John: Music in 2025 has had it all, from breakout new artists and big stars continuing to top the charts to ai generated artists igniting fierce debate online.

To help us sift through the year in music, Stephanie sy spoke with Maura Johnston, a freelance music writer and critic, and Candace Mcduffie, a freelance music journalist.

Stephanie: Maura and Candice, this is the third year running.

- - Running we have gotten together to talk about the biggest music stories of the year.

It's so great to have you back.

I just wanna start with asking whether there were any breakout artists, moments, or shows for either of you in 2025.

And we'll start with you, Candice.

Candace: I think Tyler the creator had another really big breakout year.

Last year he had massive success with chromakopia.

This year he released don't tap the glass, and it felt really authentic.

Refreshing and deeply intriguing.

Stephanie: What about you?

Maura: I thought that the Irish singer-songwriter, cat, had a really great year.

She put out a new record called euro country.

She's from Ireland.

She has a really sort of astute and sharp way of observing the world.

♪ he has this incredibly honeyed voice that just, you know, makes you want to listen to all of her complaints all the time.

Stephanie: You know what I love about having you guys on is your picks do not always match the charts.

So when you look at the pop charts, you still see familiar names at the top.

Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, bad bunny.

What do you gals think of their continued dominance?

Candace: I think in the case of bad bunny, him just honoring his heritage, speaking and singing and rapping in his native language, continuing to push the boundaries sonically for what it means to be a Latin artist has been really important.

It is speaking to the cultural and political moments of this country as well.

Stephanie: Maura, let's pick up on that.

Bad bunny was one of the biggest music stories of the year as well because of his selection to perform at the super bowl.

Remind us why that was so controversial and what you think it says about musicians' influence in the current political landscape.

Maura: Well, it was it was, you know, political because a lot of like certain strains of people objected to somebody who does not primarily sing in English as being the super bowl headliner, since the superbowl is all about, you know, America, even though Puerto Rico is part of America.

♪ but, you know, I think that it speaks it speaks to on some level the ignorance of a lot of the populace about pop music.

But I also think it speaks to the splintering of pop music in a way.

The atomization of listening that's been kind of accelerated by streaming technology, now it's like people make, you know, one playlist a month that has all the songs that they wanted to hear that month on it.

It's a totally different game.

Stephanie: You know, but undoubtedly there were, there just some popular pop stars still.

And Sabrina carpenter is one of them.

I want to continue on this political question for a second because she also got into the political fray when she condemned the trump administration for using one of her songs in a montage of ice raids.

- - I.C.E.

Raids.

Candice, I wanna ask you this.

Did you see a lot of overtly politically influenced music this year?

Candace: I feel like when you're an artist of color, your music is automatically politically inherent.

You saw other artists too condemn administration with their use of their music.

Sza just came out either today or yesterday recently when they used her song, big boys, in the I.C.E.

Video saying, hey, like this is rage baiting for artists, it's free promo, it's evil and it's peak dark.

We also saw Neil young confront Donald Trump and his song, big crime, and he held nothing back.

♪ I was shocked when I heard it, you know, talking about not meeting fascist rules and we don't need fascist schools, and we don't want soldiers walking on the streets.

I'm glad these artists are taking a stand.

Stephanie: What has truly been groundbreaking to me this year in music is the impact of ai on music and ai-generated artists, some of which are now topping charts.

Candice, I wonder if you'll comment on this.

What is an ai-generated artist and what should we expect more of and in the future from this technology?

Candace: There were two ai-generated artists that stood out to me this year.

The first one is probably timbaland's artist, his first act, ai pop star Tata on his record label stage zero.

There's also xania Monet.

She is an ai-generated artist as well and the first known ai artist to debut on a billboard radio airplay chart.

There's a lot of controversy behind it because it's about, you know, authenticity.

It's about not being able, you know for sometimes listeners to tell real from fake and kind of devaluing music and musicians overall.

Maura: Like what Candice was saying, authenticity is super important.

You know, music is so personal.

And to take out the humanity from one side of it really kind of upends the whole structure in ways that I don't think we understand will affect the wider listening base yet.

Stephanie: Finally, to the fun question, did either of you have a favorite song or album of the year?

Candice?

Candace: I have two songs that have been on repeat for me all of 2025.

The first one is eclipse.

They released their first album in 16 years, let god sort them out, and one of the songs that stood out to me in that project was the birds don't sing, featuring John legend and voices of fire, which is a gospel choir group.

♪ T's about losing your parents and those important moments and reflecting on your childhood from an adult perspective.

I lost my mom earlier this year and that song was just, it just hit home for me in so many different ways.

It was very powerful and very emotional.

On the opposite end of that spectrum was cardi B's outside.

♪ she released her sophomore record earlier this year, am I the drama.

I thought it was just so empowering and it just kind of told the naysayers to back off, like, I got this.

I am still that girl.

So those are my two favorite songs of 2025.

John: -- Stephanie: I love it.

Maura, what about you?

Maura: I have one song and one album.

For songs, Chappell roan.

I loved the subway.

>>I grew up in the 80s, and I loved the new romantic synth pop music.

It has that kind of just like really kind of shimmery, synthy feel, and her vocal performance on that song is incredible.

For albums, I would pick that's showbiz baby, which is the debut solo album by jade thirlwall.

She was a member of the X factor incubated girl band little mix, it is just a lot of fun take Sunday and's music with great reference points.

♪ T the same time, she wants to kind of push the boundaries of pop as wide as they can go.

Stephanie: Maura Johnston and Candice Mcduffie, thank you so much for sharing your takes on this year's music with us.

Maura: Thank you.

Candace: Thank you.