CTRL+ALT+REPEAT 2025: Best Songs
Daniel Caesar, Djo, Samia, and Racing Mount Pleasant released some of the best songs of 2025.
In a year that saw everything from the return of Hayley Williams to Dijon making his SNL debut, it’s difficult to neatly condense these highest of music highs into any kind of “best of” list. But the staff at Off the Record is more than ready to try.
So, here are our picks for the standout songs of 2025 — tracks that represent some of the best that indie, R&B, alt, folk, and rock artists had to offer this year. Check out all of our CTRL+ALT+REPEAT 2025 recaps: Best Albums, Best Indie Songs, Best Alt Songs, Best Rock Songs, and Best Photos.
“Blade Bird” by Oklou
Mitchell Stewart, Contributor
Oklou started 2025 off in a big way with her album, Choke Enough, which was released in February. The album’s closer, “Blade Bird,” is a deceptively simple song whose lyrics, like “You’re so cute, and my blade is on the bird / I’ll be the one who ends up getting hurt,” I often find myself randomly repeating throughout my day. The track sounds almost like something you’d hear children sing on the playground. Oklou’s beautifully Y2K-adjacent album culminates in this one deeply raw song that puts words to a feeling most of us didn’t even know existed within ourselves. It’s simple compared to the other songs on Choke Enough, but it’s that simple, raw production that contrasts this grand idea of being in the way of your lover’s freedom. Oklou delivers a masterclass of an album closer with “Blade Bird” that ups the emotions of the record in a way that makes you want to return over and over again.
“Old Recliners” by Role Model
Daisy Calderon Arredondo, Contributor
Who releases a breakup album on Valentine’s Day? None other than Tucker Pillsbury, of course. In his sophomore album, Kansas Anymore, Pillsbury, better known under the stage name Role Model, delves into the intricacies of modern relationships and the subsequent fallout after a breakup. In his song “Old Recliners,” Role Model reminisces about his former partner and the time they spent together. With its catchy lyrics and fun beat, it’s almost hard to focus on the meaning behind the song, but diving headfirst into intimate memories, regrets, and longing, “Old Recliners” is a love letter in its own right. And if you’ve never gotten over anything ever, this one is for you.
“Pants” by Samia
Jane Flautt, Music Extras Co-Editor
Sit back and immerse yourself in the poetry of Samia with “Pants.” A six-minute track that reflects on the cruel pull of the past, “Pants” is a haunting gut punch of a song. The indie-rock singer’s vocals are at once ethereal and wrenchingly raw, and they are allowed to shine above a background of subdued drums and guitars. With lines like “I’ll trade the ‘why’ for ‘how’” and “Who was I when I bought these pants?... / Now I’m questioning everything I am,” Samia captures the jarring experience of time passing. The image of a pair of pants that have witnessed many different seasons of her life is far from simplistic; indeed, the literal and figurative concept of undressing is a symbol she returns to often in her third album, Bloodless. Featuring her trademark lyricism and emotional depth, Samia’s “Pants” is a song worth ruminating over.
“Back On You” by Djo
Sullivan Jordan, Senior Writer
Watch the official visualizer for “Back On You.”
In an ode to his four sisters, who provide backing vocals on “Back On You,” Djo captures the infinite bond between siblings in a delightful tangle of sweet lyrics and sporty beats. Gently borrowing from 70s and 80s rock classics, “Back On You” remains quaint with a folksy guitar instrumental, but adds a sharp edge with earthy electric guitar and drum riffs. While also serving as a meditation on his growing fame, Djo finds comfort in the understanding that he has a built-in support system who will keep his heart and mind grounded. A gentle choir of voices embraces and carries you throughout the track as Djo reminisces on the unconditional love and support from his sisters, later expanding the title of family to his close friends: “My friend, my man, he's unlike any other / I used to say I didn't have a brother / Well, I guess I can't say it anymore.” After all, family is often the people we meet throughout our lives who connect with a deep part of ourselves and see and understand us for who we are, regardless of background or DNA.
“Racing Mount Pleasant” by Racing Mount Pleasant
Brooke Shapiro, Music Extras Co-Editor
Racing Mount Pleasant is proof that we need more horns in indie music. After rebranding from Kingfisher earlier this year, the Michigan-based seven-piece reintroduced themselves with a sophomore album that deserves more than a genre classification and is best described as an experience. The self-titled record’s title track and second single, “Racing Mount Pleasant,” is exemplary of the extremes the band can reach, both sonically and emotionally, while making some damn good music. The tension built by seemingly endless tom drum rolls and repetitive guitar strums is intensified by continuous one-note melodies by a tenor sax and trumpet, while an alto sax riffs between lyrics. And just when you think the sonic wave you’re riding crests in the middle of the five-minute track, the band straps listeners in for more of their head-bobbing motifs and poetic lyrics: “I don’t know the reason why / I can’t meet your eyes / It’s all coming down on me / Can we stay inside?” Giving the track a self-titled name was an on-the-nose choice; “Racing Mount Pleasant” has everything a band needs to get listeners’ attention, and they clearly intend to keep it.
“Dang” by Rainbow Kitten Surprise
Watch the music video for “Dang.”
Jane Flautt, Music Extras Co-Editor
Rainbow Kitten Surprise has never been concerned with conformity; their music eschews labels, spanning every genre from indie rock and folk rap to alt pop and soul. And with “Dang,” a single off their fifth album, bones, the North Carolinian band has created a dynamic rock song reminiscent of their older tracks like “Hide” and “Goodnight Chicago.” Lead vocalist Ela Melo has one of the most distinctive tones in contemporary music, and this track highlights her impressive range, from spitting bars to crying out in frenzied angst. With lyrics like “Woof, woof, woof, and you’re barking on my leash, babe” followed closely by “And I do or die, I’m bleeding love,” we’re reminded of what RKS does best, which is unabashedly combine the zany and the raw, the humorous and the twisted. To their critics and skeptics, RKS holds up this song and says, “who gives a f**k, let’s live it up.”
“How To Live” by Del Water Gap
Daisy Calderon Arredondo, Contributor
Described as a song of “spiritual confusion and the quiet work of survival” by Rolling Stone, Del Water Gap’s first single of 2025, “How To Live,” examines social issues and varying degrees of mental health. “How to Live” was released in July and served as a preview of his third studio album, Chasing The Chimera. Alongside the dread and despair that plague the protagonist of the song, there is a casual romanticism expressed in the melodies. The song ends with the lyrics, “But there’s something in the rough, figuring out just how to live,” ultimately acknowledging the deeply exhausting, yet equally rewarding, human experience.
“True Believer” by Hayley Williams
Brooke Shapiro, Music Extras Co-Editor
Hayley Williams’ third solo album, Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party, was one of the buzziest releases of the year, and there’s no better track to support that than “True Believer.” The dissonant piano chords, minor guitar lines, and droning strings heard throughout provide the disquieting ambience needed to accompany the lyrics that stare racial injustice, religious hypocrisy, and social issues right in the face. “They pose in Christmas cards with guns as big as all their children / They say that Jesus is the way but then they gave him a white face / So they don’t have to pray to someone they deem lesser than them,” she sings in her smooth alto, for instance. Williams’ performance of the song on “The Tonight Show” — where she sat at a keyboard behind an orchestra of all Black performers — was arguably one of the most important musical moments of 2025 and showed why music is sometimes the best form of protest.
“Rewind” by Dijon
Reegan-Tate Johnson, Co-Editor-In-Chief
2025 was the true year of the dad album. Especially for Dijon, who released an autobiographical record, Baby, full of anecdotes and prods at the life-twisting events of fatherhood. A track with a significance give away to self-reflection is “Rewind,” one which paints a brutalist narrative towards what it means to have a child watching you, waiting to soak up your every motion like a sponge. He sings, “Turn a lock/ And pick out a weak spot / You think that he can’t learn that?” and “Will his love lack light like mine? / Will his brains beg him / ‘Be kind?’” before the final collapse of the song. It’s a direct, powerful acknowledgement that sometimes the biggest inheritances one receives from their parents are their faults, flaws and defects. It’s a lot.
“Silver Jubilee” by Audrey Hobert
Daisy Calderon Arredondo, Contributor
Spearheading the “be cringe” campaign this year is viral sensation and new pop artist Audrey Hobert. In her debut album, Who’s the Clown?, Hobert establishes a musical style that is funny, a bit weird, and insanely unhinged. Her writing is unique, and it’s clear she’s not afraid to be unapologetically herself. In “Silver Jubilee,” the album’s final track, Hobert writes a love letter to the chaos and mess of being young. This song is all about living life, dancing, drinking, and making an absolute fool of yourself whenever possible. Its relatability and catchy melodies make for the perfect pop hit. To be cringe is to be free, and Audrey Hobert is a clear example of just that.
Watch the music video for “Call On Me.”
“Call On Me” by Daniel Caesar
Roxie Jenkin, Contributor
As a Daniel Caesar superfan, I can confirm that “Call on Me,” off his recently released album, Son Of Spergy, is an excitingly fresh take on his musical style. This excitement is not limited to his longtime fans, however. Any listener can appreciate how effortlessly fun this track is, pulling you out of your seat and deeper into Caesar’s discography. He reinterprets the giving nature associated with religion as devotion to a love interest or peers, backed by an easily grooveable instrumental track that signals a new take on his usual sound. The steady drumbeat and 60s-style guitar tone, combined with harmonies and his familiar expert sampling, invite both new and old listeners to explore Caesar's ever-evolving style. For a good time, we can always call on Daniel Caesar.