We might as well get the obvious one out of the way. As soon as Wolf Alice appeared on the line up for Glastonbury this year, I just knew they were making a comeback. That being said, the overall sound of The Clearing was not at all what I expected. At first this frightened me. The first single ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ had filled me so much excitement and became my most played song across Spotify and YouTube. I was so ready for their new material, and once I embraced the new direction I fell entirely in love with this album. It is the only album that I know for sure sits at the top of this year’s list, which may well be down to Wolf Alice being one of my favourite bands of all time. Still, this is the band experimenting with new styles and set up, which played out beautifully on their arena tour at the end of the year. Well worth the wait and I can’t wait to continue listening to this over and over for the end of time.

I cannot tell you enough, just how invested I am with the shift in style and dynamic of Wet Leg this year. Their album moisturizer came with a whole new visual aesthetic, nevertheless the essence of Wet Leg remained. This album feels effortlessly cool, with lyrical genius in abundance. It is both witty and tender, naughty and nice, and I think I might even like it more than their debut release, which is generally quite rare for me. Standout tracks are ‘mangetout’, ‘catch these fists’ and ‘CPR’. I mean honestly, I could just write the whole tracklist here. After the grit of ‘catch these fists’ I’m not sure I was immediately ready for the sweeter tones of ‘davina mccall’, but it soon became another favourite of mine. In a nutshell, moisturizer covers all bases (the good the bad and the ugly) of falling in love, which is exactly what I ended up doing with this album.

What can I say about this album? This was pure fun and while not my most critically acclaimed favourite, it became such a moment of the year. First of all, it was a surprise release from Tyler, the Creator, much less thought out than last year’s Chromakopia. I have to admit I still haven’t given that album my full attention, but I fully got swept up in the manic energy of Don’t Tap The Glass. Obviously, ‘Sugar on My Tongue’ was an instant hit, both on record and on stage. Maybe it’s the needy in me, but I also found myself loving ‘Ring Ring Ring’, particularly vibing the opening lyrics, “I hope you good, I hope you well, I hope you lit” – I couldn’t tell you why, they just scratch an itch every time. I am interested to see how this album stands the test of the time. Either way, I spent a lot of time listening to this in 2025 and had an absolute blast every time, so I would be remiss not to mention it.

Now there were many anticipated albums this year, but Addison is not one I saw coming. I’ll be honest I wasn’t even really aware of Addison Rae previous to the Charli xcx Von dutch remix. Even when I first heard ‘Diet Pepsi’ I never made the connection. Then before I knew it, I was playing ‘Headphones On’ and ‘Fame Is a Gun’ on repeat. This was definitely me diving in to my love for pop again, and I am being deadly serious when I say that seeing her name on the lineup for Primavera 2026 played a major part in me buying a ticket for the second time. I still can’t quite wrap my head around her being on the bill next to The Cure, but I do know I love it.

I did my homework late with this one. Since seeing Divorce support Lime Garden at Whereelse? in Margate a couple years back, I just knew I had to see them again when they returned in December this year. I bought the tickets many months ago despite not having yet listened to the new album, Drive to Goldenhammer. In the end I crammed it all in on the day, but since the show I have gone back to it time and time again. If it is not the album in its entirety it is ‘Antartica’, ‘All My Freaks’ and ‘Hangman’ as my standout tracks. I know this is about the album, but I cannot go on enough about how incredible Divorce are on stage. I felt overwhelmed with all the emotions at their recent Margate show. From pure joy, to heartbreak and just the absolute awe in hearing the power of their vocals, as well as the passion reflected back from the crowd. It reminded me of the feeling I had when I saw Foxing in London years ago, the feeling of unity between band and fans. It was almost biblical, and I have barely stopped listening to the album since.