With 2025 kicking into full gear, the Paste Music team has come together to pick a dozen albums we’re looking forward to this year. With January half-over, we’ve elected to forgo including any albums coming out this month, though we are especially excited about the new releases from Benjamin Booker, FKA twigs, MIKE and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. The spring is already shaping up to be a doozy, with albums from Lucy Dacus, Sharon Van Etten, Horsegirl, Youth Lagoon, Panda Bear, Fust, Jason Isbell and Destroyer already scheduled to come out between now and April. Featuring the likes of Japanese Breakfast, A$AP Rocky, Lana Del Rey and more, here are Paste‘s most anticipated albums of 2025. Some of these records are announced, while others are just us products of our own wishful thinking.
A$AP Rocky: Don’t Be Dumb
It’s been over six years since A$AP Rocky put out his last project, 2018’s Testing. Though, to be fair, he’s a busy man. He launched his own whiskey brand, Mercer + Prince, in 2022, worked with Gucci, Puma and Bottega Veneta throughout 2023 on a variety of collaborations and he’s now a father of two, with Rihanna and him welcoming their second child, Riot Rose, into the world in August 2023. That’s not to say he’s been absent from music either. A$AP released “HIGHJACK” with Jessica Pratt last August alongside “Tailor Swif” and the braggadocious cut “Ruby Rosary” featuring J. Cole last September. However, It still feels like a risk to get our hopes up for his follow-up album, Don’t Be Dumb. First announced in 2022, the record was slated for release August 2024, which came and went with no news other than a slew of cancelled vinyl pre-orders. Still, we can’t help but root for the return of A$AP Mob’s integral leader, Lord Flacko Pretty Jodye II. Let Don’t Be Dumb come sooner rather than later, there’s a reason we named “HIGHJACK” the 2nd-best song of 2024. —Gavyn Green
clipping.: Dead Channel Sky
clipping. have made me utterly predictable, but I can’t complain: Out of every record announced for 2025 thus far, I am perhaps singularly excited for 2025’s cyberpunk-oriented Dead Channel Sky, the experimental rap group’s first album since their phenomenal double horror-core releases of 2019 and 2020. With three singles already out—the electronic, pulsing “Run It,” the surprisingly accessible yet smart as ever “Keep Pushing,” and the rapid-fire “Change the Channel”—the March release is already set to be a doozy, all the more so considering how utterly successful the group’s earlier ventures into more sci-fi-esque territory were (see: 2016’s Splendor & Misery and 2017’s single “The Deep,” both of which were nominated for Hugo Awards in the Best Dramatic Presentation [Short Form] category). With a 20-song tracklist (albeit one that surreptitiously forgoes a new entry into the band’s “Story” series), references that range from Afrofuturist docs to Dutch hardcore outfits, and features from Nels Cline, Tia Nomore, Bitpanic, Cartel Madras and Aesop Rock, I genuinely couldn’t be more hyped to rocket into clipping.’s orbit once more—into the brand-new cyberpunk universe of Dead Channel Sky. —Casey Epstein-Gross
Greg Freeman’s Follow-Up to I Looked Out
When Greg Freeman sings, the world stops—whether he’s clawing through gnarly guitar feedback to see Christ in a lover’s eyes or letting a slurred-word character sketch of a tattooed uncle tumble from his mouth, you simply have no choice but to listen. The Vermonter’s 2022 debut album, I Looked Out—which was recently reissued via Canvasback Records with two bonus tracks—was a slow-burning success, but all ears are (or should) now be on Freeman as he gears up to release his next record, which I assume will be sometime this year. The Best of What’s Next alum has yet to share any promotional singles, leaving us to wonder how he might next blow our minds with his searing poetry and guitar-god prowess. Whatever direction he takes, I’ll be seated. —Anna Pichler
Hayden Pedigo’s Collaborative Album With Chat Pile
Last year, Hayden Pedigo released his Live in Amarillo, Texas LP, closing the book on his first two Mexican Summer releases, Letting Go and The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored. I have been in Pedigo’s corner since he ran for city council in Amarillo years ago, but he’s been churning out tremendous albums for over a decade now. Greetings From Amarillo is still one of my favorite efforts of the last 10 years. While his next solo LP is likely on the way, too, I cannot begin to express how excited I am for his forthcoming collab record with Chat Pile, the OKC band who also had a pretty good 2024. On Instagram, Pedigo wrote that he and Chat Pile made a full-length together “in person working in the same room.” He described the outcome as “apocalyptic western picking slammed through heavy riffs” and “‘90s Chicago post-rock.” If any of that is true, then we’re looking at a bonafide AOTY candidate whenever the time comes. —Matt Mitchell
Japanese Breakfast: For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)
How could I not be excited for Japanese Breakfast’s first album in nearly four years, considering it’s basically dedicated to me, as I myself am a sad woman and a melancholy kind-of-brunette (I personally identify as a dirty blonde, but my friends insist otherwise)? The Michelle Zauner fronted indie pop group has yet to put out a bad record, from 2016’s Psychopomp to (my personal favorite) Soft Sounds From Another Planet the following year to 2021’s Jubilee, which picked up two Grammy noms for Best Alternative Music Album and Best New Artist. With all this—and the expansive sound and erudite undertones of the record’s first single, Orlando In Love—I see no reason to expect anything different from the band’s upcoming March release. And it’s rumored to draw from Romanticism and classical myth? English majors, we just keep on winning. —Casey Epstein-Gross
Lana Del Rey: The Right Person Will Stay
We don’t know much about Lana Del Rey’s 10th album, except for the title (The Right Person Will Stay), that it’s (supposedly) an Americana record and that it’s coming out on May 21. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lana revealed that the biggest pitfall of a public life is “being scared into making safe choices.” Perhaps she was referring to Norman Fucking Rockwell! or Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, but I am hesitant to label anything she’s made as “safe.” Even when her discography dips in quality—Blue Bannisters and Chemtrails Over the Country Club were, in my opinion, misses, especially in the wake of NFR!’s resounding success—the material works because she’s so damn multi-faceted and bound to her niche, even if it’s not as subversive as what her peers are doing. We know that Lana and Jack Antonoff have teamed up again for the project, and their collaborative history is one of the best modern tandems we’ve got. Over the last 20 months or so, Lana has covered Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” so we know what she can do in a country lane. Will it translate to another masterpiece like NFR! or Ocean Blvd? It’s too early to call, but if Lana Del Rey is putting a record out, all eyes should be squarely on exactly that. —Matt Mitchell
Mdou Moctar: Tears of Injustice
Mdou Moctar’s music serves as a stanchion of protest against the long standing political upheaval and cultural unrest in their home country, Niger. Their call to action arrived last year with Funeral For Justice, a heated album that denounced the nation’s French colonialism through wailing guitar solos and rallying lyrics, while paying tribute to the native Tuareg language, culture, and people that continue to endure. The band’s follow up to Funeral For Justice, which we named the 60th best album of 2024, is titled Tears of Injustice, and comes out February 28 via Matador. The new record is a rearranged, acoustic version of Funeral For Justice, stripping down its blistering amplifications to reveal the grief present in each song. If Funeral For Justice was the anger towards the plight of Niger, Tears of Injustice is the sadness, simplifying protest music to its truest form: an acoustic guitar and an impassioned message. —Gavyn Green
Q Lazzarus: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus (Music From the Motion Picture)
Q Lazzarus’ new wave gem “Goodbye Horses” haunts you, whether you first heard it in Jonathan Demme’s Married to the Mob or that iconic Silence of the Lambs scene. Despite the cult following that developed, Q Lazzarus—born Diane Luckey—never had the music career she deserved, eventually becoming a bus driver and dying in 2022 at only 61. A documentary about the late singer hits the silver screen this year, and the accompanying soundtrack Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus (Music From The Motion Picture), due for release on February 21 via Sacred Bones Records, promises a glimpse into her unsung artistic genius. These tracks, recorded between 1985 and 1995, vary from covers of Talking Heads’ “Heaven” and Gershwin’s “Summertime” to Q Lazzarus originals that we simply cannot wait to hear. —Clare Martin
SPELLLING: Portrait of My Heart
Tia Cabral, the Bay Area performer known best by her stage name SPELLLING, will return with her fourth studio album, Portrait of My Heart, on March 28. One of the best record labels around, Sacred Bones, will put the 11-track LP out into the world, and Cabral gave us a taste via its title track. “Portrait of My Heart” is startling in its catchiness, etched into existence by a throbbing drum beat, orchestral streaks and Cabral’s falsetto that, at once, is like an intimate flood and a far-away echo. Then, a mark of synth-driven, anthemic poppiness collapses into an immediate, zig-zagging ballast of many voices. Last year, Paste named Cabral’s The Turning Wheel the 10th-best album of the 2020s so far, and her re-recorded compilation project, SPELLLING & the Mystery School, nabbed an 8.5 rating from critic Devon Chodzin. Considering how great Cabral’s output has consistently been, I have no doubt that Portrait of My Heart will be another triumph. —Matt Mitchell
Σtella: Adagio
Stella Chronopoulou, better known as Σtella, broke through to international audiences with her 2022 album Up and Away, which brought the sounds of Greek folk music and mid-century Greek pop into the present day. Her fifth LP (and second with Sub Pop), Adagio, arrives on April 4, and based on Σtella’s track record of playful, lithe songwriting, this will be just the breath of fresh air we need to carry us into summer. In the past, Σtella’s stuck to singing in English, but Adagio boasts her first two songs in Greek: “Omorfo Mou” (roughly translating to “My Beautiful One”) and a cover of Litsa Sakellariou’s “Ta Vimata.” The recently released title track radiates a light beachiness sure to dissipate your January blues. —Clare Martin
The Bird Calls: Melody Trail
Former Pitchfork staffer Sam Sodomsky is probably best known for writing about songs, but he’s pretty damn good at writing his own songs, too. His musical output under project The Bird Calls has been prolific and consistently delightful—his latest album, Old Faithful, is a real gem, arguably one of last year’s most underappreciated releases. The next chapter in his music career is Melody Trail, out February 7 via burgeoning indie label Ruination Records. Its genre-eclipsing songs are pocket-sized yet potent, understated yet deeply felt, at once whimsical and down-to-earth. And—perhaps unsurprisingly—Sodomsky’s astute lyricism shines. His vivid vignettes and candid confessions cut right to the cores of feelings you only wish you could have distilled into words so precisely. Sodomsky the songwriter is one to keep on your radar. —Anna Pichler
Throwing Muses: Moonlight Confessions
There are few feelings worse than the sinking dread of hearing a new release from a long-beloved band and realizing they’ve changed their sound to align more with the polished sheen of today’s production and, in the process, lost the rawness and character that drew you to them in the first place. But I don’t think I ever have to worry about that with Kristin Hersh and her band, Throwing Muses—even though the group first formed almost fifty years ago, every new song released somehow maintains the same eerie acoustic feel and visceral yet odd lyrics I fell in love with. Moonlight Concessions, the indie rock outfit’s first album since 2020, is looking to be chock full of thoughtful, wonderfully weird lyrics about the mundane quandaries of life and living it, crooned in Hersh’s signature rasp above Muses’ signature eerie acoustics. But as familiar as much of it might be, that doesn’t mean the record will be without growth: the singles released thus far (“Summer of Love” and “Drugstore Drastic,” both of which were featured on Paste’s Best New Songs lists) showcase not only the idiosyncrasies that made Muses great to begin with, but the evolution of the band’s sound and lyricism into a full-fledged force to be reckoned with. I mean, it’s been months and I still have “Drugstore Drastic” stuck in my head, and if that’s not a reason to look forward to Concessions, I don’t know what is. —Casey Epstein-Gross
