Legss

I became attuned to Unreal by Legss in late September of last year and was immediately drawn in by the fast-paced drums paired with the sultry guitar and vocals. Ned Green, the vocalist, switches between the calm and sultry, in complete analogy with guitarist Max Oliver. Louis Grace on the drums drags the listener through each song in whatever way he pleases. For me, it quickly rose to number one in October, was later found to be my most listened-to album of 2025, and, to this day, remains one of my favorite albums of all time. The juxtaposition of musical forms created an album that pulls from earlier post-punk influences and perfectly encapsulates a new sound of the revival in the UK that incorporates an art-rock temperament. All of my favorite songs on the album (of which genuinely half of them are) have a different vibe from one another. Whether it was the comforting sound of “See No Evil,” the disparate of “When Will I See You Again?,” or the hostile “909,” the different nuances remind me of the multi-ambient Doolittle by the Pixies, another one of my favorites. The ninth track on the record “But Nothing Would Make Me Happier” became my number one in the end with its genuinely beautiful vocals, calming bass track, aforementioned fast yet soft drums, and a saxophone that appears midway through the track. If you haven’t listened, I would highly recommend this be the next album you listen to in full. 

Favorite songs(apart from what has been mentioned): Forgot to Answer, Gloss, Broadcast, Bit Rot

Lynn’s Pick: Bloodless, Samia

My 2025 album of the year is definitively Bloodless by Samia. The production encapsulates an amalgamation of everything I am drawn to in terms of genre—a bright blend of folk, indie/pop, sometimes verging on country in its Americana sensibilities. Her lyricism is defined by a fragmented meaning-making that ultimately tells a story of melancholic acquiescence. As a Minneapolis-St. Paul native, it’s hard not to read Bloodless as a love letter to Minneapolis and the people that inhabit it, which all carries a bittersweet spirit of both restlessness and comfort. The street corners and hot nights Samia sings about feel particularly intimate to the midwestern summers that have sustained and reassured me in their renewed familiarity. I live my summers knowing they will end, and my past summer ended with Bloodless as the ideal soundtrack. Bloodless exists as an ode to the empty years of tapering youth, defined by an insistent impermanence, not-knowing, and a hopeless dedication to desire. 

Aman’s Pick: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Haley Williams

My album of the year was initially uploaded as 17 individual songs on streaming services with no prior notice, and was not meant to be considered an album. Not only did Hayley Williams’ Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party have one of the most inventive rollouts of the past year, it also features some of the most confessional, gripping songwriting of any genre. Songs like the title track and “True Believer” are punching and deeply reflective songs about gentrification and culture in Hayley’s hometown of Nashville. The album maintains a sense of brutal sincerity throughout, with other songs tackling past romances, mental health, and reflections on Hayley’s two-decades long career as the frontwoman of Paramore alongside her solo career. The album builds a sense of atmospheric gloom that is truly haunting, and Hayley’s storytelling sensibilities truly shine.