Happy New Year you absolute set of bastards, you. We hope 2026 is full of joy, miserable music, and more miserable music. Regular readers will have noticed we were particularly quiet in 2025, especially towards the end. We’re sorry about that. We would make a list of excuses but we only really need one – life.
But that’s all in the past now. We are looking onwards and upwards – towards a brighter Picky Bs future. We’re all about what comes next.
And on that note…
Here we are with the first in a series of 2025 recaps, looking back at some of the highlights and lowlights of the previous 12 months.
Okay. Okay. We’ll get to the future one day. Maybe.
In the meantime, here our some of Fran Slater’s musical moments in 2025:
Best Album of 2025: You Are The Morning – Jasmine 4.T.
I have banged on about this album since it’s release in January, and you can here me talking about it in detail on our Album of the Year podcast episode, but that’s not going to stop me from mentioning You Are The Morning by Jasmine 4.T. one more time as we limp into 2026.
This album captivated me all year. It is both incredibly personal and totally universal. It’s focus on the day-to-day life of a trans woman in the UK feels simple and emotional on an individual level, and yet it also reaches out to paint a picture that many people will resonate with. It’s a cliché to say, but it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you cringe, and, if you’re anything like me, it will make you feel something new every time you hear it.
The music itself is often simple, but it blends folk, pop, and rock in a way that was always going to win me over. It has hooks, but it also has songs that rely on silence as much as they rely on sound. All of this with Jasmine’s mesmerising voice at the centre. What an album.
Best Gig of 2025: Little Simz, Co-Op Arena, Manchester
I could almost answer with Jasmine 4.T. for each of the positive pieces I am going to write in this article. But I won’t.
Instead, I want to give big props to Little Simz for putting on a joyful show that really captured me this year. Simz has been a Picky Bs favourite since we launched in 2019, and it is a joy to see her finally hit the heights we have always believed she deserves.
I don’t do a lot of arena show – partly because of the cost, and partly because of the fact that much of the miserable music I listen to doesn’t inspire such a big crowd to put their hands in their pockets. But standing halfway back as Simz absolutely commanded such a massive room was an experience I will never forget.
Best New Discovery of 2025: Ellen Beth Abdi
I am going with Ellen Beth Abdi for this one because of the way her album crept up on me this year, growing in importance for me with every single listen. It’s a beautiful, impactful LP which sounds quiet and calming on the surface, but has a lot of important things to say when you really get into it closely.
Ellen is my favourite discovery of 2025 because of that album, but also because I expect her to be an artist that continues to deliver incredible music over the coming years. It helps that she is based in my adopted hometown of Manchester, too.
I was lucky enough to speak to Ellen for my other project, the Mental Notes Podcast, where were discussed music, mental health, and microphones in mugs. If you haven’t heard her music yet, I suggest you do – and if you want to hear her discuss her ‘wonky, soul-infused pop’ then please search for Mental Notes on your podcast app.
Biggest disappointment of 2025 – Just Mustard – We Were Just Here
I hate to say it, but I was so let down by the Just Mustard album. Their debut is probably in my top twenty albums of this decade so far and I was really ready for this album to take them from a band I liked a lot, to one of my favourite acts on the planet.
That didn’t happen. Instead, I spent a month listening to it to try and draw out the songs from the relentlessly repetitive noise on the album. It genuinely felt like the same track time and time again, with all the melodies and interesting musical choices that made their debut so strong.
An album the other bastards were wrong about in 2025: Sam Fender – People Watching
Look. This atrocity of an album won the Mercury Prize this year, so there were more people in the world who were wrong about this album that just a couple of my Picky Bs colleagues. But I’m not here to tell the world how wrong they are – I’m just here to take aim at fellow bastards Sam and Tom.
Look. We all know that, in official music terminology, Sam definitely likes the odd bit of cheese on his musical toast. I can almost forgive Sam for being a fan of this overly earnest, overly hyped, and overly Springsteeny tosh. But, Tom? Come on, Tom – I thought you were the bastard I could depend on. If you want to hear my reaction to Tom’s betrayal in real time, listen to our Mercury focused episode of the Picky Bastards Podcast.
Words by Fran Slater
Picky Bastards 