chaosincurate's 2025 Favourites (1/12) - Jam of the Year

Happy new year everyone! I hope your years were less miserable than the average person's seemed to be. Over the next twelve days I'll be going over some of my favourite things in music over 2025, from albums that broke down a boundary I had in my musical awareness, to under-loved albums, to my favourites overall from the year.

Starting things off here with my jam of the year: the best song for kicking back and vibing. A low-key song whose sound comforts instead of energizes. Starting with my honourable mention:

Honorable Mention: Geese - Au Pays du Cocaine

Geese have of course had a massive breakout year, and I did enjoy their album quite a lot as you'll see when we get to my album's of the year list, but you might find it refreshing to know that I haven't included Geese or any of their songs or albums as winners of any of these superlatives. They come close on occasion as they have here, but they only manage to get honorable mentions and close follow-ups out of me

Moving onto the song though, it's dripping with a really interesting mixture of desperation and resignation. The twinkling melody suggests an acceptance, but Cameron Winter's vocals as he sings "you can be free and still come home" and "you can change and still choose me" contrast that with a dread that combines to form a very powerful sense that he knows there's nothing he can do to prevent the subject from leaving, and he knows it's for the best, but that it is a painful revelation. It's a beautiful song and a great use of Cameron Winter's strange and divisive vocals.

My favourite: Magdalena Bay - This Is The World (I Made It For You)

After this past year, I'm a little concerned that once I've finished the It's About Time series I'm doing the blog will become a glorified Magdalena Bay blog, and this looks like a pretty damning sign to kick off the year's favourites list. They've quickly become my favourite band, and claimed many a superlative within my personal music taste beyond that.

This song though, is a favourite amongst an exceptional collection of singles released this year. This song depicts a toxic dynamic within a relationship, where the protagonist responds to their partner's misplaced anger and frustration with a fantasy to comfort them. This alone would be an interesting perspective: the fear of telling the truth for both person's sake is touched on and is compelling, but the song adds an additional twist in that it depicts that protagonist as hopeful that the situation can improve. The song makes slight hints that the narrator is delusional in that hope, but musically it seems to go along with that delusion. It's very much a Magdalena Bay song, but it takes cues from R&B, funk, and Disney music (the latter of which is perfect for conveying the fact that the narrator is constructing a picturesque fantasy) as much as their usual synth-pop and prog rock style. It's as if the instrumental is having the listener play the role of the partner, down to the gnarly synth that comes in during the more direct second verse, and which slowly fades as the lyrics become more soothing

The bridge also deserves some love. It's one of my favourites of all time, and it seems that they knew how good it was because they also made it the outro and opted for a fadeout to have it stick with you that little bit more

"

Something just has to happen

You give me silence I'll be noise, noise, noise

Where there's nothing

I'll build a mountain

I'll paint horizons that bring you home, home, home

"

The section is so larger-than-life and just takes a second to demonstrate how this mutual delusion came about: maybe the narrator doesn't believe that things can really change, or at least they seem to know that it would be exceptionally difficult to make things work, but they are willing to make that sacrifice. Perhaps that is a result of delusion in itself, but the song just allows that sentiment to exist uncritically, and I believe there is power in that. It may be wrong, but many people come out of similar relationships feeling dumb for ever being in this position when they shouldn't. This sentiment is, in isolation, a very romantic one. The criticism shouldn't be placed on the person who expresses or feels this sentiment. In fact, I'd argue it's an important part of a loving relationship: being there to support your partner when they aren't able to support themselves or you.

The uncritical nature of this section asks you to engage with this sentiment on it's own, and early misunderstandings of the song seem to suggest that it worked. People saw this, and continue to see this as romantic. Not dumb, not naive, nothing of the sort. Romantic. Loving. You're reminded that the problem (if you interpret/remember that there is one beyond stress-induced irritability), is with the partner that abuses or under-appreciates that love.

Part of why I really loved the band's singles this year is because the lyrics were exceptional, and this might be the best example of it, which is one of many reasons this is one of my favourites of the year.