Another year and another Mercury Prize shortlist for us to dive into. Before we argue with each other about the actual Shortlist (podcast event of the year incoming), let’s shout about the albums we would nominate ourselves.
Using the same rules as the actual prize, here are the albums we would pick for the Picky Bastards Mercury Prize Shortlist 2025.
Fran Slater: Kae Tempest – Self Titled
Kae is already a two-time Mercury nominee. If he’s ever going to win it, it feels like this will be his year. On his most personal, open album so far, not only does he tell the story of his transition in eloquent and powerful terms, but he also embraces a more accessible, chart-friendly sound. But he does this without compromising the rawness that has gained him so many committed fans.
‘Statue in the Square’ has the boldest bars of his career, ‘Prayers to Whisper’ is an anthem unlike anything he’s previously released, ‘Diagnoses’ manages to turn a look at mental health conditions into a club-friendly banger, and ‘Breathe’ is so impressive that the only thing I have to say is ‘go and listen to it.’ There are too many incredible songs to mention them all.
It’s a mind-blowing album that deserves recognition – if it’s not on the list, this year’s Mercury Prize is not worth your time.
Tom Burrows: Jim Legxacy – Black British Music (2025)
There needs to be some representation of the current strain of Y2K hybrid rap music on the nominations list this year, and Jim Legxacy is the poster child for it. And that’s not me using ‘child’ in a derogatory sense, even though I think I’m well within my rights to do so, given that one of the songs on Black British Music (2025) is called ‘’06 Wayne Rooney’, but rather than for nostalgia reasons, it’s used as a kitsch reference to the mid-00s period when Jim was 5 years old. I feel personally attacked.
Hearing references to the mid-noughties sounds of synthpop, landfill indie and electroclash via the next generation is a curious experience. And when they’re distorted through a hip hop lens, it’s even more fascinating. This is the most realised full-length in this genre yet, and the Mercury judges have to recognise it – even if it is living proof that we are all getting old.
Rick Larson: Lambrini Girls, Who Let The Dogs Out
Last year I picked Sprints’ debut and went so far as to mildly guarantee its nomination. I was wrong and underestimated the Prize’s inexplicable hostility to punk rock, the greatest genre and an arguably homegrown one. I will keep banging my head on the jury room’s ornate doors, trying to be heard over the numbing sounds of Fred Again within. Get your act together and nominate this album for fuck’s sake! These two Brighton women crafted a punk rock album that sounds both classic and new. It lashes out at familiar targets (cops, men in the workplace, men in general, gentrification, nepotism) but with undiluted passion and humor, a difficult mix to pull off. Punk can often be a bit too self-serious or, if swinging to the other side, overly broad in its humor. The Lambrini Girls are in exalted Dead Kennedys’ territory in deftly allowing listeners to have a good time being angry, a skill that carries over into their wild and interactive live shows. The music is fantastic, striking chords that run deep but sound fresh. “Love” is the shining example, a song that to me doesn’t so much sound as feel like the entirety of the history of punk music distilled into three and a half minutes. It’s beautiful. Give the Girls a trophy.
James Spearing: Ishmael Ensemble – Rituals
If you’ve been reading our Mercury picks article regularly, you’ll know that I have a habit of picking albums that have no hope of ever getting shortlisted. This choice of Rituals is unfortunately highly likely to continue that trend. But, and it’s a big BUT, I think Ishmael Ensemble do have an outside chance of getting the ubiquitous ‘jazz album’ nod, albeit in one of the most competitive years for a while (don’t expect some leftfield album you’ve never heard of to appear on the list this time). Rituals deserves a nod because it’s so so much more than just a jazz album. It’s so sonically wide ranging and would more easily be compared to someone like Bonobo rather than previous jazz nominees. It’s cinematic, it’s danceable, it’s emotive and above all it’s shortlistable.
Matt Paul: Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment
Others are gonna put forward some very worthy nominations like Simz and Kae. But I think we could have another debut winner in Glutton for Punishment by Heartworms.
Initially it feels like an interesting but simple post punk album. But as Glutton for Punishment grows it becomes a fusion of gothy theatre and pulsing industry. This is coupled with the dramatic and dynamic voice of Jojo Orme who dominates each track. The result is a tight collection of diverse but interwoven songs that keep me intrigued on listen-after-listen.
Sam Atkins: Fontaines DC – Romance
I never thought I’d be the Picky Bastard who decided to suggest that Fontaines DC deserve to be shortlisted for, and probably winning the Mercury Prize but I guess here we are.
Not only the best album of their career, but one of the best guitar albums of the decade so far. It feels like a band no longer held down by ‘being cool’ and committing to the hoookiest hooks of their career on ‘Here’s The Thing’, ‘Favourite’ and ‘Starburster’. All without losing the urgency and poignancy of their earlier music. The result is an electric album that represents the very best of Irish music.
James Spearing: Kelly Lee Owens – Dreamstate
If you’ve been reading our Mercury picks article regularly, you’ll know that I have a habit of making a semi-ranty point about how dance and electronic music is regularly overlooked by the panel. In fairness, they’ve got a little better in the last couple of years, but they still don’t want to agree with me about which albums should be shortlisted (yes, that means you Fred and Barry). I’m hoping this year will be different, and here’s why. Kelly worked with one half of the twice-nominated Chemical Brothers on this album. Dreamstate has already been nominated for the Welsh music prize, so has shown its worthy of an award. Kelly should have been nominated previously, but the Prize has a habit of missing great albums from artists they later recognise. And I’ve not even mentioned how great the music is yet. Give it a spin – it’s the perfect soundtrack for right now as we reminisce about the summer just gone. It’s time Kelly, and electronic more widely, were given their rightful place at the awards ceremony.
Sam Atkins: Rose Gray – Louder Please
There’s so many deserving albums this year from Mercury faves like Laura Marling, Little Simz, Jamie xx and Self Esteem but I’d love for the hypnotic pop of Rose Gray to give her the breakthrough moment she deserves.
Songs like ‘Party People’, ‘Everything Changes’ and ‘Wet & Wild’ are absolutely huge pop moments and are so full of personality and a bold performance from Rose Gray that I would love to see her make the shortlist.
Fran Slater: Benefits – Constant Noise
Constant Noise would actually have been a more accurate name for Benefit’s debut album Nails. On their follow-up album, the band embrace a lot more light and shade, using moments of quiet beauty to intensify the parts where they really let go. The album rips up the playbook for them, adding a techno element to the angry post-punk that came before.
It’s a deeply political album that focuses on the extremes of our times, both from external and internal angles. That political nature might cost it a place on the Mercury list. But it is an extremely affecting album that definitely deserves a spot. Benefits are band with a lot to say, saying it in new and interesting ways, and they deserve the attention that a Mercury nomination would provide. Fingers crossed.
Tom Burrows: Nilufer Yanya – My Method Actor
I listened to My Method Actor quite a lot in a short period of time last year, such is the way when you’re writing a review. So having given the album a bit of distance, I listened again on a walk recently, to check if I’d been too effusive in my praise of the album. I still think it’s great.
Yanya and producer Wilma Archer have really zoned in to a sound and a mood that makes the most of the artist’s talents. The run from ‘Binding’ through to ‘Faith’s Late’ is a lush, sweeping exploration of the existential soul-searching that often comes with young adulthood. It’s a beautiful album. Nilufer Yanya is in her element now, and it would be fitting if the Mercury panel recognised her work.
Rick Larson: SACRED PAWS, Jump Into Life
This is the sort of band the Mercury Prize should recognize to be true to one of its stated goals of introducing deserving artists to a wider audience. The Glasgow duo is not unknown (its debut winning Scottish Album of the Year in 2017), but remains under-celebrated. Their music is expertly crafted on the foundation of Ray Aggs’ Afro-rhythm guitar. Eilidh Rodgers has to be one of the most underrated drummers out there in the indie music world, her intricate stick work matched with a smooth flow. In a just world, ‘Turn Me Down’ would be a huge UK hit. SACRED PAWS are producing pop gems that only sound like SACRED PAWS and stand out brightly in the slag heap of recycled club beats and breathy lamentations that should have remained bedroom demos. If you listen to SACRED PAWS you will be happier, healthier, and sleep better.
Picky Bastards 