I wanted to live 2025 with the news feed turned off and the "I don't feel anything" mode turned on. The outgoing year, full of uncertainty and pessimism, will be remembered as a powerful reminder of the healing power of music. Doberman.media compiled a list of the best albums of 2025 from artists who identify as queer, who have become medicine in the midst of chaos, proving that art thrives even in the dark. Each album is a testament to courage, creativity and resilience.
1. Lady Gaga – MAYHEM
Yes, this is a return to a dark butt. Yes, you can call it nostalgia. Gaga presses the buttons again The Fame Monster: fat hooks, maximalism, "put your paws up". And such moments as its delivery to Garden of Eden or vocal denunciation in Adbracadabra, get stuck in my head. The priest works - period.
2. Miley Cyrus — Something Beautiful
It took nine albums for Miley's metallic hoarseness to finally meet the right music. Yes, the lyrics still stumble sometimes (hello, lines like "tears flow like your favorite series"), but that doesn't stop the songs from being bold and powerful. Pretend You’re God and the title track is head and shoulders above her past works. Beautiful? More than that.
3. Amaarae — BLACK STAR
"They call me a bitch, a villain, a scandalous diva," "No," the singer sings, "I'm a black star." Amaarae is a Ghanaian singer and producer known for her bold mix of R&B, Afropop, and experimental electronica. Her style is highly sexual and visually expressive, and her lyrics balance playfulness, personal vulnerability and daring confidence. BLACK STAR is her third studio album, which continues to explore themes of power, femininity, and African identity, while sounding like cutting-edge mainstream pop with an African root.
4. Perfume Genius – Glory
Mike Hadreas' seventh album, Perfume Genius, seems like an unexpected twist — precisely because there is no twist here. After retreating into increasingly experimental and strange territory on the Set My Heart on Fire Immediately and Ugly Season Hadreas on Glory publishes perhaps the most accessible work in his discography. This art-rock album has a lot of warm guitars and spacious soundscapes - especially in a standout track Full On, a sun-drenched hymn to masculinity with string arrangements.
5. Guitarricadelafuente — Spanish Leather
After appearing in an Apple commercial and participating in the track Troye Sivan, Spanish singer Álvaro Lafuente Calvo is releasing an album that is both strikingly low-key and emotionally bottomless. The sound here is diverse: from choral rugby chanting to Full time papi to a short entry into the club territory in Port Pelegrí. But Calvo's signature guitar style remains a key pillar Spanish Leather — in this lonely, intent gaze, he builds abstract, but hitting the mark emotional landscapes, torn between love and loss.
6. Kevin Atwater — Achilles
In his debut Achilles songwriter Kevin Atwater, who gained his first audience thanks to covers and author's tracks on TikTok, without undue modesty declares himself the twink heir of Adrianne Lenker. The material here is crushing — with subtlety and attention to detail, it unfolds the classic queer theme of longing and desire. In the center is a fragile, overplayed guitar and invariably aching, painfully sincere vocals. On the Achilles Even the most heartbreaking sadness sounds beautiful.
7. Eli – Stage Girl
Eli is a trans-pop singer and songwriter who works at the intersection of hyper-aesthetics, nostalgia for Y2K, and very personal confessions. Perhaps in 2025, no one embraced the flashy luxury of the early noughties as tightly as Eli. Behind the verified aesthetics Stage Girl There are truly touching revelations about the trance experience: at the end of the album, she admits — "I don't want to die in the body of a person I am not".
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