Kurt Writes Things' Top Five Songs of 2025
/2025 has been a year of two halves in my listening life.
For the first six months, I kept up my Discovergraphies habit from previous years, dining on a new album a day to keep the blues at bay.
I chased novelty with the same musicological rigour and zeal as before, but as the year went on, I found myself slowing the pace of playlisting to pick up only new releases from artists I already knew and loved.
And since there are plenty of those, there’s usually enough new releases each week to keep my ears full. Here's my top 5 songs released in 2025:
My Morning Jacket - 'Time Waited'
Happy-tears highlight ‘Time Waited’ drifts on a twinkly piano loop from Buddy Emmons’ 1969 track 'Blue Jade' that sets a dreamlike stage for Jim James’ honeyed voice & the band’s widescreen warmth.
A loping love song about patience & presence, it shows how time bends, blurs, and blooms when you’re following your heart. We've got forever, dear. Take all the time you need.
Haim - 'Relationships'
While its parent album may lack the polish of past efforts, 'Relationships' is a pristine indie-pop machine powered by boom-bap percussion, melt-in-your-ears melodies, and a Nineties R&B mood.
The Southern California sisters debate the push-and-pull of romance, caught between the craving for company & the exhaustion of falling apart again when an innocent mistake turns into seventeen days.
Linkin Park - 'Let You Fade'
We don't want to admit that we are never going back. The loss of Linkin Park's late lead singer Chester Bennington is a wound that will never fully heal, but that doesn't mean the fellas & fans have stopped hoping. 'Let You Fade', the final release from a deluxe edition of the band's first album since his 2017 passing, feels like their most direct act of remembrance yet.
A gentle piano intro soon gives way to anthemic 'Minutes to Midnight'-era guitars, as Mike Shinoda duets with new co-frontwoman Emily Armstrong to show that time will test us, but he won't let his friend - or their legacy together - fade away.
Tunde Adebimpe - 'Magnetic'
After catching TV On The Radio live last year, I was glad to see more programming in the pipeline for 2025.
Primal, punky, and irresistibly propulsive, ‘Magnetic’ finds their frontman stepping out for his debut solo album, channelling art-rock instincts into a synth-driven buzz beat about resilience & release. Its shouted chorus lands like a mantra not far removed from TVOTR's twitchy tunescape.
Suede - 'Dancing With The Europeans'
Finding communion in the chaos, ‘Dancing With The Europeans’ sees Suede continue their fine run of form post-2013.
Brett Anderson shrieks a song of connection in a disconnected world, where hope & humanity move and groove in an elegant rush of Britpop bombast and angular post-punk riffage. Your ghosts are my ghosts.
It’s #SpotifyWrapped season, so here’s writer Kurt Duvel’s top five songs of 2023 and some thoughts about Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, The Tubs, Mammoth WVH, and Fall Out Boy.