5 musical predictions for 2025
just under eleven months to go - what's in store?
The first month and a bit of 2025, a period which is usually fairly uneventful, has already been pretty crazy when it comes to music - acclaimed albums from Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, FKA twigs, Mac Miller and more, as well as album announcements from the likes of Lady Gaga, Black Country, New Road, The Lumineers, Jason Isbell and others. Literally as I’m writing this, Sabrina Carpenter just announced the deluxe edition of her mega-successful 2024 record Short N’ Sweet. Plus, lots more is already confirmed for this year - albums from Lana Del Rey, Tate McRae, Japanese Breakfast, Miley Cyrus (this one without a date for now), and so on. However, I’d like to place my own bets as to what I believe will happen this year. So, here’s 5 musical predictions for the remainder of 2025 - staying within the realms of the fairly realistic, of course. I feel like I have to say - these aren’t based on any insider info or reliable scoops, and are purely reliant on my own intuition (and maybe hopes, in some cases).
Harry Styles releases his fourth studio album
A fairly simple one to start with. Now, of course, this one is overshadowed a little by the untimely passing of Liam Payne last year, which will have surely affected Harry Styles’ mental state. However, I still think it’s not at all beyond the realm of possibility that the English pop superstar will return to the musical zeitgeist in 2025. May 20th will mark the third anniversary (yep, really let that sink in) of his third album Harry’s House, and it feels like this year should be that one when HS4 arrives. I expect the album to continue to expand the soundscape of Harry’s House, with the retro stylings and smooth, colorful instrumentation. Bonus prediction for this one - the album will have at least one iconic elder statesman guest on it. My personal call is Stevie Nicks, but there’s others I could see filling that role too.
The longest-running number one record is broken
As it stands currently, the record set by Lil Nas X in 2019 with Old Town Road, which spent 19 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, has not been broken yet. However, the record doesn’t feel as unbeatable as it initially. Hell, it was almost broken last year, when emerging star Shaboozey was one Kendrick Lamar album away from beating the record. His megahit A Bar Song (Tipsy) spent the same 19 weeks at the top, before being dethroned by Kendrick’s squabble up. This makes me think that that 20-week reign at number one for a single song is only a matter of time. If I had to make bets on who could do it in 2025, I’d say that maybe if the Taylor Swift re-issues come out and are promoted enough, I’d say one of the songs from them could do it; maybe something from the Sabrina Carpenter Short N’ Sweet deluxe, again, with the right promo and if it catches on online. It’s actually most likely to just be Morgan Wallen, or another country star who’s similar levels of generic and accessible. Plus, the two 19-week songs have both been country-adjacent. But, then again, the authors of those songs had both not had a huge hit before the one that dominated the charts - so maybe the person who’s going to spend 20 weeks at number 1 is someone the general public doesn’t even know yet. Music is oftentimes beautifully unpredictable.
Olivia Rodrigo releases a big collaborative single
Is this one wishful thinking? Yes, probably. But I don’t believe it’s totally impossible either. So, I don’t believe OR3 is happening this year, purely because 1) the GUTS deluxe was last year and 2) she’s doing about a billion festivals this year, and honestly I’d much rather she takes her time to rest, and get plenty of inspiration for the new project. However. I do believe that, to keep her name on people’s minds, I believe 2025 can be the perfect year for Olivia to do the first duet of her career.
Now, I think this could go in two directions: legacy or modern. When it comes tot the former, Mariah Carey said a few months ago that she’d love to collaborate with Olivia (plus Mariah’s daughter Roe is apparently a massive fan); I could also see a duet with someone like Alanis Morrissette or even Avril Lavigne working well. And as far as the latter is concerned…imagine the seismic wave that an Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter collab would cause? They seemed to be fairly amicable with each other at the Grammys, and there’s been light rumors of their teams discussing a potential “work-it-out-on-the-remix” moment, so, I say, why not? I think it’s fairly safe to say that whatever happened between them is very much in the past for both, personally and professionally, so I think this could absolutely be possible. Aside from Sabrina, Chappell Roan would be an obvious one because of their friendship, or even Conan Gray, though this one wouldn’t be as huge of course. Whoever it may be, I think that something along these lines will happen in 2025.
Someone tries to artificially recapture the energy of the Kendrick/Drake feud and fails miserably
Music is a business. Oftentimes, a fairly simplistic one. And what that means is that, if something generates attention, streams, ticket sales and money, then labels are going to attempt to keep doing it. Last year, the industry captured lightning in a bottle with the instantly legendary beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. So, it’s almost inevitable that executives’ eyes will be seeing nothing but green when thinking about something like that happening again.
So, I believe that we will see at least one attempt this year at recreating the electric energy, anticipation and excitement of what went down in spring of 2024. I assume it will be rappers again, although I don’t know who they could even use who would have the same reach and fame of Drake and Kendrick; it would also be incredibly funny to see the labels make two pop stars start throwing shade at each other in songs. But, whoever it is, I think it’s inevitably doomed to fail miserably. Kendrick vs Drake was a once-in-a-lifetime showdown. Something like that can’t be done again, especially not through artificial meddling. So, this new “beef” will inevitably fall extremely flat, and be a very transparent ploy.
The legacy act comeback trend continues
Finally, this one might be a little obvious, but 2024 was a huge year for acts from previous generations making comebacks. Most notably, The Cure released their first album in fifteen years, Songs of a Lost World, to widespread acclaim from critics and listeners alike. Albums also arrived from acts across various generations - Eminem, Linkin Park, Green Day, Willie Nelson (who actually released two), David Gilmour, Beth Gibbons of Portishead, Ice Cube, Sum 41, Bright Eyes, Jack White, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Coldplay, an EP from Bon Iver, and others. So, I see no reason for this trend to not continue in 2025. In fact, we’ve even already gotten albums this year from the likes of Ringo Starr and Dream Theater. I say this keeps going.
If I had to pick who will release an album this year, I’m putting my money on it to be at least two of the following five: James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Alanis Morrissette, Tool, Nas. Manifesting one for My Chemical Romance and/or Lauryn Hill but that’s almost certainly not happening. Oh, and Willie Nelson will definitely drop again, because he has released eight albums since 2020 and hasn’t missed a year since 1999. Now that’s work ethic right there.
BONUS: Kendrick Lamar will release more music in the wake of the Super Bowl
Okay this one is wishful thinking more than anything, which is why I’m labeling it as a bonus prediction. We’ve now heard Bodies twice from Kendrick - once in the trailer for GNX, which it never showed up on, and once at the Super Bowl. That makes me think Kendrick has more in the locker, and I hope I’m right. All I’m saying is if him and SZA hypothetically stop by a few studios while they’re on their joint tour this year, and if that hypothetically results in that collab project people have been pining for…I won’t exactly have anything against that. Or if it turns out GNX was just a warmup project, and he releases one of his more conceptual records. Again, I don’t think this is likely to happen, but something deep in my soul really, really wants it to.
Side note: I’m not going to write a full piece on the halftime show, because I don’t think it’s really my place to be commenting on it, but I will just say that I found it to be absolutely brilliant and anyone who believes it was “mid” or “boring” is proving the point Kendrick was making pretty perfectly.
So that’s my five predictions for music in 2025! Can’t wait to go 0/5 and look really goofy this time next year (okay, I’m pretty confident in the fifth prediction at least, so 1/5). I’m going to try and make this a yearly series, and also do a recap of each year at the end to see if I got any of this right. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Feel free to comment your own predictions for this year too :)
omg i would die for a sabrina/olivia or conan/olivia collab 😭😭😭
so true. and u know what mcr is going to release a new album if i have anything to do about it. they keep referencing their own vault too fr