Welcome, everyone, to the Needle Drop First World Report. Our top story, AI is taking over everything. Oh my God. The robots are going to destroy everything. The robots are going to destroy your music. The robots are going to destroy your job. The robots are going to destroy your sex.

Maybe some of you in the comments are like, 'Ha ha, I don't care. I wasn't having sex anyway.' You're not going to be allowed to do the other stuff that you do alone, too. That's also going to be illegal and completely replaced by robots.

And when I say replaced, it's not like a robot is going to be doing it for you in a cool, fun way, it's going to be in a bad, not so fun way. And believe me, trust me, I know these things. I have a 110% accuracy with respect to predicting the future, which makes this not so much a news report as much as... 'Yes, hello. Hi, hello, I'm the psychic. I think you might have had a dad recently. I know these things.'

I'm talking to the ghosts and talking to you because this is another episode of Let's Argue, where I hop on the internet, I take your hot takes, your unpopular questions, your tough questions, and I respond to the best ones. And the theme of this video is best and most underrated music of 2025.

Strangely, weirdly, surprisingly, I wanted to know what your favorite music of the past year has been, and let's hash it out right now.

Live Laugh Love by Earl Sweatshirt is so nice to see him come full circle from edgy teenager to sober-minded father.

No, that is true. And personally, I am happy to see Earl's personal and artistic growth over the years. It certainly makes his new album interesting, and I would enjoy to see him in a better place than see him make some rap songs over and over and over again. And look, I say this as somebody who actually enjoyed Live Laugh Love quite a bit. It would be good with all of this experience and knowledge and so on and so forth that Earl has accumulated over the years to see him just put it to work a little bit more in terms of how he structures and builds his songs out. As good as it is to hear him in a better place, emotionally, it would be awesome to also feel that in the way the music vibes a little bit, too.

I know he's a low-key dude, but how he acts in his everyday life and how he seemingly handles himself in social situations, from what has been caught on camera and the like. We know he's not always as sleepy as he portrays himself to be on the mic. I mean, I know it's a stylistic and aesthetic choice at the end of the day, for sure. Nor do I expect Earl to start coming out with jock jams that'll get the arena going crazy. But I don't know, something a little more energetic and straightforward in the future would be cool, maybe.

Balloonerism keeps getting forgotten because it came out so early in the year. But man, it is such a nice album that has really grown on me since my first listen, and I'm very glad that Mac Miller's estate is treating his legacy with this level of care.

I am happy that is the case, though. I don't know if I would entirely agree that that is the reason the record is getting forgotten. I mean, after all, the FKA Twigs album, YouSexua, came out toward the start of this year, and people still very much remember that.

I don't know if it's so much a case of like, Balloonerism being forgotten per se or just slipping from people's minds. It is like a posthumous album, even if it is a very good posthumous album. And again, regardless of how quality a record like that is, I feel like that's really only going to penetrate into some of the most hardcore fans for that artist, especially with this being like Mac's second posthumous record. And obviously, there's like a no massive, huge promotional push or single behind this project in the same way that there would likely be behind a record where he was alive and actively promoting it.

So again, I agree. It's a good album. It's a quality album. It's a record that I think all people who care about his music should listen to. But there are some case-by-case conditions going on here to where this record is only going to get so much buzz despite its quality, unfortunately.

Backxwash Only Dust Remains. The musical progression, the flow, the way that so many of the songs start out so dark and end on an uplifting and hopeful note. Perfect album.

Yeah, I do really think this is like Backxwash's probably best project to date and potentially a record that could be a gateway into her greater catalog, maybe a good starter for listeners who might not necessarily get down with a super noisy, super heavy dark metal, tinged and industrial sounds and esthetics of her previous records, which are great, are killer, are heavy, are powerful.

But having experienced and enjoyed a lot of those records up until this point, it's very heart swarming and moving to see Backxwash lyrically has come to, I guess, better understand and accept her pain and trauma and basically allow it to be embodied in a way that is a bit sweeter, more measured on this new record, to the point that previous comment was making earlier about seeing Earl's growth over the years. I very much feel two, three times more of the same way about this new Backxwash record, too.

Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful is my Album of the Year for its immaculate instrumentals and vocal talents from Miley, too.

Sad, even after a huge hit like "Flowers", the album became unknown even among the Miley fans. Man, it is so disheartening to see this album fall flat on its face, not only critically, but among many of the pop stans and girlies on the internet, too, which is really disappointing and shitty, honestly, because it just communicates to me as a music critic, as a fan of music, as somebody who likes to hear artists undergo album cycles that are daring and ambitious and serve as a challenge to not just the artist, but their listeners, too. That the reaction to this record just to me says that there are just some artists whose audiences, unfortunately, are going to hold them back and basically disincentivize them from doing anything fun or creative or left field, surprising in any way.

Because from the most hardcore Miley stans, some of whom have been down my throat over not liking some of her previous records. I've been told for years I should be better appreciating Miley's talents in music because in comparison with other pop stars out there, she's actually a great and super talented singer, which I fully and wholeheartedly agree though I don't think her music always showcases that talent.

But here we have an album where Miley is actually legitimately going all out vocally with some huge, loud, powerful instrumentals that actually complement the uniqueness and boldness of her voice when she's not holding back. And yet there are Miley fans and pop girlies alike who couldn't possibly give a fuck about this record. And it's just crazy to me. Do you not want to see your favorite artist that you profess to love so much, grow and change, and do interesting things once they evolve to a place where they're free enough to be able to do what they want and color outside of the lines that their labels expect them to fit into? Because every single album cycle, they're basically pushing them to make their next hit? I mean, the answer is apparently not. Apparently, people just want Miley to make the song "Flowers" over and over again. It's unfortunate. It's sad.

In my opinion, Jane Remover's Revengeseekers. Every time I listen to the album, I'm impressed by how detailed, unique, and overloaded the music is. The production is totally crazy and experimental, but it still creates catchy tunes and is quite poppy.

Jane has created a very unique sound with this album. Love the righteous and spiritual lyrics, by the way. Yeah, I mean, when Jane said, what was it? 'Jesus never had it with a freak bitch,' she meant it. But with that being said, this is most definitely one of my favorite pop records of the year, and it really truly is for its maximalism. And look, when it comes to extreme music out there these days, rage music, pop, and the like, there's no shortage of loud and abrasive shit at the moment, especially in the underground.

But what I think makes Jane with this record special, and again, I'm very much agreeing with a lot of what you said here and echoing it, is that the hooks and the pop sensibilities really shine through the mayhem, shine through the chaos, shine through the noise in a way that it just does not with a lot of these artists who I think are just preoccupied with the noisiness of their sound and forget to do anything memorable as they are creating that mayhem and just allow a lot of it to float by like just a noisy buzz or breeze.

Again, without much thought about what's going to make this actually stick. And I think that's what Jane is doing here. A lot of it could come down to the fact that she has been writing a lot of different types of songs in different styles for years, and she has showcased herself to have quite a bit of pop sensibility in the past with other styles of music. So it's just translating over to what Revenge Seekers is doing as well.

Magic, Alive! by McKinley Dixon. Such a beautifully rapped and produced concept album that makes you reflect on family, friendship, and the things you would do for your loved ones.

I also love that Dixon recruited people from his hometown for all that instrumentation. One of the best rap records of 2025, hands down. And you guys should most definitely check out my interview with McKinley as well, we do actually talk about the instrumentation on the album. Some of the musicians on this LP, McKinley, worked with prior to this record, which explains why the instrumental and compositional chemistry on this LP is so damn good.

But yeah, I mean, I've praised this record before. I'll praise it again. Really, no question in my mind as to whether or not it's one of the best of the year, if not the hip-hop album of the year, at least in the eyes of some. Obviously, you guys know that I do be loving some clips. But what McKinley doing right now, I really see as an amazing extension of what artists like The Roots were providing back in the day in terms of those thoughtful, passionate rimes and just super live, awesome, dynamic, jazzy instrumentation.

The Clearing by Wolf Alice. The arrangements on this album are tremendously beautiful, and Ellie's vocals are just out of this world. This literally feels like a modern equivalent of a Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, in my opinion.

I don't know if I would go that far, but honestly, at least some of what you're saying here, I can agree with. I mean, given previous coverage and all that, I'm not really the biggest Wolf Alice boy, but I can most definitely recognize that this is the band's best-produced record to date, hands down. I don't think I've heard Ellie go this hard vocally for the entirety of a Wolf Alice record up until this point.

It's definitely a big-sounding album that I think most definitely scratches an itch, serves a demand that is out there in the alternative music sphere these days, especially with bands like The Last Dinner Party popping off. If you like your indie rock, super over the top and lavish and extravagant. And there are times in every decade where that seems to be a bit of a thing that people are looking for. Wolf Alice are most definitely serving that, even if the final result with this record... it didn't exactly stand out for me when it comes to stuff in this lane.

Shish, Portugal the Man. Such an interesting departure from their sound on the last album while also feeling like a return to form. I also really appreciate them being so vocal and angry about everything going on in the world right now. Definitely my favorite of the year.

Damn, that's one of the most interesting picks for this video for sure. I cannot say I liked the Portugal. the Man myself, but I did appreciate that they were doing some really wild post-hardcore and super loud rock stuff on the record, which, if you know anything about the band's background, before they really started getting big in the alternative indie psychsphere, that is the shit they were doing.

Personally, I've been enjoying the band's work to some degree since Censored Colors, which I think still stands as one of their best records, but also one of their most underappreciated, too. But even though I can appreciate all of this about the band's history and context and progression, Shish was really just too way all over the place for me. Though, honestly, I wouldn't mind hearing Portugal the Man go back in a louder, more aggressive direction with more tracks on future records.

Ethel Cain's Perverts has stayed my album of the year since the year started. I'm not even a fan of her normal dreamy slowcore stuff, but I've always been into drone ambience, and that album was and still is some of the most deep, dark, and harrowing ambient I've ever heard. I wish you'd put out more music like that.

I mean, technically, it was an EP, though it is strange to be putting out a 90-minute EP. Either way, I will respect the labeling of this thing as a 90-minute EP. And say, I agree with a lot of what you're saying here. I mean, as many people know, for my 6 out of 10 for Preacher's Daughter, I'm not the biggest Ethel Cain guy.

And of the moments on that I enjoyed, they really were the deepest, darkest, most sonically heavy and abrasive tracks.

And I feel like Perverts just gives me that with the occasional slow-moving ballad here and there. But the bulk of this project is just nothing but dark and crushing and a nightmarish dark ambient. And honestly, you know it's really good stuff in this style when you have your average Ethel Cain fan throwing a complete shit fit on the Internet. 'Why is she making music like this? She's scaring me.' I'm sorry, are you not the same group of people constantly posting cannibalism memes on social media? And when you hear some droning bass and weird murmured vocals and distortion, you're like, 'Ah!'

Look, I don't profess to have heard every Dark Ambient album from this year. And there are some very good experimental EPs out there. In 2025, the new Uboa EP, I actually liked a lot more than the recent album from that project. But Ethel, most definitely – Hayden, sorry – really killed it on this one.

Sincerely, by Kali Uchis is honestly one of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard. It just sounds so warm and dreamy all the way through. It's easy to get lost in the soundscape. This is what a sunset sounds like to me, but it was snubbed from the Grammys and a lot of year-end lists I've seen.

Honestly, I think it was just a little too dreamy for my taste. I could speak to the fact that it didn't really end up landing on my list, despite the fact that I liked it, and I think there were some decent highlights on it. The album is most definitely a vibe for sure, but maybe the Sade influences were maybe overtaking things a little bit on some track. Some songs even felt like derivative of Beach House, which is fine. They're a classic group. The fact that they have influence in today's day and age is not surprising, but it's really hard to go toe to toe with Victoria Legrand's level of songwriting.

But yeah, if you like your pop super dreamy, this is most definitely something you've got to hear. Don't be surprised if it doesn't end up sticking with you.

Racing Mount Pleasant, self-titled, one of the best records I've ever heard, Very Black Country, New Road, please, please, please.

Yeah, I mean, I understand maybe what you're going for with the Black Country, New Road comparison, with it being a very indie-flavored release with a lot of arranged instrumentation and long song structures and so on and so forth. But I feel like Black Country, as well as other bands in a similar lane to Racing Mount Pleasant here, usually have bolder orchestrations, more interesting vocals, and song progressions that actually lead to great payoff.

I didn't so much find that to be the case on this album. While there were some pretty moments and cool and very sweet layers, and it's definitely more colorful and ambitious than your average indie rock album, I just really did not get much from this record every time I went back to it.

Hurry Up Tomorrow was surprisingly slept on this year. It's super long, but it deserves to be since it's the final chapter of a character/story that's seen a massive success and thoughtful evolution. It has both some of Able's darkest and most wholesome moments. It's such a cinematic, satisfying finale.

No, I agree, and I loved the album myself. But simultaneously, I feel like Abel is at a very odd point in his career where it's almost like he's outgrowing some of his fans who just want him to make super druggy, sad, depressive pop and R&B music. And he wants to make the album equivalent of a film and then release a literal film afterwards, which was horrible. This is like the equivalent of saying, 'Oh, yeah. You saw the movie. The book was way better. Yeah, the book was better.'

So yeah, it feels like Abel wants to put his fans through these super massive, over-the-top vanity projects. And his singles, his bangers, his vocals are just so good that no matter how indulgent he gets, many of them are still along for the ride, at least for the catchiest and most accessible and most commercial moments, whereas the rest of the record falls to the wayside because believe me, I know your average Weeknd fan is not listening obsessively to every single track on Hurry Up Tomorrow, again and again and again, all the way through that 90 minute record.

I mean, again, even though I loved it, that record was even a little bloated for me. If there's anything standing in the way of that album being a nine or even closer to a 10, it's that Abel didn't really edit himself effectively on that project. I mean, having a song like "Timeless" on that thing alone says as much.

But yeah, sadly, that record is probably not landing too high on many year-end lists because it does have a very limited appeal, as good as a lot of its tracks are. Because even some hardcore Weeknd fans are not going to sift through this 90-minute monster. They want something that's more straightforward, more easy to get into.

John Michel & Anthony James's Ego Trip is honestly my pick for rap album of the decade. The rapping is high energy throughout, but the large-scale Chipmunk Soul production is really what it takes it to the next level for me. Sad you didn't review it.

Honestly, I'm really glad to see an indie rap release doing as well as this album has over the past year. I'm glad people are loving it. I'm glad people are getting something out of it. But like, amped rapping, soul chops, so on and so forth, this record wasn't doing anything new or interesting with any of those sounds for me at all.

And look, that's not to say the album isn't quality. It most definitely is. But again, when it comes to many of these sounds that I grew up listening to in hip-hop throughout the '90s and 2000s, I just didn't really feel like this record was putting an interesting spin on much of any of it. I just feel like this is a record that you're blown away by when you haven't heard too many releases in those lanes, which, even if it is, that doesn't mean it's not good. It doesn't mean it's not listenable. It just wasn't really doing anything to stop me in my tracks.

And that is going to be it. Your favorite, your best, your most underrated albums of 2025. Thank you very much for watching. This will be, I guess, probably the final, Let's Argue, of the year. See you in 2026. Continuing to argue with you.

Anthony Fantano, Argue, Forever.