The Feels of 2025: A Mid-Year Lookback on popular Trends
As we pass the mid-point of 2025, REFLECTION is looking back on what was popular in the first half of the year and anticipating what it might mean for the next. We have been spoiled with so many fresh releases that we won’t be able to mention every one, but we tried our best to analyze broad shifts in media to create a snapshot of the world’s preferences at the moment. We’ve waded through the endless stream of music, television, and movies and picked out the art that has done the most to shape our cultural dialogue. The public’s favor is subject to change, but our picks are so good they might just be timeless.
MUSIC
Pop music has about a three year-long cycle. At one extreme, Taylor Swift is huge (again) after the release of an incredible album. On the flip side, art pop makes a comeback. Candy pop is still a mainstay, of course — looking at you, Benson Boone — but listeners begin to seek new things. This time around, we’re craving depth and transparency. It’s possible Kendrick Lamar made lyricism good again with his 2024 album GNX, which gained popularity with listeners outside of rap after his Super Bowl halftime show in February. We can look to Lorde’s new album for the new standard for pop artists. Virgin defined the summer in terms of sound and style. Introspection is in. As a result, some of the most anticipated and popular releases of 2025 are much more raw than what we’ve seen in previous years. Chappell Roan is finally releasing her long-awaited single “The Subway” on streaming services, which bears similar themes to some of her songs which are lyrically astounding but notably less popular than her radio hits — think “Coffee” or “Picture You.” Similarly, social media algorithms are latching onto sad, bro-ey music. The TikTok sound canon mostly consists of the same few Radiohead and Deftones songs, but the trend has led users to sample new genres like “midwest emo” and “breakcore.” Listeners say that the songs relate to their experiences with “ennui” and “growing pains,” which could be why young people are so interested. We have a lot of those.
TV
Our zeitgeist right now has two sides: prestige TV and cringewatch palate cleansers that we enjoy less ironically than we’d like to admit. And then there’s The White Lotus, which seems to strike the perfect balance. Cinematic shows like The Bear, Severance, and The Last of Us have continued to exceed expectations with their new installments, creating the kind of water-cooler discourse that we’ve been missing since Succession ended in 2023. This isn’t to say that 2024 lacked “big” TV — it’s just that cultural unifiers skewed more towards comedy. Shows like Abbot Elementary and English Teacher were great light laughs. We still have shows to fill that niche, and they provide a nice break from the stress of high drama. The Summer I Turned Pretty and Love Island work so well because we love to hate to love them. They’re like a bad rom-com, but bite-size. The fact that we are able to interact with big, artistic stories as well as the kind of silly ones is promising — it says we are becoming more tolerant and open-minded consumers. The casual viewers are trying new things and the seasoned arthouse fans don’t feel ashamed to gush over their favorite bombshells. It’s officially uncool to be a snob.
MOVIES
The crossover in viewership also bodes well for actors’ ranges. Just look at Pedro Pascal, who stars in The Last of Us as well as no less than three hit movies this season — The Fantastic Four: First Steps is helping revive the Marvel franchise, The Materialists served up a critical take on modern dating culture, and Eddington was, well, very 2020. The past few weeks, Pascal’s new stuff plus action smashes like Superman and F1 have made people show up en masse to watch new films in a way that post-Covid theater owners could only dream of. We’ve seen a significant increase in turnout, aided by the high number of releases — The Hollywood Reporter estimates 110 by the end of the year. In terms of genre, action and horror have grossed the highest in 2025. Final Destination and 28 Days Later update classic stories, and Sinners is set to become one of the most talked-about movies of the decade. Indie studio Neon, which spits out a super popular movie every few years (Parasite, Anatomy of a Fall, Anora) amid some less buzzy releases, has devoted its attention to churning out delightful horror flicks. Their recent film Together is making some people say they could be jockeying with longtime industry standard A24 for the spot of best independent studio. Regardless of who’s making them, though, the movies are back and awards season is looking bright. The average viewer can actually say they’ve seen — and liked — the films up for an Oscar.
CONCLUSION
The world is in its feels right now. We love rom-coms, but also thrills. We want to be spooked, but also soothed. Audiences are looking for deep, emotional narratives and our favorite artists have definitely delivered. It seems like release calendars have lined up just perfectly to bless us with tons of new art at once. If you haven’t been paying attention, you’d better get acquainted with the masterworks of 2025 — there’s a lot to catch up on.
