Hello and happy new year one and all! I'm a few days late with my review of last year's many musical offerings but there was just so much for me to go through and re-remind myself of!
I'll start off with the only gig I managed this year the amazing Delilah Bon. Those of you who read 2024's Blog will remember that her Evil Hated-Filled Female was my favourite album of the year and I was really excited to see her live. The excitement was well worth it as she was absolutely fantastic (you can read my full blog about it here). I love small gigs - give me a gig in a club over a stadium any day, you can 'feel' the music more.
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Delilah also released an EP towards the end of the year 'Princeless Princess'.
It's another great message of female empowerment and just being yourself without giving a fuck. My favourite song on it is Dragon.
Another great thing to come from Delilah's show was discovering a new band who I'm really enjoying called Eville.
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| At the Delilah Bon show |
They also released their first EP back in the summer Brat Metal my favourite song from it is Accidents Happen. I really hope they play some more shows this year - they're actually from Brighton so them making the half hour train ride to Eastbourne would be much appreciated 😂
Before I go into detail on the (many) albums I enjoyed in 2025 here are some of my favourite songs of the year. As always click on them to check them out.
The Pretty Reckless - For I Am Death - As an aside I REALLY hope they tour next year as they're absolutely fantastic live!
Nine Inch Nails - As Alive As You Need Me To Be
tiLLie - Wake Up & Smell The Bacon
Lola Young - Who Fucking Cares?
Crae Wolf - On My Body and Whip Rock
And now it's ready for a deep breath as we dive into my favourite albums of 2025!
The first two on my list are sequels from 2024 so to speak.
Hazbin Hotel Season 2
The second season had as many broadway-worthy tunes as the first one.
Wicked For Good OST
The moment I left the cinema after seeing the first Wicked film I was excited for the sequel. I even resorted to finding a bad YouTube recording of the Broadway show so I knew what happened next and, more importantly, learn the songs from Act 2! My favourite songs (that I was fully prepared for and humming along to) are The Girl In The Bubble (written for the film), No Good Deed and of course For Good which had me in tears with it's lyrics about saying goodbye to someone who has changed your life 'for good'.
Ghost - Skeleta
I got into Ghost back in 2024 and ended up with tickets to see them in 2025 which I was really looking forward to but unfortunately it was not to be. This has put a slight unfair dampener on the album (see also Lady GaGa below) as I was really sad not to hear it live. I love the first single Satanized (a video of a dancing monk what's not to love?).
I probably didn't work as hard as I should have to get into the rest of the album as I'd already sold my ticket by the time it came out but I do really like Lachryma and Cenotaph. Hopefully they'll be back in the UK again before too long and I'll catch them then!
I was SO excited when Mother Monster announced 'LG7' at the end of 2024 (in my blog I was really hyped) and when Abracadabra dropped my excitement reached fever pitch!
The album did not disappoint. The promised dark 'dungeon pop' was there and the vibe and artwork reminded me of my favourite The Fame Monster. Highlights for me were Garden Of Eden, Perfect Celebrity, Zombieboy , Killah and of course 2024's Disease. As I hinted at above my love for the album has been a dimmed a bit because of the mess that was trying to get tickets for the Mayhem Ball tour which meant I couldn't experience it live. GaGa is one of the best live artists I've ever seen and I'm so so sad that I didn't get to join the other Little Monsters on the road.
Taylor Swift - The Life Of A Showgirl
Taylor's back! This album was so much fun and I found it so much easier to get into and enjoy than 2024's Tortured Poet's Department (nothing wrong with that album by the way - it made it onto the list). I think it was because of it's joyful and fun vibe. My favourite songs on the album are Eldest Daughter, Father Figure, Opalite and of course Fate Of Ophelia with it's lavish video.
It's been a tough 18 months for me, and some sparkle and fun was exactly what I needed so thank you Taylor!
And so to my album and artist of the year ... of course it's Yungblud!
I've been a fan of Yungblud since around 2019 and his 2020 album Weird! was one of my favourite albums of the year. I also credit him as the person who got me back into live music post-covid when I saw him back in 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall (blog here). He was so energetic and fun and reminded me of what live music is all about. He's been my joint favourite artist with 30STM & GaGa ever since (he has a spot on my music tattoo section of my arm) and I've seen him 4 times now.
It's been an absolutely crazy year to be a part of the Black Hearts Club. When the video for Hello Heaven Hello (also my favourite song of the year) dropped it was such a departure from his previous pop punk/rap/rock/punk vibe but I loved it's classic rock sound.
When the album Idols dropped it was more of the same in the best possible way. He really stretches his vocals on the album and it's just wow! My favourite songs on the album are Zombie (nominated for a best rock song Grammy!), The Greatest Parade, Ghosts and my other favourite song from the album War with it's soaring guitar.
Yungblud burst into the public consciousness in July with his performance of 'Changes' at the Ozzy Osbourne celebration show Back To The Beginning and showed the public what we've been saying all along about how awesome he is live!
He followed this up with a performance at the VMAs with Aerosmith which included Crazy Train - my favourite Ozzy song.
The year was rounded off by the release of the joint EP with Aerosmith One More Time and the single My Only Angel and on New Year's Day he dropped a collaboration with the Smashing Pumpkins on Zombie.
I have a ticket to see him next year at the O2 which I'm so excited for! It's tinged with a teeny bit of sadness that I won't get to see him at small venues like I did 2023 when I saw him at a nightclub (Yungblud take 2). But I'll take whatever venue I can when it comes to hearing all these fantastic new songs live.
Until next year .....
Love Jen
XxxX
You can find my previous year's music blogs here -
