THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS : 2025

So, how was 2025 for you musically? It was good for Bad Bunny who was declared the most played artist on Spotify allowing him to make well over £100.00 in streaming fees. Oasis reunited and sparked a row about ticket prices. Well, it wouldn't have been Oasis without a row of some kind, would it! Pulp had their own comeback, with their first album of new material in 25 years, and it won the Mercury Prize. Saint Etienne sadly called time on their recording career. Taylor Swift was, well everything you'd hope or fear that she would be.

Here at Pop In The Real World it was a very good year. A new website (thanks Paul), a Mixcloud show that kept growing in ideas, if not listeners and record readership levels if the stats on the new and old websites are to be believed. Okay, we're not going to rival Rolling Stone or Pitchfork but, equally, they won't be achieving an percentage increase in readership by the end of the year of well over 100% will they?

I keep waiting for the quality of new music to fade away. Maybe it will if AI treated songs start to take over but for now, whether you're into pop, rock, folk, dance, singer-songwriter, ambient, revivals, dream pop, indie, twee, electronic or jazz, there was much to love about 2025. (I've only omitted reggae, soul, K-Pop and any other genres because I didn't listen to them as much as I would have liked.)

The most stunning album I heard this year was Beirut's uplifting and outstandingly gorgeous 'A Study Of Losses'. It came as a wonderful surprise because I'd never taken to his music before. 

Choosing a single Song of the Year proved impossible and not just due to indecisiveness. Beirut's Guericke's Unicorn was the song that got me into his album. It's simply an incredible piece of music, happy and sad like remembering something precious that is now lost. The second song is also happy and sad. It's Saint Etienne's 'The Last Time' - the last song on their last ever album. It's the perfect end to a perfect career. There's no YouTube video to share of the song. Sarah cracknell confesses to being in tears as it was recorded and you can hear why. There are no such ambivalent feelings in our third choice. Pulp's 'Got To Have Love' is simply one of the most breathtakingly euphoric slices of pop you will ever hear. If it doesn't raise your spirits, then you probably haven't got spirits to raise!

Mainly through acts reaching out tentatively to see if I was interested in listening to their music, I came across many new favourite bands, including Soft Cotton Country, My Raining Stars, Shapes Like People, Jim's Twenty-one, The Gentle Spring, Goodbye Wudaokou, Infinity Song and Emma Swift. It's frustrating to know that some people will never hear these bands and performers because they won't risk wasting 40 minutes of their life on their phone to hear something that may raise up their spirits for a day. 

Old favourites also came good, with strong albums from Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, The Last Dinner Party, Public Service Broadcasting, Saint Etienne, Joe Goddard, Villagers, Carwyn Ellis and Ron Sexsmith.

Let's not forget too, the more established bands that were new to me this year and sent me scurrying to explore everything else they'd released to that point. Take a bow Comett, Honeyglaze, English Teacher and many, many more.

To help you agree or disagree with those views, the Pop In The Real World 2025 is now up and running on Spotify and YouYube. Here are the playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6naFpkSvDUwPIaUXJDt6Me?si=b960fe720f3545dd

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwV-OogHy7Egf5UaV-WvNLr_CcWmmW2y1&si=4q0vAf-BlxrfCAqV