CTRL+ALT+REPEAT 2025: Best Artists
Audrey Hobert, Greer, Ethel Cain, and Blondshell were some of 2025’s standouts.
In a world where musical success is often marked by streaming numbers and TikTok virality, it’s easy for an artist’s message to go in one ear and out the other — literally. But what makes a musician great in 2025 is their ability to lure listeners in not just with impressive riffs or catchy melodies, but with an authenticity that leaves you begging for more.
From powerful debuts, to legendary comebacks, and continuations of 2024 milestones, here are the artists that wormed their way into our playlists — and hearts — this year.
Audrey Hobert
Tabita Bernardus, Head Writing Editor
Just when the world was in desperate need of a soundtrack for dead-end romances and people-pleasing tendencies, a new pop princess named Audrey Hobert fell out of the sky and handed over her debut album, Who’s the Clown? It’s one thing to be featured as a co-writer on her best friend Gracie Abrams’ album, but it’s another to attempt a solo project and hit the bullseye in one go. Her mastermind work lies in the catchy melodies buried under sticky choruses that get chewed on for days until you suddenly know every word by heart.
Take her song “Phoebe,” for example, which carries listeners along a wordy stream of consciousness story while never losing sight of Hobert’s heartfelt plot. Since the album’s release, the singer has garnered over 1.7M monthly listeners on Spotify, made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, announced a headlining tour, and turned the pop musical landscape on its head with unconventional, relatable songwriting. She completes the best artist formula with flying colors: sharp vocals, magnetic personality, unique musical compositions, and no fear in admitting you’d rather be anywhere than the Chateau Marmont with A-listers that won’t remember your name the next day.
Wednesday
Mitchell Stewart, Contributor
The strongest facet of Wednesday is their ability to craft gorgeous scenes that are on-the-nose representations of life in modern-day America. It’s as if lead singer Karly Hartzman and the listener are in on some deep and ugly secret. So rare is it to see a band have the range to write about the simple affairs of life like throwing up in the pit of a Death Grips concert on one track and harsh realities like having nudes sent around and finding the remains of a Carolina murder suicide on another.
Wednesday’s latest release, Bleeds, is the group taking all the lessons from their previous albums and morphing them into an amalgam of Rat Saw God’s expert lyrical storytelling and Twin Plagues’s balance of hard and soft rock. Wednesday has become so deeply ingrained with indie rock, and Bleeds cements them as the ambassador of the genre. It’s profoundly exciting that years from now, up-and-coming bands will cite Wednesday as their inspiration. But for now, we can appreciate that we are truly living in the golden age of indie rock.
Watch the music video for Greer’s “Had Enough” on YouTube.
Greer
Brooke Shapiro, Music Extras Co-Editor
For fans of California-based quartet Greer, the release of their debut album, Big Smile, this year felt like the end of an epic musical slow burn. The band has held the hearts of indie rock fans since the success of their first two singles in 2019, but following the release of their second EP in 2021, they went radio silent. After a four year disappearance that left fans wondering where the hell they went, the four-piece welcomed 2025 with a new single, “Had Enough,” in January. The subsequent announcement and release of their first LP felt like reuniting with an old friend, the 24-date tour that followed making up for time lost.
Though “with heavy hearts” the band announced they would be “saying goodbye” for the “foreseeable future,” if they had to go out, they did it with a boisterous, cathartic bang in 2025. While Greer may have been absent from Rolling Stone covers and festival lineups this year, the culmination of their legendary six-year run will live in fans' minds with the “might of worms.”
Djo
Daisy Calderon Arrendondo, Contributor
On and off the stage, it has been quite the year for Djo. Joe Keery, the man behind the moniker, returned to our screens as the beloved Steve Harrington in this year’s premier Stranger Things 5. But outside the realm of acting, Keery has been touring, releasing albums, and partnering up with his old bandmates for new music. In February, Djo began his “Back On You” world tour and followed it up with a second leg in North America, the “Another Bite” tour. In April, Djo also released his third studio album, The Crux, which later went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Album Cover. With hits from the LP like “Basic Being Basic,” “Delete Ya,” and “Charlie’s Garden,” it’s clear Djo is on a musical high and won’t be slowing down anytime soon. 2025 has been good to Djo — and his fans — and we’ll see more of him in 2026 with yet another tour (because two in a year is simply not enough), in South America.
Role Model
Maddy Yen, Staff Writer
It was the year of the diva — aka Role Model, aka Tucker Pillsbury. He was everywhere in 2025: chronically online, on tour, releasing new music, and even landing People’s first-ever “Sexiest Man Alive” centerfold. Back in February, he released Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye), featuring viral standouts like “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” and “Some Protector,” before wrapping his headline “No Place Like Tour” run in April. His summer was filled with filming his acting debut in Good Sex, playing festivals where he brought out celebs like Hilary Duff, Kate Hudson, and Olivia Rodrigo, and wrapping up his tour with Gracie Abrams. Closing out 2025, Pillsbury toured internationally and appeared on SNL (where Charli XCX was featured as Sally). We’re not sure what Role Model has in store for 2026, but after an immensely successful 2025, maybe he’ll finally get that Birkin.
Watch Lizzy McAlpine perform “Spring Into Summer” live on YouTube.
Lizzy McAlpine
Jackie Fortis, Music Reviews Editor
Seemingly the “it girl” of sad girl music, Lizzy McAlpine is an artist who undoubtedly deserves the giant year she has had. Even after releasing both her third album, Older, and a deluxe version, Older (and Wiser), in 2024, she refused to slow down this year. Throughout 2025, it seemed everywhere you looked a song of hers took off on the charts and resonated with a new wave of listeners. McAlpine has pulled in huge numbers with songs like “Spring Into Summer,” “Pushing It Down and Praying,” and “Staying,” along with gaining overall adoration for her entire discography.
The success she has had this past year is the greatest reward after the hardships she endured in making her third album. She is settling into the exact place she wants to be as an artist: creating music that aligns with who she truly is and the sound she envisions, touring and performing in ways she can enjoy, and even achieving miscellaneous goals outside of her personal music career, like making her Broadway debut in Floyd Collins. She is truly a once in a generation type of artist, bound to have a long and legendary career.
Ethel Cain
Mitchell Stewart, Contributor
This year saw two new projects for Ethel Cain: Perverts and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. The former is a dramatically polarizing ambient album that strays far from Cain’s 2022 career defining album, Preacher’s Daughter. Cain produces soundscapes on Perverts that haunt and mesmerize; it’s entirely possible to lose yourself in the dark and moody undertones of this mostly lyricless album, which slowly drags you into its murky depths with each song. Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You returns as a prequel to the narrative set in Preacher’s Daughter, with its Southern gothic storytelling. Willoughby Tucker sees Cain’s doomed lyricism cranked up to its highest degree, from the haunting, “to love me is to suffer me,” in “Nettles” to the solemn, “I hope I die today, save me from another late night of red eyes,” in “Waco, Texas.” Cain has cemented herself as someone who can so effortlessly plug themselves into the world of the damned to create music that forces the listener to reckon with the worst parts of themself.
Watch Blondshell perform “Thumbtack” live on YouTube.
Blondshell
Jane Flautt, Music Extras Co-Editor
From releasing her second LP and headlining a tour across North America and Europe, to performing on KEXP and Jimmy Kimmel, Sabrina Teitelbaum — the name behind indie rocker Blondshell — was everywhere in 2025. And it seemed like every other indie artist wanted a piece of her, too — Gigi Perez, Samia, and Folk Bitch Trio are just a few of the artists featured on the deluxe edition of her 2025 record, If You Asked For A Picture. The album was one of the standout releases of the year, with Rolling Stone adding it to their 100 Best Albums of 2025 (#94) and its single, “T&A,” coming in at #20 on their 100 Best Songs of 2025. And while the mainstream accolades are more than deserved, the power of Blondshell lies in something altogether less restrained. When you hear a Blondshell song, you know it immediately; her rageful feminist rock, grounded by equal parts self-awareness and self-loathing, has one of the most distinctive points of view in contemporary indie rock. With lyrics that capture the cruel self-flagellation ritual that is love in the 21st century, Blondshell is boldly carving out a space for herself in modern rock music.
Del Water Gap
Daisy Calderon Arredondo, Contributor
After a decade of making music, S. Holden Jaffe, better known as Del Water Gap, has had one of his biggest years yet. Since being announced as the North American opener for One Direction’s Niall Horan in 2024, Del Water Gap has garnered more and more attention amongst indie pop fans. After a year of being on the road with Horan and time in the studio, DWG returned in 2025 with a new single, “How To Live,” which saw its live debut at Lollapalooza in July as part of his festival run. The single was followed up in November with the release of his third studio album, Chasing the Chimera. Even before that, DWG also kicked off his own headlining tour with several sold out shows in cities across Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom earlier this year. Twelve years after his initial debut and more than 2,817,966 monthly listeners later, it’s safe to say it’s been a widely successful year for Del Water Gap. Here’s to more music and more tours in his future and selfishly, as a West Coast fan, maybe an album release party in Los Angeles this time!
Doggone
Mitchell Stewart, Contributor
Chicago artist Doggone seemingly came out of nowhere this year with their second single, “William.” The up-and-comer clearly takes inspiration from artists like Mk.gee and Dijon, combining the industrial sounds of the former with the intimate lyricism of the latter. Doggone doesn’t just emulate Mk.gee and Dijon’s sounds; they build on it to create hypnotic work that takes their inspirations’ works to new levels of extraordinary that, at more than one point, will give listeners pause. Doggone crafts these epic instrumental breakdowns at the end of most of his songs, which are just so satisfying after having been built for the length of the track, especially on songs like “Unforgiven.” Not much is known about Doggone, which almost adds to their allure; they are doing it for the love of the music, not the fame and attention. Hopefully, we can learn more about them in 2026 and explore their work even further.