Dear, readers–
Welcome back to Letters From Liz!
Well, we are officially half way into 2025! I read somewhere that apparently, July 2nd 2025 will officially mean that we are closer to the year 2050 than we are to 2000. Where has the time gone?
Anyway, because it is the halfway point of the year, it’s about time I share some of my favorite music up to this point! A slight disclaimer: normally, I would rate the top 5 albums of the year, but… I really haven’t come across full albums that I actually enjoyed this year. Is it just me, or is it more common for artists to release singles rather than albums these days? That’s a different rant for a different post.
Without further ado, here are my top 5 songs/releases of 2025… so far, of course.
5.) “How Bad Do U Want Me” – Lady Gaga, Mayhem
When Lady Gaga dropped her first single off of her then-upcoming album, Mayhem, people didn’t really pay much attention to it. It wasn’t until she decided to drop “Abracadabra” on the night of the Grammys, making anyone that grew up in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s nearly felt themselves transport into that era. It was so Gaga-coded! When her album officially came out later in March, the sound is exactly what the title intended: Mayhem. It had so many different genres of music all in one CD, and while I have a couple of favorites on the rotation, “How Bad Do U Want Me” reigns on top. It’s more on the poppy side of Gaga, but she has always been the type of artist that is able to morph her voice for many different genres. This song, to say the least, is the closest thing to a Taylor Swift-esque song I will ever like these days.
4.) “Manchild” – Sabrina Carpenter
There’s no doubt that Sabrina Carpenter is the “it girl” in pop music right now, so when she announced that she was dropping a new single, the world literally went feral. While I wouldn’t say she’s personally in my top favorite artists, I have casually listened to her music throughout the years (“Thumbs” and “Honeymoon Fades” were heavy on the rotation). “Manchild” is like the cousin of her Short and Sweet era, adding more of a nostalgic “country-pop” sound to her music. I will say this one con of her current sound: her lyrics can come off as insensitive to an audience that isn’t familiar with her or her music, and there’s only so much that you can do and explain it being a part of the image you are portraying. Anyway! I did enjoy “Manchild” at the very first listen and was stuck in my head for days afterwards. I’m curious to hear the rest of the tracks on her upcoming album, Man’s Best Friend, later this summer. Sabrina Carpenter’s steadiness into mainstream fame honestly needs to be studied, especially during a time where we live in such a fast pace culture.
3.) “Like JENNIE” – JENNIE, Ruby
Whoa, do I have an actual album to talk about in this post? Within the first 6 months of 2025, Jennie’s debut album Ruby was the first album on my list that I enjoyed as a whole discography this year. There is a reason why Jennie is (and has been) the most talked about K-pop artist since 2016. She can sing, she can rap, and her aura literally screams superstar. This album as a whole was like a mixtape of some sort; it experiments with different genres and no two songs sound the same. In particular, she introduced her lead single of the album at the end of her highlight medley, “Like JENNIE”. The chorus is strong, aggressive, and the lyrics act as a response to every single individual that has ever had an opinion about her by simply saying, “but have you ever met Jennie?” Needless to say, her debut album (in my opinion) was the best out of all of the Blackpink girls, but that’s just because my music taste favors more of what she has released. Besides “Like JENNIE,” I was also obsessed with her album trailer teaser song, “ZEN”; again, it was a powerful song, discussing how nobody and nothing can ever, well, lose herself and zen of life.
2.) “Bebe” – STAYC, S
I don’t know what STAYC’s agency has been putting in their music recently, but I feel like every single comeback this group has had has been on constant repeat, and an instant banger for me. Of course, people that were fans of their earlier discography has had dry loud opinions about their music now, but honestly… the recent stuff has been so much better. Anyway, STAYC made their first Korean comeback of the year with their mini album, S. The lead track, “Bebe”is this very vogue-like dance song, which isn’t the group’s typical sound, but somehow fits the groups image and growth as a group in the last 5 years. STAYC has always been a quirky group; their music has always had that classic “kpop” element that isn’t common for many groups, but the girls are now taking that sound and putting a more mature twist on it. “Bebe” literally makes me feel like I am dancing in the middle of a club with LED spotlights circulating around the room; needless to say it’s been heavy on the rotation since it first dropped in March.
1.) “Gameboy” – KATSEYE, Beautiful Chaos
Last but certainly not least, we have a new group on the list! KATSEYE is a 6-member girl group under HYBE and was put together through a survival show, “Debut: Dream Academy”. The members of KATSEYE are Manon, Sophia, Daniela, Megan, Lara, and Yoonchae. They debuted last year, which quickly went viral when the lead single of their debut EP, SIS: Soft is Strong when viral on the internet. There was a ton of anticipation with their comeback, and when it was finally released in April, many people were confused with the direction (and meaning) of their lead single, “Gnarly”. It’s a song that needs to be performed to enjoy it, and these girls proved almost everyone wrong with their stage presence as soon as they started promoting this song in Korean music shows. We all then thought the lead single of the 2nd EP Beautiful Chaos was their latin-inspired “Gen Z’s Jolene” song called “Gabriela”, but we were all fooled when the girl dropped the music video to “Gameboy”. This song is literally the song of the summer. These girls are the artists of the summer! I immediately had to put this song on my Spotify playlists, even without fully listening to the song. In a whole, their 5-track EP does not have a skippable song, which makes this the top contender on my “top 5 albums” list for the year.
I’m excited to see what the second half of the year has in store for music and to see just how different the list looks at the end. That is also me hoping that good albums are released before then!
Letters From Liz. 