When asked their opinion on the best album released last year, the students of Skyline showed a wide variety in taste, introducing a unique perspective on listening choices.
“I think Bad Bunny does a great job including a lot of cultural elements and different rhythms in his music,” said Claire Hurley (‘26), on his 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. “I also like listening to music in Spanish to… increase my fluency.”
In addition to the Puerto Rican musician’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which charted in the Billboard Top 100 Albums for eight weeks, another favorite album of Skyline from 2025 was True Blue, a reunion album from Japanese fusion group Casiopea, in their fourth decade of music.
“I just really thought it was more of like, that classic Casiopea sound, where it’s like, really groovy, but also exciting,” said Mason Ruhfel (‘27).
Similarly to Casiopea, Deftones, in their third decade of music, released their tenth studio album Private Music last year.
“I feel like there’s a lot of really good songs in the album that kind of go against the alternative and nu-metal formula, and it kind of individualizes Deftones,” said Logan Gulseren (‘27).
“I think [Private Music] really lived up to…the grandeur of their other work,” said Eleanor Wing (‘26). “I also really like the album cover, the contrast of the white snake against the green background is really cool.”
Another pick was Forever Howlong, the sophomore album from the British band Black Country, New Road.
“This was their first album [since February 2022], and they switched vocalists. And I think the new vocalist for voice is really, really good and a really interesting step for the band… the instrumentation is also really great,” said Stephen Peterson (‘29).
Veteran artist Florence + The Machine, the stage name of English singer and songwriter Florence Welch, released her newest album, Everybody Scream, on Halloween last year.
“[Everybody Scream] just has this insanely high quality production, singing, and talent. She’s a fantastic lyricist, and so every time she drops something new, it’s like, oh yeah, new Florence,” said Zoe Sangsland (‘26).
