In fact, there have been many interesting releases this year, but relatively speaking, there have also been more boring ones. Well, who knows? Perhaps this is the price of TikTok Y2K.
I really haven’t listened to many tracks this year and I always feel that this year has passed by far too quickly, and I haven’t had the chance to properly listen to many tracks. My most intuitive feeling this year is that no matter who you are, if you’re making 4/4 dance music, you have to incorporate something like off-beat eurodance—otherwise, add some trancy rolling bass, or you’re not trendy enough. That famous South Korean girl group, BLACKPINK, came out with "Jump" produced by Diplo, and I actually liked it unexpectedly.
I think
@Lawn Jarre did an excellent job this year, so I’m willing to give him my TOTY. It’s a smooth, classical balearic track, and I believe guys on this forum will love it. The global release translation of "灵感飓疯" seems to be "Hurricane of Muse"—I seem to have forgotten to type that down. Additionally, I really loved the two remixes he released on Lost Language.
Then there’s
@Ishiro . I absolutely adore the sound design of "Akashic", it’s probably one of my favorite progressive tracks of the year. After that, there’s Hel:Slowed’s "Left Of Us" (sorry I’m really too lazy to type that damn empty set symbol again), Matt Fax’s "ARP", and Solarstone’s "sonata". Actually, I personally prefer Solarstone’s "boy", which is why I’m naming him Artist of the Year. As someone who lost their father during one of the most important moments of my life, this track touched me extremely deeply.
Next are some more Y2K-influenced tracks. They might be very cheesy, and in particular, I was a bit disappointed with KI/KI this year. After her early-year releases "Time To Party/For Acid", she hasn’t put out anything that really stands out. But as a listener who quite likes melodies, I’m still willing to vote for these mainstream attempts like Amy Wiles. Anjuna also felt more interesting to me this year than in the past two years.
As for the rest, I probably don’t need to say more, their names and works speak for themselves, and my attitude is "STFU and take my votes".
My Album of the Year goes to "Bigger Than All Of Us". I know there are more interesting albums out there, but it’s still my album of the year. As a safe bet from Above & Beyond, it’s not their best work, but relatively speaking, it’s still pretty good. This is also my main feeling about the music industry I’ve encountered this year and about myself, which is why I’ve chosen this album to represent my 2025.
For Compilation of the Year, to be honest, I haven’t found anything that really interested me this year. At first, I was looking forward to Superstrings’ mix, but they ended up making a mini mix that feels like TikTok exclusive, which completely killed my interest—stop making these minimixes, Armada. The musical legacy you acquired at such a high cost isn’t meant for this kind of thing. However, Trance Wax did a great job, so I’ve decided to name his work as the Compilation of 2025.
Thanks to
@NameLessYet for reminding me to participate in this vote.
