Auralink’s Top 7 songs of 2025

Because 5 is too obvious, 10 is too many, and 6 is too round.

Hello and welcome to the first annual “AuraLink’s 100% objective top 7 songs of the year” awards, where we look at the horrible clickbait list Rolling Stone puts out and we say “hey, we can do that too”. 2025 has been a great year for music within the spectrum of what we like to cover here on AuraLink (also known as Rob’s personal taste) and the competition was fierce for this list, but without dragging on the introductions too long let’s talk about the best this year had to offer.

#7: drugs don’t matter by j<3

A bit of personal history on myself: when I first started highschool I was super into the Trap Nation wave of EDM Trap and the emergence of Future Bass. Something about those thick ass chords and trap drums appealed to me on huge levels prior to the genre burning itself out through complete oversaturation. Now nearly 10 years later, we have drugs don’t matter which takes the massive chords of the past, pairs them with the distorted basslines of the present, and shoots us into the future with gorgeous vocals to top it all off. This song is perfectly melding my favourite traits of modern production into an emotional experimental pop-ballad, and it very quickly has earned a spot at the top of my playlists since it’s release in November.

#6: Mona Lisa by Samantha Margret

This song came out about 2 weeks before we launched AuraLink and I specifically remember thinking “yes this is absolutely something I am going to cover”, and I kept thinking that riiiiiight up until I got super busy and it was pushed off long enough that I felt awkward covering it as a “new” release. Time management issues aside, Mona Lisa is a really interesting cut off the album it’s from as sonically it is way different than its peers, with a very distinct lead synth that is easily one of my favourite production elements of the year. It’s also a track with great storytelling with how it covers its subject matter of surface level perception as well as a really unexpected but perfectly executed half-tempo beat switch for the outro. It’s clean, concise, but unique enough that it stands out against any of its contemporary pop-adjacent songs this year, earning it a firm space in my favourite tracks of the year.

#5: i forgot to say i love you by Yoonha Verse

I’ve been following Yoonha loosely for a while in part due to how much I love her quirky sounding dance track from 2023 funlittlefreakybitch (which has a long term placement in my Assetto Corsa driving playlist), but i forgot to say i love u is a completely different vibe from that. Instead of bouncy and energetic we’re greeted melancholic synth arpeggios and vocals drenched in reverb, a stark departure from the bouncing basslines we’ve previously heard. It’s a minimalist heartbreak ballad in it’s verses, and a distorted emotional outburst in its chorus with a heavy 808 and strong belted vocals to really punch through. It’s a great track that really balances 2 different sides of the same emotional predicament, and for that I absolutely love it.

#4: Copycats by Danny Brown and underscores

I know, I know. I know you’re sitting there thinking “Danny Brown isn’t a small artist Rob he doesn’t need your promotion or a spot on this list”, and to that I say “oooooooh my god let me liiiiiiiiiive”. I won’t waste a ton of time on it but I adore how Danny blended worlds on Stardust, and something about underscores performance on Copycats just hits my brain in a good way. Rolling Stone also had the audacity to give Danny a 3/5 so fuck Rolling Stone, this shit rules. Very cool music video too.

#3: Severed Ties 2.0 by Darling I Dreamt & EMiDORA

I genuinely cite this song pretty regularly for it being the perfect example of blending post-hyperpop sound design into a more traditional “mass appeal” format. It’s got some very obvious hyperpop influences in its synth work, especially with its thick distorted bass in its latter half, but despite that I could play this track around most of my friends and it wouldn’t elicit the “Oh my god Rob why can’t you listen to normal shit” reaction my partner often gives me. That’s not to say that the song is boring or lacking innovation either, it’s really just a testament to it doing everything it does really, REALLY well. It takes all my favourite things about underground music and puts so much polish on it in both it’s top notch production and amazing vocal performances that it transcends genre boundaries into something I genuinely could see blowing up if the algorithm did it some favours. If you want to read my in-depth take on why this song is so good you can check out our article on it here.

#2: Growing Pain by Chitra

This one is a bit of a current obsession of mine. At it’s core its a dark pop ballad, but the way it constantly grows and changes is something truly beautiful. Whether it be its minimal bass and vocal intro, its pulsing distorted bass and swell combos in the second chorus, or its echoing string plucks in the bridge, the song is constantly throwing something new at you in its four and a half minute runtime, and every second of it is riveting and gorgeous. As a musician, this level of beauty and fluidity in an emotional piece is absolutely something I envy, and the way it balances its quiet lows and passionate outbursts is art at its finest. In short: I’m very excited for whatever Chitra is cooking next if this is a sign of things to come.

#1: spaaaceee by han.irl<3 and Ryan Hall

A shock to literally nobody who knows me personally. I’ve been quoted saying far too many times that I think han.irl is generational talent with the way she is pushing the sounds of the scene to new lengths, and her ongoing album rollout is 100% to blame for me getting back into music journalism and was a small push to starting AuraLink to begin with. spaaaceee was actually supposed to be a day 1 article for AuraLink but the article was scrapped after 404.wav came out the week before our launch. If I still had a copy of that article I’d share it in its entirety here, but apparently I deleted it. To cover the basics though, spaaaceee is a manic trip that disguises itself as an indie pop track for about 55 seconds before giving way to the most insanely hectic drum and bass track the earth has ever seen. It’s a glitchy concoction that runs a mile a minute and feels like a representation in sound of the exact kind of emotional fallout a failing relationship manifests. It is beautiful chaos and a peek into our own messy minds, and for that, it is phenomenal. Also: Ryan Hall is here. And he’s great as always. Shoutout Ryan and the analogue bass they used in his verse, they both ruled.

And with that, we bid 2025 farewell. Whether it was the greatest year of your life or the worst year on record so far, it has come to a close. To be very real for a second, we live in some really awful times right about now, and it’s very easy to get lost in the doom and gloom of the 24 hour news cycle and whatever new horror it has to offer. I think it’s important to stay tapped into these things so we keep them in check, but I’m also a firm believer that we need outlets to detach from these things, and I think that’s really what music is. Despite how shitty 2025 was at times, we constantly had the art of these artists, caringly crafted and handed to us for an average of 3 minutes and 30 seconds of relief before handing us back to reality. I cannot predict if things will be better or worse in 2026, but I can tell you for certain that no matter what happens to you or the world around you, there will be new music to take along through it all, and we’ll be right here to let you know about it. So happy new year, from AuraLink with love