Sunday Special: The Best Music of 2025

I'm Gilbert Cruz, this is the Sunday Special. For the last few episodes of 2025, we're looking back on the year in culture. Today we're talking about music. There were so many albums and songs released throughout the year, we're going to talk about some of the biggest and best with two people who are immersed in music pretty much every single day. Karen Gans is the pop music editor here at the Times. Hello, Karen. Hello Gilbert. And Lindsay Zollads is a pop music critic here, Hello Lindsay. Welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me back. So to kick things off, I'm going to start a sentence and you're going to complete it. Okay. So for music, 2025 was blank, fill in the blank. He was a bummer year for me, Gilbert, honestly. It really was. I know, sorry. We're starting off on a sour note. We're going to, things are going uphill, but the rocket ship takes off after I finished this initial answer. I was making my own best of lists. And I was like, I have had the hardest time this year. I think the hardest time ever, and I'm going to say 25 years of professional list making. Oh, my God. Because last year, it was like Billy Eilish and Beyonce. The year before that, it was Olivia Rodrigo and a hundred gecks. They were just these obvious, giant things that had such a strong impact on me. And when I was making my list this year, I was like, uh-oh. So to me, overall, there were a lot of records I was expecting to be great. They were a little lesser than I anticipated. I'm going to say a year of disappointment. I'll take the flip side of that. I'll try to spin it more optimistically. Thank you. Just so we're not stuck in the mud here. Everyone's going to get mad at me. No, but I don't think you're wrong. I think in terms of the mainstream, it was a very stagnant year. And I think some of the biggest blockbusters of the year were huge in a commercial sense, but I found lacking artistically. Yes. But the flip side of that is that I had some time and space in my eight-year-on-list to pay attention to things that were going on under the radar, which I always am as a critic, but I think because there was such a void of the big marquee names this year, it really presented an opportunity to dig a little deeper, find some new things that were unexpected, and come up with a list that felt a little more personal. I think it was a year where there was not a big consensus pick, or even a few consensus picks of the album of the year. So I think out of that void and disappointment, if you will, there can also be a bright side. So it sounds like there wasn't necessarily, quote, album of the year this year, but there were several sort of big releases that I think the three of us were sort of big fans of. I want to start with the star of our upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, "Bed Bunny." He had a huge, huge album this year called "Debi Tirán, Más Fultos." It was one of your picks, Lindsay, tell me why I loved it. I love it. I consider it in the league of what Beyoncé has been doing recently, where it's an album that is very informed by musical history and certain musical lineages, you know, Beyoncé in the Renaissance album and "Caboy Carter," these two records that she's put out recently that feel, you know, very curated and like a conversation with the history of dance music, the history of country music. I hear "Bed Bunny" doing that with the history of Puerto Rican music on this record. It's really mining the past in this way that feels very personal, but also very contemporary. It never feels like homework to listen to. So I think it's very cool that you have Alistair's making records like this that just feel so in conversation with the past, but still feels so present and even forward looking in a lot of ways too. And he also had a song that referenced Juan Sotto. I mean, that definitely tipped the skills in my direction. That's what I thought. I was going to say, I loved, he had talked about in our interview that John and Joe did on pop cast in January about how so many of the people that played instruments on the record were really young, like we're talking 18, 19, 20, and they were, you know, bringing in the songs that they're past, but really I think just by virtue of their youth, they're imbuing them with some sort of new spirit. I love hearing these sort of like a few electronic plinks and things, making their way in with all the instruments. Yeah, it's intergenerational in that way that you're talking about too. And I think you hear that, you know, "Bed Bunny" also has talked about, it's sort of him going back to his parents or his grandparents' generation of music, certain sounds that you associated with like older people, quote-unquote, and you get to a certain age and you really start to appreciate that. Yeah. So I think while he's working in a very specific lineage and like referencing a specific culture, I think that's such a universal experience that is part of the reason this album resonates well beyond and it's really, I think, expanded his fanbase even more. It surprised me how much of this album in particular was the one that finally sold me on "Bed Bunny." I didn't really get into his past three ones, but I sort of feel like I need to go back and re-experience the whole thing, the whole uvra. All right. Let's move on to something that you two really in particular loved. I guess I'm putting my pause up, I don't really know what that means. But I know that Lady Gaga made both of your lists. Tell us about Mayhem, her latest album, Karen. I know you could talk for like two hours about this. I can. Do you want me to start? You're in danger. Watch. Watch talk for like four minutes. Okay. I'll give you less. I first, you know, the biggest meoculpo because when it came out, I was like, I don't like this. It's not living up to the expectations I had. I was a little bit negative. And then I went to see the tour with Lindsay because she was reviewing Mayhem and all of the strands of Gaga's entire career suddenly connected for me. And it made me love the album in a way that I really didn't expect to. So it's still flawed in my mind. Like the bad songs to me are just really clunkers. But overall, I really do see it as this sort of reinvention and but plugging into the things that made her so invigorating in the first place. You know, like just really core, interesting, grindy dance music. What's one song in particular that really sold you? Abracadabra, single number two, which was one of the biggest hits from the album this year. Okay, that's a good song. This song has something that Lindsay and I both really appreciate about Lady Gaga, which is like made up nonsense. I was just going to say the nonsense versus back, yes. And it's something she, I don't want to say originated, but it's a throwback to bad romance. It's a throwback to the fame era. The song, Shysa, where she says, I don't speak German, but I can if you'd like and then speaks fictional German. That's a very specific Lady Gaga thing we both love to hear her recurrent wish to learn German. That comes up in multiple songs, yeah. I think what I really like about Abracadabra in particular, it's, she's playing around with this concept of fan service that we hear a lot about these days. That sort of meaning you're pandering to your fans, you're giving them exactly what they want at a time when fans can be very vocal online that you're getting instant feedback as an artist. I think fan service is a term you usually used derisively, but I find the best parts of Mayhem to be the best kind of fan service, which is that her fans have just wanted her to go back to making these dark electronic pop bangers for a long time now. She's swerved a bit, she's dipped a toe in that world, but this is her just committing to the sound that made her famous, but bringing a certain maturity and a level of expertise to that sound that I think just elevates it from some of the earliest stuff that made us all fall in love with her in the first place. I did not expect to be saying this, but there was another pop star this year who ended up on a lot of list, song list album list that was Justin Bieber. Who knew? It's been four years since his last record and people liked it. What stood out to you about this? So Bieber released actually two whole albums, two double albums, do a lot of music. Let's just say. Under the name swag, swag one and swag two. And I didn't think all of that was successful, but I think the highlights for me, including the song Daisies, which was a big hit this year, and which was one of my favorite singles of the year, really worked. This album and this song in particular finds Bieber working with some new collaborators and producers, the producer and musician Dijon and the guitarist McGee. These are artists that have slightly more experimental, indie adjacent sounds. Those are not really words you generally describe Justin Bieber with, yeah. So it was him sort of trying something different and then also these collaborators who tend to make a little more avant-garde music, working with one of the biggest pop stars in the world still. And I found that tension between all of those collaborators to be really fruitful and really like the way Bieber sounds on some songs that don't sound as polished as the pop hits that were used to associating him with and I think Daisies just sounds unfinished and demo-like in this really intriguing way. And it felt like a really interesting swerve for Bieber because you're still getting that recognizable smooth Bieber voice, but with these rougher textures of the instrumentation. Yeah. And I think what he said even though you were surprised to hear his name pop up here, you know, he had just been a tabloid fixture for the past two or three years, people were talking about his relationship with his former manager Scooter Braun, his wife, he had a child. I think he had been so caught up as a cog in the pop machine for so long that what I like best about this record is that he just sounds extremely loose and like himself. I'm not the biggest, uh, Bieber, is that what they call them, I'm not the biggest Bieber fan. Swag wouldn't be on my list, but it is really refreshing to hear him in this new context with these new, uh, you know, producers and voices and it seems like, you know, the world is open to him now. He just needs to sort of step back in. Yeah. So we talked about bad bunny and Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Those are all three big, pretty established artists. But I'm curious what you thought about new music from some people who only broke out more recently. I'm thinking specifically of Chapel Rhone and Sabrina Carpenter. They are artists who had big 2024s. Did you think of their music this year? Lindsay and I have talked about this a lot, but you know, when you have a blockbuster years and you artist, you really have to decide what, what your next move is. Are you going to give people more, you know, and try to seize the moment or you're going to step back a little bit and like, you know, sort of more, slowly calculate your next move. And Sabrina and Chapel did the two opposite things. So Chapel only put out two songs this year. The giver, which is sort of like a country jam. And the subway, which is more of an anthemic, a little bit of a power ballad. And I thought both of those songs were just like very well selected, two great, carefully considered songs. And I think Sabrina's move was like, Hey, you guys liked short and sweet. Here is round two. And I don't think that that album was quite successful. There is a bit of stick to her music. And I think that it played off perfectly on the first record and the second record. It's a little like, okay, but now I need the next iteration. Yeah. Those two artists really embody the two different paths you can take after a breakout year. It was a year light on breakout stars, especially in comparison to last year. But someone I would also add to this mix is Doki, who believe it or not, her breakout Grammy performance that I think was the first time a lot of people got to see her perform really like were introduced to her was in 2025, she feels like she's been, yeah, yeah, it was this Grammy's, yeah, the Grammy's, okay, they're at the big, this year has been too long. That's the problem. I agree. I agree. I was an amazing performance. Yeah. So she was incredibly famous this year, someone who suddenly has a very high profile. And she also chose to just lean more into the music she had already put out. She did a tour that Karen and I both got to see on her mixtape "Alligator Bites Never Heal" and she seems like someone who's confident in taking her time. It's so easy to just put out music, you know, there's just a slow drip of music constantly coming out and to go back to Bieber releasing basically every song he recorded for swag. And you know, in the streaming era, Moore is considered Moore. And I think what was refreshing about "Tapelrone" and "Doki" following these years with a little bit of withholding, a little bit of, I'm gonna give you the next thing when I'm ready. Not, I'm just gonna throw everything out there and see what sticks. So I think they're approaching their careers in a more considered way and that makes me more excited for what they do have coming next. I will say as a notice support for Sabrina, she really just sort of like a real show girl. You know, she was a TV star and she's just like an all-around entertainer. So she had started in a rena tour and she continued it, just adding stuff from her new album. And you know, it's pretty tough to translate a newish album or two on the arena stage. The interesting thing about Doji and Chapel and a couple other people I saw this year is that they were like in mid-sized venues. They didn't go the arena route. You know, you're not watching a screen really when you're in a place like Forest Hills, which is where we saw "Tapel," you're pretty much watching the stage. So Sabrina had to sort of be larger than life. I think she's just a little bit of a different kind of entertainer, more of an entertainer than any sort of thing. Sure. And I did, while I didn't love Man's Best Friend, the whole album she put out, she had one of my favorite hits of the year in "Man Child." Love that song. She, to make the most obvious pivot known to man, was not the only showgirl that we're going to talk about. There was an album that came out this fall that everyone was excited for. Someone at "The New York Times" actually really loved it. One of our critics, his name is John Caramatica. The two of you, a little less hot on Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl." Which was the numbers are crazy, record breaking album. You know, it's sort of been writing the top of the charts since it came out early this fall. This is a confounding release in Taylor Cowell. It's a good word. It really is, though, because it's exactly what you just said. It is one of the most popular albums that has ever arrived. The single is huge. The fate of "Aphelia." You hear it everywhere. It's been number one for the weeks. But the conversation around Taylor shifted so hard on this album. Whereas a few albums ago, people were so scared to say a negative word about her that paced review to the album with no buy line. Because they were worried that their writer was going to get doxed. And now on this album, I think people felt really free to start taking shots at her. I do not hate this album by any stretch. I actually find it very listable. But a lot of the lyrical content, some of the other stuff in the album, turn people off and they actually said it. So this is this weird moment where she is the most popular person ever to walk the earth, but she's also being more criticized than she ever has been. Well, is it because she is the most popular person that's the pop star that's ever walked around? I mean, she's coming off this crazy tour. She's finally engaged. She finally went out of podcast. And now she puts this album out and was like, "Ah, it's fine." I think it's partially that she set us up for slightly different expectations. And this has happened many times in pop history. And it take you back. Do you remember when the killers put out their second album? It was called "Samstown." I do. Is that the way we're like, this is the Springsteen album? Is that? Yes, but the thing I recall best was that Brandon Flowers was doing press. And he was like, "This is the best album ever. You're going to love this album. Nothing is better." And then the album come out and people were like, "It's not that good." And it's not that good would have been just fine. Had he not set us up with this expectation that it was the best thing ever? Taylor promised us like 12 concise pop bangers. I'm going to say it's anger. I believe it was her not the end of fiance who said they're all bangers. He did. Yeah. But they didn't take it so blame Travis blame yeah, we'll blame we'll be I will be happily blamed Travis Kelsey for this. But there were just expectations about what it might sound like based on her past collaborations with Max Martin and his team. Yeah. And I think people's initial response was like, hey, it's not exactly what you promised. And then they were like, hey, I don't really like what you're saying on a couple of these songs. And hey, why are you singing about his manhood and things like that? Oh boy. I used to euphemism. She's in love. She's in love. Sexuality is a big part of human life, okay? Is she supposed to deny it? But that has never really been a core part of the Taylor Swift proposition? Yeah, I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Yeah. This was kind of a hard pivot. Yeah, and I think another-- because I agree that there was a turning point in the way that this album was received and talked about. And I think there was just a level of cultural exhaustion that people were feeling around Taylor Swift, the celebrity, if not Taylor Swift, the musician. And I think something that did not really do this record service was how much this became about other things, not just the music. And I'm thinking specifically of the AMC film, the film. Oh my god. And something clicked for me when I was there watching it and then watching essentially glorified lyric videos that another artist would have just uploaded to YouTube and been done with it, paying $20 to go see this in a theater felt a little just gross to me, honestly, and that experience, which I think she bills as this communal experience for her fans. But she's still charging them. It was very cynical, very simple. Yeah, and I think the reception of that move was pretty negative. And the way it was tied into this album, like when I think about the life of a showgirl, the cultural phenomenon, the music is not the first thing that's coming to mind. And I don't know, yeah, if Karen, you're nodding. Yeah, you're 100% right, Lindsey. The conversation about this album was really not about the album. I think that's true. But it is also true that the life of a showgirl was billboards number one out of the year. And Morgan Wallensheim, the problem was number two. That pair really dominated the charts. Yeah, it really was the year of Taylor and Morgan Wallens. On the album chart, not a lot broke through this year. That's my year of disappointment. But there were some one-offs where something would be number one for a week, and it was like a very brief thrill. Gaga was number one for a week. Tyler the creator had a week at number one, Cardi B. It was just like a lot of people were kind of in and out. The Swedish metal band Ghost got a week. No, I don't know who that is. Oh my god, well, we'll have to revisit this. But there's a separate ghost pod. I mean, we could. They are masked metal. They're mysterious. They have no names. You're not supposed to know who they are. And-- Well, I definitely don't. You don't. Ghost sounds like a very poppy metal. OK. Yes. I could be into that. I went to the show at MSG. It was a no-phone show at MSG. It's put in the little pouch. Put in the pouch. Yeah. I reached for that pouch a hundred times. I just wanted to take video because it was so crazy. Amazing pyro guys and skeleton masks, you know, like, noodling away. Very frustrating that I could not capture that. But anyway, they're fantastic. All right. We are going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we are going to talk about some of the other music. We love this year. Some stuff that maybe was a bit more under the radar. I kind of think we should play some ghost to take us out. It's great. I love it. Look at that. It's my Halloween playlist. I really do. [MUSIC PLAYING] So Lindsay, you just put together your best of lists for albums and songs, which people can find in the show notes. But considering it's been a weird year in music, what popped out to you? What stood out to you in your lists? So as I was compiling these lists, I noticed some micro trends emerge. The rise of the producer as artist, I think, is a trend that we've seen over the past two years. One example of that from my list this year was Dijon, who we mentioned, was a producer on the Justin Bieber album, also made an appearance on Bonnie Werner's album, which was on my list as well. Dijon is both a solo artist and a rather forward-thinking producer does a lot of really fragmented, kind of almost like shattered glass version of pop songs that just have all these interesting shapes, and Dijon's own solo album, Baby, was also on my list. [MUSIC PLAYING] It's a really unique, just fusion of all sorts of different types of sounds. There are songs that kind of turn into something else midway through, but it's also grounded in this experience of new fatherhood. It's a record that Dijon made about he and his partner having a kid. And there's something really, really lived in and kind of tactile about the lyrics and the perspective on the album combined with these really avant-garde sounds that I think makes the record really compelling. Is that something that needs to be listened to sort of as an album all the way through? Because when I was experiencing it, it felt like a full thing, not that I could just pull out a couple of tracks here and there. I think more than almost anything else on my list, I would say that about Baby. And I think he thought of it. I almost said conceived, but I didn't want that pun. [LAUGHTER] Too late. Oh, no. I think he really is someone who's thinking about the larger shape of an album. But I think the flip side to the sort of producer artist hybrid is that sometimes it can be difficult to translate the kind of studio rat energy into a compelling live show. And I've found Dijon as a live performer was fine, but his show didn't really grab me as a great show. And so as producers become sort of musical celebrities in their own right, how much charisma do you need when you're used to sort of taking a backseat to another start? It's not easy to be a frontman, but I agree that Dijon record is very like enveloping. And I think part of what was less successful about the live show was that there is this sort of like broken up stop start nature to a lot of it. You know, he's obviously very indebted to Prince. You'd be getting sort of like a Prince like funky vibe, but then he would change it up. Yeah, which is interesting, and it keeps you on your toes, but it was maybe a little bit of a less successful live experience. Lindsay, I know you on your list wrote about, let's say next generation, a new generation of New York City rock bands that are coming out. One of them is a band named Geese. I have thoughts, but I'd love to hear your thoughts first. Oh, Karen has thoughts too. And we all have thoughts about Geese. Actually, my album of the year is Geese's album Getting Killed, great album title Geese Getting Killed. I love this record. I find it just exhilaratingly inventive and strange, and it just feels like a whole sonic world that you step into from the opening track. I've played it so many times over the past few months. And Geese is a band of astoundingly, depressingly young people from Brooklyn. I think everyone in the band is 23, and this is their third album, so they've been at it for a while, they're helmed by the vocal stylings of frontman Cameron Winter, which I think in my blurb, I likened to cilantro in that some people love it, and then some people have the gene where it tastes like soap to them, and I think I'm getting the impression that I'm sitting with two of them right now. This is true, and I can't wait to hear. But I love Cameron Winter's voice. He released a solo album. album at the end of last year called Heavy Metal that is even stranger and more forlorn than this Geese record but felt like a real breakthrough for him as a songwriter finding his own very distinct songwriting voice. Getting killed from Geese married that Carmen Winter record which I really like with rock and roll which I also really like but I feel I feel I feel like I'm over here tortured now actually tortured but Gilbert I really want to know what you think. So this weekend because it's the holiday season my family and I watch the movie would sing many times before it's called Emmett Otter's Jug band Christmas. Oh yeah and Cameron Winter to me sounds like a Jim Henson creation I just don't understand his voice at all. Behind I think he could be in like the River Bottom Rock band there's something about his voice. I think that's a compliment. It's a little yelling you know there's a yell. There's a lot of yell. Yeah it's yell forward. The thing is I hated this album the first time first couple times I listened to it and I put it on five times this weekend and it might actually be like I just need to dunk my head into the bucket because the more I listened to it the more I was okay with it and then maybe the more even I started to like it I don't know that I will ever appreciate his voice which is his God-given voice. I'll respect to his voice but there is a there's a hurdle there's a hurdle to this. It is slightly it's like Kermit cilantro is what it is. I would like to see that muppet actually. A Cameron Winter muppet. Yeah he's definitely gonna be on Sesame Street at some point. I don't know I think I wouldn't disturb the children. So I feel like I'm in the middle moving slightly Lindsay's direction. Welcome. Karen is out out out. I'm so out. I don't know what this album I mean I think I know what this album is trying to do and it is trying to conjure the spirit of 70s 60s 70s New York bands and it just doesn't do it for me at all and I did try repeated listening this weekend in attempt to say am I am I just not giving it enough time. I think I hated it more every time. There's just shadows of the music that I like in it and I don't want to discount the fact that for a lot of people Gen Z and Younger this is their first interfacing with these sounds and they're finding them thrilling and I think that is awesome. So I don't want to be like a crazy old ages you know Fuddy-Duddy here and be like that it was all better in the old days. The music that these people are drawing on is very valuable. You know we're talking about Lou Reed's suicide television I mean these are wonderful sources to me they're not doing it successfully. It just feels like a mishmosh to me. But I think it's interesting just how divisive it is and and that's part of I don't want to say that's part of what I like about it because I do just love this record but I think it's refreshing that an indie rock band from New York is getting this much of a rise out of people and a reaction you know whether you love it or hate it and I think another trend we want to discuss is it was actually a good year for rock. Yeah question mark. I mean for me it's always kind of good year for rock. Yeah but I think something that I that I really embrace about Geese 2 is you know every year every few years that you get the thing pieces is rock music dead but I think this this was a year when a lot of younger bands were finding ways to make rock music that resonated with their cohort and that felt somehow new and novel and like a distinct approach to it something about Geese when I saw them live last month people were crowdsurfing to the ballads. I've never seen that before. You know there was such an energy there. Can you hear my eye roll? Karen how can you? It was fun. Not appreciate this enthusiasm. I listen I love excitement for indie rock that's awesome. Before we move on let's talk about one other New York rock band that I think maybe that you you can come in agreement on this one. We both like this one. Yeah tell us about it. The band is water from your eyes or as my boyfriend calls them tears. I get the joke. Water from your eyes is essentially a duo of Nate Emo's and Rachel Brown. Nate Emo's wailing away on the guitar on this record lots of layered distortion just big crunchy guitar songs which I know is something Karen and I both enjoy. And Rachel Brown sings in quotes with this deadpan. Just really interesting lyrics almost kind of spoken word poetry they're funny they're dark they're about these apocalyptic times that we live in and something about those two energies coming together makes her really compelling music. I think this is in some ways an alternative rock 90s record made by people that did not live through yeah no I totally got 90s and there's something really satisfying about that. Yeah to me this is the exciting Brooklyn band at the moment. Lindsay I'd love to talk about one more trend that appeared on your list this year. Sure I noticed when putting my list together only afterwards that there were a lot of British women making interesting pop music this year and pop music under a very large umbrella I'll start by talking about I think my my 10th favorite album of the year fancy that by Pink Pantherous. This is a quick I think 20-minute album so if you couldn't get through swag or the Morgan Wallen record if you don't have the attention span I do I have a recommendation for you. Pink Pantherous is someone who came on the scene a few years ago had a very distinct sound as both a producer and a vocalist but seemed like she kind of had one lane and one sound that she was doing really well and this album feels really refreshing to me. This is her doing something a lot lighter more effervescent kind of flirty a lot of her songs previously were about heartbreak but this is almost a concept album that tells the story of this burgeoning romance. It's really good and it shows the side of her that I think was was maybe I was not sure was there it's it's it's an artist who going back to this idea of how do you follow breakthroughs and how do you continue to develop your your artistry in in an industry that is moving so fast I think this just finds her shifting into another gear that I was not aware she had and I think it's a delightful record. I think a lot of people have been trying to sound like her over the past few years. She's got like you know sort of a high-pitched breathy vocal and her you know tracks are generally pretty upbeat dance music like you know Lily Allen bit her on one of the songs on the new album there's a bunch of stuff so I thought I love this record too also 20 minutes incredible length. Yeah these songs definitely have more of an effervescence to them. I also want to point out that Lindsey profile Pink Panther is on the previous record and almost threw up on her on a rollercoaster. I was wondering if this was going to come out. Yeah. Yeah. So Pink Panther is loves roller coasters and we should have had her on a roller coaster episode. I had no idea. Oh yeah. I got to do part two. Shout out opportunities. Yeah. Yeah. I don't love roller coasters or especially as I get older. I'm prone to motion sickness. So this was a great pairing of subject and writer. They went to the American Dream Mall. We did. Oh. Yeah. And the first roller coaster we rode together was a spinning one. Uh-huh. And I really came close to vomiting on Pink Panther's. Did you let her know? Oh yeah. Yeah. And she said something. She was very sweet about it and she's like I think it's good to know your limits. And then she rode like five more roller coasters while I stood and watched her. So the basic use of your time. Yeah. Yeah it was. It was. Karen you mentioned Lily Allen. Uh I feel like this was quite a tabloid moment when she released this album late this fall. I can't believe that these zeitgeist has swung back to Lily Allen. But yes Lily Allen basically put out like a narrative intricately detailed recounting of a salacious story. And that's her album and it not shall accept. It's ostensibly autobiographical about the dissolution of her marriage and her cheating husband. ♪ You won't play with me ♪ - And who's Madeline? - It's really long, you kind of have to stick with it, you know, to get through the entire narrative, but there are some actually really great songs on there. - Yeah, who's Madeline? - Exactly, who's Madeline? Who the bleep? (laughing) - One of the reasons I love reading End of Your List is that I get to discover things that I miss, you know, in the previous 11 months. Can I ask you about one song that made your song list that I listened to it this weekend? - Yeah. - And I just fell in love with it. It was the Ella Langley song. - Oh, I wanted to talk about that. I'm glad you asked. - Choose in Texas. - Choose in Texas. (upbeat music) - It's this beautiful, sad girl heartbreak country song, co-written with Miranda Lampert. So, you know, already speaking my language, they're love Miranda. - It's great. ♪ Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee ♪ - Yeah, it's just a great country song that you can imagine being a hit in the '60s, in the '70s, in the '80s today. - This is great country heartbreak song. - Yeah, classic. - Yeah. - Every year needs one of those. ♪ Drinking jackal by myself ♪ ♪ He's choosing Texas I can tell ♪ - Karen, I'd love two or three real rapid-fire recommendations of songs or albums that you were into this year. - I'm going albums. - Okay. - Do you remember "Slay Bells"? - I sure do. - They've been gone for a very long time. They came back this year with an album called "Bunkey Becky Birthday Boy." It's an alliterative amalgam. - You do that very well. - Thank you. - Absolutely amazing record. It's all over the place. And it was an amazing reminder of how they were predecessors to all the things that we love in this sort of experimental hyper-pop realm. I will also say "Hilly Williams" put out another wonderful album. It's called "Ego Death at a Bachelor at Party," which is a really fun title. - What a great time. - It is. It's different a couple of years ago. She had her first solo record, which was like a little bit more electronic and experimental. This one's more of like a classic, singer-songwriter punky at Moments record, but extremely heartfelt, really interesting lyrics. Great stuff there. And then there's "Turn Style." They're a hardcore band that's like exceptionally poppy and gauzy and chugaisy and everything else right now. Which would make you say, are they still a hardcore band? People ask that question. - People in punk, you know, they like to keep their boundaries tight. They're drawing their hoody strings in, and trying to keep the world away. It's very, you know, I don't know if you're familiar with Ganscore, which is my particular brand of music, but this is as Gansy as it possibly gets. - I feel like I've known you for a bit. So yeah. - Yes. - All right, thank you both for all those amazing recommendations. We are going to take a break. And when we come back, we are going to play as we do every week a little game. We're going to listen to "Slay Bells," "Bunky, Becky, birthday, baby." - Boy. - Boy. - So close. - Okay, Lindsay and Karen, we are going to finish this episode the way we finish up. Every week we are going to play a game. We have three rounds for you, ostensibly about the music of the year. You should buzz into answer and correct answer gets a point. - Okay. - Are you ready? - We are ready. - All right, here we go. Round one, which we call "Viral of the Finest." It has been a big year for viral moments featuring pop artists. I'm going to give you a quote from a viral video from this year. And you tell me who said that quote. Okay. Either they're having an affair or they're just really shy. Karen. - Chris Martin. - Chris Martin, that is correct. That was from Coldplay Gate back in July. - Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy. - Next question. So you are going to jail, unfortunately, for being too beautiful. Lindsay. - Sabrina Carpenter. - Sabrina Carpenter, that is correct. - So you are going to jail, fortunately, for being too beautiful, but I'm going to serenade you. - Would this all be-- - Sabrina arrested an audience member, often somebody famous at each of the shows on her short and sweet tour. Next, one, two, three, take up space. (upbeat music) One, two, three, take up space. Okay, that's Katie Perry in space. - Oh. - One, two, three, take up space. - Do you remember? This was the year that Katie here went to space. - It's been a really long year, Gilbert. (laughs) - Sure has. Okay, it's a love story. Baby, just say yeast. Lindsay. Taylor Swift. - This was indeed Taylor Swift on the New Heights Podcast. It's a love story, baby, just say yeast. - Just say yeast. - All right, time for a multiple choice. A big song of the year, even though technically came out last year, is "Roll Models" Sally, when the wine runs out. When "Roll Models" performs "Sally Live," he often brings out a celebrity to dance during the songs break down. (upbeat music) - Which one of the following celebrities has not been one of "Roll Models" Sally's? Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, Al Roker, or Natalie Portman? Karen. - I'm going to say Natalie Portman. - Incorrect. Gracie Abrams. - Oh, I don't get to steal. Where are you going to guess, Roker? - There you go. - No, I knew Natalie Portman was fun. - All right, you do not get to start that. - I knew Olivia was one. - Sorry. That is the end of round one. - Oh, no, I'm losing. - I don't know because I'm not keeping score in real time. Who's winning and who is losing? We're all gonna find that together at the end. Round two, Kids Bop or Kids Flop. You're both familiar with Kids Bop? - Of course. - A series of albums for kids where young singers cover popular songs. I'm going to name a recent pop song and you are going to tell me if Kids Bop has covered that song. - Ooh, I like this. - Okay. - And then I hate it. - It's gonna be hard, but. - First, APT or APT by Bruno Mars and Rosé. - Karen. - Yes. - Yes. Kids Bop has covered this? - Don't you like me like a light? - I can't believe it. - We all remember that. Okay, next song, "Daisies" by Justin Bieber. Lindsay. - No. - No, that is correct. Kids Bop has not yet covered "Daisies" by Justin Bieber. All right. B-M-F by Sissa. Karen. - Can I say no? - Unfortunately, Kids Bop has covered B-M-F by Sissa. ♪ The boy from South Detroit keeps falling ♪ ♪ I can't keep my heart before the pin is so blind ♪ - Very sweet, very child-appropriate. All right, next song, "Anxiety" by Do Chi. Lindsay. - No. - The answer is yes. - Kids Bop has covered "Anxiety" by Do Chi. ♪ Bop has done it a jacky coldly brush up ♪ ♪ Think we're about to shine my cover ♪ ♪ Down to my kids Bop's done it just now ♪ - Kids are anxious. (laughing) All right. Next song, "Wild Flower" by Billie Eilish. Karen. - I'm gonna say yes. - Yes, "Kids Bop" has covered "Wild Flower" by Billie Eilish. ♪ Like a fever ♪ ♪ Like I'm hurting inside ♪ And then finally, "End of the World" by Miley Cyrus. Lindsay. - Yes? - No. - That's a little dark for kids. How you gonna spice that up? - That is good. - I'm gonna beat 'em. I mean, they did scissor. - True, true. - Okay, that is the end of round two. We have one final round and that is, "Cursed Come, Cursed Served." Our crack team of amateur DJs have put together it's a very special, very cursed mashups of recent popular songs. I'm going to play the mashup and you get one point for every song in the mashup that you can name. - Okay. - And they get harder as they go. All right, are you both ready? - Yeah. - First, mashup. ♪ I'm the one hiding, I'm the one hiding ♪ ♪ I got more than me ♪ ♪ Gonna be, gonna be, gonna be, gonna be, gonna be, gonna be ♪ ♪ Gonna be, gonna be, gonna be, gonna be ♪ ♪ Gonna be, gonna be, gonna be, gonna ♪ - Lindsay. - Well, Golden. - This is one. - Great, good job. - By Hendrix? - Yeah. I thought I got Karen. Yeah. Do you want to guess the other one? I don't. Okay. All right. That is a golden correct. Huntrix from K-Pop Demon Hunters. And sue me by Audrey Hobart. Ah. Ah. Okay. Next song. I'm forcing you to buzz. I know one of them in there. No, I don't. There are actually three songs in here. Man I need by Olivia Dean, mystical, magical, by Benson Boone. He have the Cremble Cookie and love me not by Raven Lenei. Yes. I feel bad. I did not buzz by Olivia Dean's song, which I do enjoy. I love that song. I can't believe I didn't recognize it. I just want to tell you that these get harder as we go. I believe in us, Karen. I think we can. I'm frightened. Next mashup. Oh my god. This song is so good. I'm the shun. Lizzy's O-Lets. Okay. We got sports car by Tate McCray. Correct. We got Narlie by Katzai. Correct. And then I'll allow Karen. I was going for Narlie. Okay. You got two. Okay. What was the third? Folded by Kalani. Ah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We all knew that one. Okay. We have one more. The hardest one, apparently. Well, welcome to the You're pretty cool. I'm a special special special I want back to a clean, dry head. Can I ask a question? No, but was there a kid's bot version of a song in there? I do not believe so. Okay. Lindsay. Yes, I did ring in. I heard "Fame is a Gun" by Addison Rae. That is correct. And then automatic by Dijon. Oh, but ordinary. That's what I was going to say. Ordinary by Alex Warren. I thought it was kid's bot, ordinary. This is like watching a wine critic swirl a nice, you know, full and then say, I detect notes of ordinary by Alex Warren. I also hear Sunday special by Gilbert Cruz. Correct. That answer point. Well, now you've destroyed me. And the last song was "Sugar on My Tongue" by Tyler the Creator. All right. That was the end of the round and the end of the game. Our producers are telling me that Lindsay won. Wow. Lindsay's own lads, you have won. Again. Again. I'm undefeated. And you know what? You win something. I think you already know what you're going to get. Oh, boy. Karen has not seen one. That was just disappointed in myself. Hmm. So as you can see, this is a cardboard box that I think we got out of the recycling. And in that box is a cheap plastic trophy with my wrinkled face on it. We call it the Gilby. Yay. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm going to put it next to my other Gilby, which is on my desk. Karen comes to you. I will visit my debut. Right after. Oh, my god. Visit my Gilby. You know, I actually do not have a Gilby. Oh, well, you are a Gilby. Can I borrow yours? Yeah, you can. I have one to spare now. Are you really rubbing it in now? Lindsay, thank you so much for coming on the Sunday special to talk about the year in music. Thanks for having me. Karen, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, Gilbert. This episode was produced by Kate Lopresti with help from Alex Barron, who's also our quizmaster, Intina and Tolini. Our show was edited by Wendy Dore, and engineered by Rowan and Nemisto. Original music by Dan Powell and Diane Wong. Special thanks to Paula Schuman. Next week, we'll be talking about the year in television. See you then. [BLANK_AUDIO]