What Next | Daily News and Analysis 2025: The Music of the Year
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Jan 1, 2026 
Julianne Escobedo-Shepard, a music writer and co-founder of Hearing Things, joins Lindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic at the New York Times, for an engaging discussion on the standout albums of 2025. They dive into the powerful themes of Cleo Reed's and Lido's knockout releases, while Lindsay defends the polarizing sound of Geese. The group explores the significance of Bad Bunny's politically charged album and reflects on K-pop's evolving landscape, asserting that rock's resurgence shows no signs of fading.
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Year Of Polyglot, Genre‑Melting Pop
- The Slate Music Club reconvened critics to map 2025's fractured music moment across genres and languages.
- The panel framed the year as polyglot and omnivorous, with streaming dissolving old genre boundaries.
Personal Picks: Reed And Lido
- Julianne names Cleo Reed's Country and Lido's orchestral Afro-Colombian record among her favorites for storytelling and scope.
- She likens Reed's record to a leftist Cowboy Carter and praises Lido's Medellin Philharmonic collaboration.
Live Shows Made Albums Click
- Lindsay names Geese's Getting Killed and Water From Your Eyes' It's a Beautiful Place as her top albums after seeing them live.
- She credits live shows for unlocking both records' emotional power and urgency.