A lot of wonderful new melodies and lyrics successfully made their way to my ears, brain, and feet in 2025. Here are the standouts, in collectible and solitary form:
jmunney’s Favorite Music of 2025
February 7, 2026
Best of 2025, Best of Music 2025, Music Addison Rae, Best of 2025, Blood Orange, Brandi Carlile, De La Soul, Doechii, Doja Cat, Florence + the Machine, Garbage, George Harrison, Haim, Hayley Williams, Huntrix, Ice Spice, Jack White, Kyle M., Kyle Mooney, Lily Allen, Miley Cyrus, Music, Portugal. The Man, Reneé Rapp, Sabrina Carpenter, sombr, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tame Impala, Tears for Fears, The Beaches, Wet Leg, Zara Larsson Leave a comment
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 10/17/25
October 17, 2025
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade, Black Phone 2, Blue Moon, Boz Scaggs, Chrissie Hynde, Deadbeat, Detour, Downey Wrote That, Duets Special, Frankenstein, Frankenstein 2025, From the Pyre, Good Fortune, NBA on NBC, Of Monsters and Men, Safe, Sensible and Sane, Steve Martin and Alison Brown, Tame Impala, The Last Dinner Party, The Mastermind Leave a comment
Give ’em the ball, because they’re going to dunk it! (CREDIT: NBC Sports/Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Black Phone 2 (Theaters)
–Blue Moon (Theaters)
–Frankenstein (Theaters; On Netflix November 7) – Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
–Good Fortune (Theaters)
–The Mastermind (Theaters)
TV
–Downey Wrote That (October 17 on Peacock) – Documentary about a notable SNL writer.
Music
-Chrissie Hynde, Duets Special
-The Last Dinner Party, From the Pyre
-Steve Martin and Alison Brown, Safe, Sensible and Sane
-Of Monsters and Men, All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade
-Boz Scaggs, Detour
-Tame Impala, Deadbeat
Sports
-NBA on NBC Season Premiere (October 21 on NBC and Peacock) – Coming home.
jmunney’s Favorite Music of 2024
January 31, 2025
Best of 2024, Best of Music 2024, Music Alice Merton, Ariana Grande, Cage the Elephant, Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Chris Stapleton, Dhani Harrison, Father John Misty, Fever Ray, Future Islands, Jack White, Justice, Kacey Musgraves, Kim Deal, Kim Gordon, Lauren Mayberry, Lenny Kravitz, Megan Thee Stallion, Milky Chance, Pharrell, Reneé Rapp, Sabrina Carpenter, Sleater-Kinney, Snoop Dogg, St. Vincent, Tame Impala, Tenacious D, The Beaches, The Black Keys, The Cure, The Last Dinner Party, The Smile, Tommy Richman, Tori Kelly Leave a comment
Every week, I check the schedule of new albums coming out and listen to the ones that catch my ear. Then I make a note throughout the year of the ones that made a strong impression. And then to finalize my Best Albums of 2024 list, I re-listened to everything on that shortlist to confirm whether or not I did in fact like them enough to enshrine them among the crème de la crème.
As for my favorite new songs of the year, they can be hard to find, since I live in a city with reliable public transportation, and thus rarely drive, and thus rarely listen to the radio. So I hope that I’ll encounter some good ones on the albums that I seek out, or that they otherwise reach me via pop cultural osmosis. Also, I try to stick with songs that were released as singles, but it’s okay if they weren’t.
Anyway, here’s the music that happily stuck with me in 2024:
Watch And/Or Listen to This: The Wiggles Cover Tame Impala’s “Elephant”
March 10, 2021
Music, Watch And/Or Listen to This Elephant, Like a Version, Tame Impala, The Wiggles, triple j Leave a comment
CREDIT: triple j/YouTube Screenshot
A satisfying take on a modern classic.
Jmunney’s Favorite Songs of 2020
January 22, 2021
Best of 2020, Best of Music 2020, Music Ava Max, Bakar, Best Coast, Best of 2020, Bishop Briggs, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Cannons, Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Hayley Williams, KennyHoopla, Lady GaGa, Miley Cyrus, Pearl Jam, Run the Jewels, Shaed, Smashing Pumpkins, Tame Impala, Taylor Janzen, The 1975, The Weeknd, twenty one pilots, U.S. Girls Leave a comment
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
Damn, there were plenty of songs that made me go “Damn” in 2020. Check ’em out below!
1. U.S. Girls, “4 American Dollars”: What can I say, I love a good song about economic enlightenment that you can totally shake your little butt to.
2. Miley Cyrus, “Midnight Sky”: Miley is a rock star for the ages. It’s 100% official.
3. Doja Cat, “Say So”: Pure neon-soaked euphoria.
4. Cannons, “Fire for You”: Listen to the words she’s using: “I was on fire for you.” It feels like that to some of us sometimes, doesn’t it?
5. Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now”: Oh wow, that’s a lot of disco in the top 5. It’s back, baby! “Don’t Start Now”? More like “Don’t Stop Ever!”
More
Jmunney’s Favorite Albums of 2020
January 20, 2021
Best of 2020, Best of Music 2020, Music Ariana Grande, Best of 2020, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Dua Lipa, Elvis Costello, Fiona Apple, Haim, Hayley Williams, Miley Cyrus, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, Run the Jewels, Tame Impala, U.S. Girls Leave a comment
I didn’t listen to every new album that was released in 2020 – DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE! But I did listen to a few dozen; some were rockin’, some were poppin’, some were hippity-hoppin’, and a few even had some jazzy freakouts. Here are the 15 that most satisfied my ears and my tapping toes:
Best Musical Artists of the 2010s
June 25, 2020
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music Adele, Ariana Grande, Beck, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Childish Gambino, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Hans Zimmer, Janelle Monáe, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Kesha, Lady GaGa, Lana del Rey, Lizzo, Lorde, Major Lazer, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Sia, St. Vincent, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, Tegan and Sara, The Black Keys, The Weeknd, Tove Lo, Vampire Weekend, Weird Al Yankovic 1 Comment
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
One more list! One more list!
My Best of the 2010s list-making journey has finally come to a close! (Or has it? … For now, it has at least. The future will come as it may, and it may just surprise you, and me.) All this week, I’ve been posting my rankings of a few categories that I was inspired to put together after submitting them to a Best of the 2010s polls that I’m participating in with some of my fellow cultural aficionados. To wrap it all up, I guide you along to the realm of music and lyrics, as I present the Best Musical Artists of the 2010s.
My criteria was similar to that of my choices for Best Film Directors. I considered a combination of how much I enjoyed their musical output as well as how much – and how well – they influenced the industry at large.
Best Songs of the 2010s
April 16, 2020
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music Adele, Ariana Grande, AWOLNATION, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen, Childish Gambino, Daft Punk, Disclosure, DJ Snake, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamara, Kesha, Lana del Rey, Lil Jon, Lorde, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Sia, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, Tove Lo 1 Comment
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
Of all the pieces of art and entertainment that I’m ranking for the decade, songs are probably the most personal. Yet somehow I feel compelled to consider how they affected the world at large moreso than all the other categories. The tunes that I value the most aren’t just the ones that make my own heart sing but also the ones that draw all of us closer together. So as I assembled this list, I asked myself both, “What has made me dance these past 10 years?” and “How would I like to dance with everyone else?” Here’s what that playlist looks like.
(I aimed to stick only to songs that were released as singles, as opening this to deep album cuts would’ve made things so overheated.)
Best Albums of the 2010s
April 2, 2020
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music A Seat at the Table, Audio Video Disco, Avicii, Awaken My Love!, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Black Messiah, Blackstar, Brothers, Childish Gambino, Circuital, D'Angelo, D'Angelo & the Vanguard, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Disclosure, Duck Sauce, Justice, Kanye West, Lana del Rey, Lemonade, Lonerism, Lorde, Miguel, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, My Morning Jacket, No Geography, Norman Fucking Rockwell, Pure Heroine, Quack, Random Access Memories, Settle, Solange, St. Vincent, Strange Mercy, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, True, Wildheart 1 Comment
One of the big themes about entertainment in the past decade is the incomprehensible explosion of available content in every medium. While this may be a recent development in cinema and television, it’s been the case for music for centuries, or even millennia. Since humans have been banging on rocks and clapping their hands, really. Of course, it was a little more recent than that when recorded music became readily available.
This is all to say, I of course haven’t listened to every album of the past ten years that made its way onto SoundCloud or Spotify, or even all the Billboard chart-toppers. But I did listen to enough of them to be able to assemble a vibrant and varied soundtrack of my life in the 2010s. Here are the musical collections of the era that I just haven’t been able to stop pushing play on.
[4/2/20 2:00 PM UPDATE: This post originally mistakenly included Justice’s †, which came out in 2007.]
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 2/14/20
February 14, 2020
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Duncanville, Fantasy Island, Farmageddon, Good Girls, Last Week Tonight, Shaun the Sheep, Tame Impala, The Photograph, The Slow Rush Leave a comment
CREDIT: Chris Johnson, Stuart Collis/Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Fantasy Island (Theatrically Nationwide) – I must watch every horror movie no matter how ridiculous.
–The Photograph (Theatrically Nationwide)
–A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Streaming February 14 on Netflix) – I loved the last Shaun the Sheep movie!
TV
–Duncanville Series Premiere (February 16 on FOX) – Is this the next great animated FOX show?
–Good Girls Season 3 Premiere (February 16 on NBC)
–Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 7 Premiere (February 16 on HBO)
Music
-Tame Impala, The Slow Rush
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