It’s end-of-year list time and Team LOUD WOMEN have been busily voting on their top songs of 2025 – here’s our top 21! Check out the list in our YouTube playlist here, or our Bandcamp playlist here.
21 – Monoxide Brothers: Horses
From Birmingham electro-punk duo Monoxide Brothers back in June, ‘Horses’ is a track that charges forward with all the ferocity and urgency you’d expect from a song inspired by Ken’s line from the Barbie movie:
“When I found out the patriarchy wasn’t about horses, I just lost interest anyway.”(just) Ken
Vocalist Sophie Hack tells us,
“It’s empowering to look the crowd in the eye while performing it and make them think about how they or someone they know has treated women in the past and for them to reflect.”
20 – Where We Sleep and Ms Mohammed: Write My Name
Beth Rettig of Brixton-based grungesters Where We Sleep and North London based Clit Rock founder Ms Mohammed joined forces in August for a fiery collaborative single, ‘Write My Name’. The single aims to raise awareness and funds for aid agencies Medecins Sans Frontieres and Medical Aid for Palestinians who risk their lives to help besieged communities in war zones.
As Rettig says about how the collaboration came together,
Around this time, Ms Mohammed had sent me a track to work on. I’m a huge fan of Ms Mohammed’s and we’ve talked for years about collaborating. The urgency of the song that she sent me, matched the hopelessness I felt about the situation in Gaza and the devastating reality of that conversation that Palestinians had been having, seemingly with the death of family members hanging over them as almost an inevitability. The idea that this could be a necessary conversation is a desperation that most of us will, fortunately, never know.
19 – VENUS GRRRLS: Eighteen Crows
Leeds x Newcastle based alt-rock coven VENUS GRRRLS released ‘Eighteen Crows’ in March. The song came to life while lead singer GK was going through treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
“More than anything, “Eighteen Crows” comes from a recurring fantasy I had while sick, where I wished not necessarily for death, but for a different life. I developed a real fascination with the crows that appeared outside the hospital windows, given the symmetry of my ill health and the association of crows with death, and longed to be one of them instead of myself. I loved the idea that by becoming a crow, I could let go from a body that ultimately had failed to become liberated in a form that had power and freedom in its physicality. This fantasy was a consolation for me during that time and made up many of my fever dreams in the small hours.”
18 – Bugeye: This Ain’t a Love Song
Croydon’s queer electro art-rock powerhouses Bugeye released ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ in October, via their new label home INH Records. It’s a caustic, glitter-drenched anti-ballad that tells a narcissist exactly where to shove their self-importance.
Frontwoman Angela Martin describes the track as “a sharp, sarcastic anti-love anthem,” and she’s not kidding. ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ flips every breakup cliché on its head: no wallowing, no wistful glances, just pure, unapologetic swagger. It’s Blondie-meets-Goldfrapp with a Croydon sneer and a synth line that could melt steel.
17 – ARXX: Work In Progress
Brighton powerpop duo ARXX gifted us ‘Work In Progress’ in October, a soaring self-awareness anthem that lands like a hug and a fist in the air at the same time. Self-released, the track finds Hanni Pidduck (they/them) and Clara Townsend (she/her) doing what they do best: turning emotional chaos into something loud, honest and beautifully hooky. Hanni explains:
“This song is about getting to a point in life when you feel like you should have figured it out and you realise you still don’t know what you’re doing.”
16 – The Red Stains: Freezer Jesus
In November, Manchester’s rising post-punk icons The Red Stains gifted us with another plate of their “ready-meal-punk”, in the form of Freezer Jesus. Described by the band as “a Sunday mass for the era of late-stage capitalism”, it’s a mesmerising blend of spiky drums, spacey guitars, and kitschy synths. Sterling’s hypnotic bass line keeps everything tied together, as Natalie’s fiery vocals spit out classic Red Stains-style lyrics like: “Well, the joke’s on you / Cause I’ve seen Jesus / Buying chicken nuggets out an Iceland freezer!”
15 – Bridget.: Hairspray
In March, fast-rising Essex punkstar Bridget. dropped ‘Hairspray’ – one in the eye to mansplainers. She says,
It is all about people (middle aged white men usually) trying to tell you what to do, how you should do it etc etc. A big f*ck off basically. So thought, you might like it! :)3
Spot on, Bridget.!
14 – Bratakus + Girls Rock Glasgow: Tokened
Formed in the Highlands by sisters Brèagha (guitar, vocals) and Onnagh Cuinn (bass, vocals), Bratakus have always punched well above their “most remote band in the UK” tag. They’ve toured Japan, supported The Hives, and in September, signed to Venn Records, they unleashed their fiercest track yet.
Lyrically, ‘Tokened’ is a hard-relate for any non-cis-male musician (and it was the very reason I started LOUD WOMEN ten years ago):
“It’s based on many experiences we’ve had as women playing music being thrown on first at gigs so that the cis male line-up appears more equal,” says Brèagha. “Also, festivals that put all the bands with women on the Thursday, before the actual festival starts, and bill it as a day to ‘empower’ us.”
13 – Pigeon Dog: Bag Of Skin
Earlier in December, London grunge trio Pigeon Dog shared their latest single, ‘Bag Of Skin’.
Led by vocalist and songwriter Maya Raykov, Pigeon Dog merge a gritty soundscape with raw, unfiltered lyrics. ‘Bag Of Skin’ explores the tangled emotions of gender dysphoria, envy, and the dissociation that surrounds it all and the complicated emotions that come with being gender nonconforming.
12 – Girl Tones: Leave the City
Rock duo Girl Tones released ‘Leave the City’ in December. Sisters Kenzie and Laila have had an impressive year of touring, releasing standout singles, and even landing a placement in the hit TV show High Potential.
“‘Leave the City’ is about growing pains, it plays on the idea of loving where you are from, but feeling out of place. Navigating between pain and nostalgia in a place that you simultaneously love and hate.”
11 – Loose Articles: Guitars, Cars, Knickers and Bras
In January, Manchester’s Loose Articles dropped ‘Guitars, Cars, Knickers and Bras’, a plaintive lament on workplace misogyny. The track is taken from their debut album, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, released last year via Alcopop! Records. The band tell us:
“Skimmed off the top of shallow chitchat—‘I only watch blokes play guitar, women in knickers and bras’, over and over, and over—‘Guitars, Cars, Knickers and Bras’ was plucked from a workplace conversation about women in music, scrawled across the pages of the ‘Workplace Misogyny Diary’. The track points to the collective issue of not being taken seriously as a female musician, which is something we as a band have all experienced: ‘Are they your dad’s records?’, ‘Is that your boyfriend’s guitar?’, ‘You’re pretty good, for a girl’.”
10 – COWZ: Elephant
Brighton’s favourite queer alt-pop duo COWZ dropped an absolute banger back in May. As Tasha explains:
“ELEPHANT is quite literally about the elephant in the room. It’s a fun take on advocating for gossiping, especially amongst women, and usually about grotesque actions taken by men. As previously stated at our shows, ‘gossiping makes the world go round’. There’s a line that says – ‘I’m a gossip, not a liar’ – gossiping gets a bad reputation, but how else would we know that John from the local parish is cheating on his wife? That the guitarist from your favourite band has allegations? Gossiping keeps women and LGBTQ+ people safe.”
9 – retropxssy: Hitting Different
London Hip Hop artist retropxssy shared a powerful track ‘Hitting Different’ in January – from retropxssy’s Red Gloves EP. retropxssy explores womanhood with a blend of punk, rap, and grit.
8 – The Menstrual Cramps: Kiss on the Pitch
In July, The Menstrual Cramps dropped ‘Kiss on the pitch’, a sweaty, scrappy queer anthem for the Women’s Euros — and for anyone who’s ever wanted to same-sex-snog a footballer.
7 – BE N!CE: MISINFORMA
In September – just before their epic appearance at this year’s LOUD WOMEN Fest London – BE N!CE dropped MISINFORMA – the sound of every Andrew Tate fanboy being dragged outside and given a stern talking-to in the car park.
6 – Witch Fever: FEVEREATEN
In August, Manchester four-piece Witch Fever shared ‘FEVEREATEN’, the epic title track from their second album, which came out in October via Music For Nations / Sony.
“I wrote ‘FEVEREATEN’ when I realised I couldn’t stop myself writing about the church. It’s about feeling drained by that fixation and being consumed by intrusive thoughts. I’m angry that I struggle more than others and feel like a burden – but I’m also determined to hold onto that anger and use it productively.” Amy Walpole (vocals/lyrics)
5 – Twat Union: Red Flag
In April, Twat Union waved a ‘Red Flag’ – their feral, feminist punk rampage through the absolute car crash that is modern dating.
“It was one of the first songs we worked on more collaboratively for the lyrics, playing the riff and going around the rehearsal room all saying different red flags we had encountered – some were ridiculous, some pretty dark, and we chucked in one from Winston Churchill just for good measure.”
4 – Kate Nash: GERM
In June, Kate Nash dropped ‘GERM’ – a fierce anthem that takes aim at the Supreme Court’s decision to redefine womanhood in a way that erases trans women. Out on Kill Rock Stars.
GERM stands for “Girl, Exclusionary, Regressive, Misogynist”, and it’s a direct challenge to the people using ‘feminism’ to weaponise trans people, in service of the patriarchy.
3 – Panic Shack: Girl Band Starter Pack
In April Cardiff’s finest punk party-starters Panic Shack returned with a bang – and a bassline that could level a dancefloor – on their new single ‘Girl Band Starter Pack’, the riotous lead track from their eponymous debut album.
2 – Yakkie: Kill the Cop Inside Your Head
London’s fiercest new DIY punk supergroup YAKKIE unleashed ‘Kill The Cop Inside Your Head’ in October – and if you caught it at the LOUD WOMEN 10th birthday bash at The Lexington (where the song’s video was filmed), you’ll know it nearly took the roof off.
Frontwoman Janey Starling explains it best:
“The cop in your head will talk you out of your own power before you’ve had a chance to taste it.”
1 – Lambrini Girls x Peaches: Cuntology 101
‘Cuntology 101’ was already a feral feminist anthem – Lambrini Girls’ jagged riffs, razor wit, and riot energy distilled into two and a half minutes of pure chaos. In September, Peaches jumped on the remix, it’s mutated into something bigger, badder, and downright unholy: a feminist exorcism. Serving cunt? They’re dishing up a full banquet.
As Peaches herself put it:
“The track is cunt! It was a no brainer! Punk AF.”