As last year starts gathering dust, it’s time to forget all about it and cast our hopes and dreams onto 2025. Sorry 2025, we’re aware that you’re only a couple weeks old, but here’s what we demand from you!!
Here are 10 artists we’re hoping to hear new music from in 2025. Some of them are definitely going to, a couple are teasing us with recent singles, while the rest are total shots in the dark. That’s part of the fun with these lists though. Who’re you looking forward to hearing from this year?
better joy
Kicking things off with one of our most featured artists of 2024 is better joy. Last year saw Bria release FIVE singles to great acclaim. From the intense, guitar-driven sound in the early months – including “Situations”, which landed on our Favourite Singles of 2024 – to the more reflective “what a day”, a whole range of styles was revealed, and all of them were great. This year we’re hoping to hear more from better joy’s upcoming debut album, which is set to land in March.
Black Country, New Road
Black Country, New Road celebrated the new year with a teaser posted on their YouTube page, which could signal either new music or an unexpected piano tutorial series. Either way, it’s exciting to hear the possibility of a new album from them. A lot has happened to the band over the years, and they came back with the excellent Live at Bush Hall back in 2022. They’ve also managed to maintain an air of mystery about them too, which means it could be meaningless to expect anything substantial to come. Here’s hoping though.
Cairo Station
Belfast trio Cairo Station made a big splash back in June with “Menace“. Their gutsy debut really left a big impression on me. To this day I can still hear the power of those drums ringing in my ears, although I’d like to hear more this year. A new single, an EP, a surprise double album – ANYTHING.
Dream Nails
One of many artists who made a comeback last year were Dream Nails. Much like Black Country, New Road, they too saw the departure of their singer and have emerged as a trio with a return to their Pop-Punk roots. The first single released from this new iteration was “Control“, which brought more of their gritty style with more hooks that really stuck in our minds. Fingers crossed we hear new music from them soon.
Lambrini Girls
Considering their new album is literally out today, it seems silly to include Lambrini Girls in this list, but we’re proper excited to hear it. The Brighton duo have been around for a while but have really hit their stride lately. The singles from Who Let The Dogs Out have been brilliant, with each highlighting how passionate and intense their sound is. “Big Dick Energy” has become a go-to running song, and “Love” contains the biggest wall of noise we’ve heard in a long time. Who Let The Dogs Out could easily be the first of great albums released this year.
LCD Soundsystem
A few years ago this would have felt like a truly ambitious reach, but LCD Soundsystem were really productive last year. Performing at numerous festivals as well as their own live shows, on top of the release of “x-ray eyes” in November, it seems us fans can believe that we might hear a new album in 2025. To be honest, the single was good but didn’t feel like one to properly get the hype building (extended edition is better though), so hopefully they release another that really gets those juices flowing.
Parlay
West London’s Parlay caught our attention with their latest single “I Want Out”. It’s dynamic sound is bolstered by furious guitars and drums that could roll ’til the end of time, with a striking vocal layered on top to really ramp up the chaos. It’s a wonderful indie tune that we would like to hear live, and considering all of the shows the quartet have done lately, it has us hopeful that more music in on the way too.
PleasureInc.
PleasureInc. were responsible for one of the catchiest EPs of 2024 with Plastic People EP, and they will be following it up quickly with How to Fool Yourself in February. Latest single “Fool” suggests that the insanely catchy vibes will remain on the EP, but perhaps with a slightly darker tone that could help a new sound establish itself.
Queens of the Stone Age
This is a definite shot in the dark and a shout into the void, but as QOTSA are my favourite band, it’s always worth a go. Josh Homme has said in a recent interview that he would like to release a follow up to In Times New Roman… pretty quickly, so all our fingers and toes are crossed. With the band having to cancel live dates due to Josh’s health, and with a number of rescheduled and new dates added this year, it would be a great opportunity to play a new single or two (or ten…).
Sam Fender
Arguably the biggest emerging artist of the last couple years, Sam Fender is set to release his third album People Watching on 21st February. As suggested by the singles from it so far, it could be one that shies away from the conventional and focuses on its craft, with the “shortest” clocking in at over four minutes. No doubt Sam will be able to make it catchy however, and load it with riffs and melodies that will have us singing it loud throughout the festival circuit.
And those are ten artists we’re particularly excited to hear new music from this year. It’ll be interesting to see which do, on top of all of the new discoveries we’ll find over the next twelve months. It’s an exciting time, and we’re excited to get underway with (trying to) cover a decent slice of it.