New music is always being released by different artists and in different genres, and three months into 2025 new music is already hitting the charts. Artists such as Tate McRae, Jennie, The Weeknd/Abel Tesfaye, and many more have released albums in the early months of 2025 with lots of support from listeners worldwide.
Pop and R&B
In the genre of pop music, many different albums have been released, including Tate McRae’s, So Close to What album released on February 21, 2025. Her album took over the charts, reaching No.1 becoming a super success, and currently, multiple songs from her album have reached over 30 million streams on Spotify, and her hit Sports Car nearing 200 million streams.
In this album, you can find songs that feature danceable beats which is no surprise since McRae was a dancer growing up, and continues to dance a lot in her concerts. She has also already announced that she will be going on the Miss Possessive Tour for this album in 2025, which currently has 83 shows. Her songs are catchy and have such a confident energy to them which I really feel fits McRae’s style.
Another Album released in 2025 is Jennie’s album called Ruby. This is her first studio album by herself and not in the popular K-pop group, Blackpink, that she and 3 other members are a part of. Before the release of the album, Jennie released singles such as Mantra in 2024 and ExtraL (feat. Doechii) in 2025- both included in the album with a total of 15 songs.
According to an article from North by Northwestern called, Ruby’ redefines BLACKPINK’s Jennie as an artist in mesmerizing debut solo album, it states, “Jennie focuses on her autonomy and self-exploration throughout Ruby, diving deep into what it means to be her authentic self.” I find this statement true since I agree that Jennie did some self-exploration during this album.
In the song Zen, she repeatedly sings “Nobody gon’ move my soul, gon’ move my aura, my matter,” which really shows self-empowerment and self-love with a powerful instrumental and lyrics. Personally, I love Jennie’s music and can’t wait to see where she goes next in her music career.
During Abel Tesfaye’s career, he has produced many singles and albums with his latest album being Hurry Up Tomorrow. This album features other artists such as Playboi Carti and Lana Del Rey whom he has collaborated with before. Something I really like about this album is the transitions between some of the songs, especially the transition between Baptized In Fear to Open Hearts. This is something that I’ve always liked about albums, but I found that Tesfaye did this really well in this album especially, making the listener think that there is just one song even though there are many.
One song that I really like in this album is the song Open Hearts with its Synth type beats which can be found in other songs and the way his voice flows. An interview done with W Magazine in the article “The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp on Creating The Idol,” may suggest that he is done making music as The Weeknd after this album and will start making music under his birth name instead. He states in this interview, “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as the Weeknd.” I’m excited to see what transformative change Tesfaye will make, and what kind of music he will come out with next.
Upcoming Music
I asked other people what artist they would like to release music in 2025, one of those being Elise Boucher who said, “Well, I would say Lana Del Rey, but she is already confirmed to be releasing music then. Instead, I would love to see the GOAT two-hit wonder Frank Ocean make a comeback. He has already been teasing for a bit, but it’s been almost 9 years since his last release.” As Boucher mentions, Lana Del Rey is set to release an album in late May of 2025 which has been teased on her Instagram honeymoon and may be called The Right Person Will Stay.
Sophomore Nadalee Madhere also mentioned that she would like to see Frank Ocean release music, stating that “The new snippet of his music healed my soul.” This snippet that is being mentioned is around 30-40 seconds long and was released a couple of weeks ago, which could be hinting at some new upcoming music. Madhere also mentioned that she’d like to see Rihanna make a comeback, but she has doubts that she will.
Personally, I am excited about Lana Del Rey’s upcoming album and would also like to see Frank Ocean come back in 2025. Of course we can not forget that there are still many more months in 2025, which means that many more music will be released in 2025 throughout different genres and artists.
