These Are the Best New Songs We Heard This Month (2025)

We’re just days away from honoring the best music of 2024 at the Grammy Awards, but let’s not forget: We already have a month’s worth of new music to dive into. It’s looking like 2025 is off to a strong start, thanks to fresh releases from Bad Bunny, FKA Twigs, Japanese Breakfast, Aly & AJ, and more. What comes after a year of brat and “that’s that me espresso”? These next 12 months, we’re about to find out.

You can listen to all the picks on our Spotify playlist, too. (Want more music? Check out last year’s picks.)

Subscribe to Apple Music

Subscribe to Amazon Music

With contributions from Carine Lavache.

“Bad Bunny turned up the temperature this month with his new album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which starts off with this vibrant opener. It’s a journey that goes from a sample of ‘Un Verano en Nueva York’ by El Gran Combo se Puerto Rico to a dance-worthy remix to a whispered third act that’s just as exciting as the song’s loudest moments. Benito’s plan for a Puerto Rico residency sounds wonderful, but I can’t wait to hear this live in the Big Apple too.”—Erica Gonzales, deputy editor, culture

“I have been evangelizing Tate McRae to my friends, and this track, off her upcoming album, So Close to What, made one skeptic a McRae follower. He called the song a ‘sexy bop,’ to which I replied, ‘I want to be sprayed by a hose while listening.’ He then said, ‘Stand outside a fire station with a speaker.’ He’s right. New York Fire Department, beware: Tate McRae and I are coming for you.”—Sam Maude, associate editor

“Four years after Jubilee, Japanese Breakfast is in more somber territory for her next album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women). She said in a statement that the new record’s thesis ‘is largely about people, often men, who find themselves seduced by temptation and are duly punished for it.’ This first single is right up that alley—a mellow and poetic ballad with scant lyrics, about a man who is lured by a siren to his death. Her mind!”—EG

“The collaboration no one saw coming confuses listeners but also perhaps slaps? FKA Twigs and North West team up on this track off Twigs’s new album, Eusexua. West, daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, sings in Japanese about God for some reason, and Twigs ‘bum bum bums’ throughout the rest of the song. While I’m left wondering if it’s mildly offensive, I can also realize that it works, and the song is probably one of the best off of the album.”—SM

“Olly Alexander, thanks for the perfectly gay bop. A gift off his upcoming album, Polari, Alexander, formerly known as Years & Years, delivers a lustful club hit in ‘When We Kiss.’ Smooches under strobe lights all around.”—SM

“Mike Hadreas, a.k.a. Perfume Genius, wrote this song about not knowing how to put yourself out there when you’re more comfortable in isolation. The chorus of this single builds with beautiful imagery: ‘It’s a mirror holy terror taking focus off the horizon / It’s a chorus reaching for us swarming locusts wherever you go.’”—EG

“The Disney Channel days are a highway away in Aly & AJ’s newest track. The almost six-minute lead single from their upcoming album, Silver Deliverer, embraces the ’70s with strong guitars and a pumping beat. It’s beyond clear: The sisters have firmly defined their sound, and it makes us excited for what’s to come.”—SM

“Joy Crookes’s latest single is a biting diss track disguised as a seductive jazz tune. Her rich vocals float over a sparse drum beat and bass line as she soulfully calls out a hater. She said in a press release, ‘The song is basically me squaring up (musically) and being like, OK bitch if [you] have something to say come say it to my face.’ Who knew a clapback could sound so soothing?”—EG

“The dance floor can be liberating, and TOKiMONSTA and PARTYOF2 perfectly capture that in ‘Feel It.’ While some of the lyrics are a little shocking and off-putting, the beat makes up for it with a heart pumping rush. And, beyond that, ‘Set me free, ASAP / Jump, jump!’ has been running through my head nonstop this past month.”—SM

“The Weeknd concludes the moody, electronic offerings of his After Hours trilogy with his new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow. While, melodically, ‘Open Hearts’ is fit for the dance floor with its ’80s feel and synths (reminiscent of his past track ‘How Do I Make You Love Me?’), the lyrics are melancholy and full of heartbreak: ‘It’s never easy, falling in love again.’”—EG

“This month, Rose Gray delivered a superb pop album with Louder, Please. A standout is ‘Everything Changes (But I Won’t),’ which has an intoxicating synth that truly makes the spine tingle. In my book, Gray’s album is no-skips. She is, undoubtedly, a pop artist to watch.”—SM

“The third single from BANKS’s upcoming album, Off With Her Head, delivers with a repetitive chorus and almost monotone vocal. Her voice only ascends or descends when needed, creating some sonically interesting moments and emphasizes key points throughout the track.”—SM

“Guitar legend Lucy Dacus releases an excellent solo track from her upcoming album, Forever Is A Feeling. It still has that Boygenius flair, and Dacus’s upcoming album boasts backing vocals from Boygenius bandmates Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. And yes, a boy I know did cry on the subway to this song. Dacus is just that powerful.”—SM

“When JoJo drops anything, I listen. The singer's latest EP, NGL, is a soothing balm for the ears, and ‘Ready to Love” is a standout.”— Carine Lavache, senior content strategist

“Central Cee taps a collaborator from across the pond, 21 Savage (who was also born in the U.K.), to imagine what his life would be like if he wasn’t from London but somewhere in the U.S., like Harlem, Oakland, or South Carolina. The duo spell out the currency conversion in the hook: ‘That’s GBP,’ Cee says, to which 21 responds, ‘Price go up if it’s USD.’ Luckily, vibing out to this song doesn’t require any mental math.”—EG

“Indie sleaze icons Sleigh Bells are back with another chaotic, head-thrashing banger, this one embellished with heavy drums and video game-like flourishes. On the hook, lead singer Alexis Krauss declares with fuzzy vocals, ‘It’s personal, not business.’”—EG

“If Gracie Abrams’s ‘That’s So True’ taught us anything, it’s to never ever sleep on the deluxe. Nessa Barret gives us a modern waltz with ‘LOVE LOOKS PRETTY ON YOU,’ an excellent track on Aftercare (Deluxe). Her whispering voice perfectly compliments the easy guitar and drums. Anyone down for a dance?”—SM

“One of my favorite genres is songs called ‘Boys’ or ‘Girls.’ Joining the likes of Charli xcx, Rita Ora, Cardi B, and more, Cat Burns enters the playlist with this fun dedication to the ladies. It’s smart and cheeky, and Burns’s voice floats throughout the track.”—SM

“Amid the chilling sound effects and haunting pauses in Ethel Cain’s latest project, Perverts, is the track ‘Amber Waves,’ which sounds closer to her offerings on Preacher’s Daughter. Though it builds slowly, it’s moving with its gentle guitar strums, light harmonies, and occasional, echoing drum beats for emphasis.”—EG

“There was a moment in music when bands like Of Monsters & Men, The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, and more were on top of the world with their folk tracks. But everything comes back, and with the rise of stars like Noah Kahan, the return of modern folk was written in the stars. Cameron Whitcomb, an American Idol contestant, enters the conversation with ‘Hundred Mile High.’ The banjos pump the song forward, beckoning listeners on a cross-country road trip. Down the dirt road we go.”—SM