With Zendaya watching Wimbledon
2026 Mix 07: January in review if you've missed a few, then odds & ends from all over: Brazil, Japan, celebrities' children, and Côte D'Ivoire with the triumphant return of the Même Pas-iverse
An odds and ends week in both mix and intro. There are a lot of tracks from late ‘25 this week, mostly because I caught up on a few regional viral charts, where December material is still going strong.
I should probably be recapping songs more regularly for those of you who value your time and sanity and therefore skim and skip mixes. One way to keep up more casually would be to follow what I call my Golden Beatology playlist. Those songs are chosen to appeal to a hypothetical median voter in the kinds of music discovery polls that I like to participate in online. It pares down the number of songs and probably hits a pretty broad cross-section of readers, not to mention at least one person in my household. (Not the one who wants me to teach them this song on the piano.)
I’ll also try to do periodic recommendations for albums and songs. Might put these somewhere else and just link to them once a month, though.
11 Favorite Songs I Heard in January (unranked)
ano: ピカレスクヒーロー [Picaresque Hero]
10 Favorite Albums I Heard in January (roughly ranked)
Vayda: Don’t Lose the Groove EP
Juky San: ĐẪM TÌNH
Poppy: Empty Hands
PVA: No More Like This
Yumi Zouma: No Love Lost to Kindness
Imarhan: Essam
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic
Djy Ora: The SGIDONOLOGIST2
Lia Larsson: Dunka
Plash: I Live Alone
Marginally useful album descriptions from Bluesky:
Indie: Yumi Zouma. Alt-pop: PVA. Chill vibes/tasteful=high: Imarhan. Chill vibes/tasteful=medium: Djy Ora. Get high and stare out the window bc wow: Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore. High energy/tasteful=medium: Vayda. High energy/tasteful=LOW: Larsson. Screaming: Poppy. Anti-screaming: Plash.
Other odds and/or ends, but no sods:
Al Valera has a great Top 100 of 2025 with write-ups for every song.
Kayla Beardslee and friends have put out their always great list of K-pop songs of the year. (Also recommended: Kayla’s least favorite K-pop songs of the year.)
Must give a special shout-out to Brad Luen for writing up my Taylor Swift mash-up album (!!) and even politely acknowledging without writing up the follow-up that was probably more fun for me to make than it is to listen to.
New Willow album klaxon! She produced and played every instrument on petal rock black, and does to tune-yards what Taylor Swift did to Lana Del Rey on “Snow on the Beach.” I like it, but it is not immediately my album of the year, which was not true of Willow’s previous two albums.
I didn’t realize that the Charli XCX Wuthering Heights soundtrack is…basically a Sky Ferreira album? Majority co-writes with Ferreira co-writer Justin Raisen, and one featuring/written by Ferreira herself. As Sky Ferreira albums go it’s merely pretty good, but it’s great if you don’t really like Charli XCX.
1. KiiiKiii: 404 (New Era)
South Korea
I know they’re not actually singing “404, the new error, error,” but it is where the title comes from (new era = getting off the internet and really living maaaaan) and this is now what I will sing to myself every time I get a 404 error for the rest of my life. Well done!
I am heartened, if skeptical, that my K-pop tastes are re-aligning with critics I trust on it after a decade of divergence (mostly from me not paying much attention). Though maybe it really does mean 2025 was a bad year for K-pop if I am familiar with almost everything in the top thirteen of the Pop Excellence list? I featured six of these songs on mixes, including a 2025 KiiiKiii song on the list, “Dancing Alone.”
2. Sentimento, Nadia Rose: Busy
France/UK
Nadia Rose graces a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin busy beat from a French producer. Sounds like she’s dodging the sound effects, including the ones she makes herself.
3. Pedro Sampaio, MC Meno K, Melody: Jetski
Brazil
4. Marina Sena f. Psirico: Carnaval
Brazil
Two December ‘25 singles on the current Brazilian viral charts—summery brega funk whose hook vaguely resembles Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” and then a party anthem at once solid and slippery, gives the sense of bodies sliding together and apart, which I assume is also what it’s “about.”
5. Sara Wakui: 幽霊になっても美しい [Yuureininattemoutsukushii]
Japan
A fun little J-pop song that twitches and cruises along at the same time, high-strung and cool in equal measure.
6. North West: Piercing on My Hand
US
Well, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter has finally had her hypertrap debutante ball, and rather than get into anything that could be inferred as commentary on her background, I’ll just say that this song is fantastic. The song has guileless youth media charm shining through its polished wall of noise.
7. Eem Triplin: If I Wanted To
US
A November ‘25 single (just released as part of a new EP) from PA rapper Eem Triplin, who has the sort of impish squeaky vocal that I also liked in Luh Tyler the few times he could land a joke. Eem Triplin seems more consistent in this regard—funny guy. I likely got this from Stereogum, where I see Tom Breihan also used “squeak” to describe the vocals—you’ll just have to trust I did not read his write-up first.
8. NAZU: Pura Pura
Malaysia
Trap-inflected R&B from a Malaysian pop star tucks some log drum into the mix so I am claiming it for ama-pop (“we count those!”).
9. Magic System f. Didi B: Meme Pas Peur
Côte D’Ivoire
I first heard Magic System in 2009 when I fell in love with “Même pas fatigué,” which I reviewed at the Singles Jukebox. (I’d probably rate it an 8 or maybe a 9 now.) Interesting what a difference a decade makes, I doubt I’d make a top-of-mind genre joke now without doing a little effort to get more of a sense of region/scene or at least be more transparent about my ignorance. Eh, maybe I would.
10. Chuwi: Plei
Puerto Rico
Another mix appearance for Chuwi, and another opportunity to be transparent about my ignorance! Want to go with “light salsa” but I just don’t have the body-feel for rhythmic and genre distinctions in this field. It opens with one person wanting to go out and the other person wanting to stay in and play Playstation, which means I have an excuse to link “The Game Song” by Keke Palmer (“that’s why I, I hate Madden! That’s why I, I hate Madden!”).
11. Bic Runga: Red Sunset
New Zealand
Bic Runga! I had her on one of my 1998 mixes, the “jagged lilt” mix — Mix 8: I’m Alive I’m a Mess. She was sequenced between Anouk and Vonda Shepard. (You can see the full track list for those mixes with a link to the playlist here.) Looks like Red Sunset is her first proper album since 2011. I have also learned that Bic Runga’s 2008 cover of “Autumn Leaves,” a song I believe is impossible to cover without achieving a minimum 7/10, is a 7 out of 10.
12. ALT BLK ERA: Tissues
UK
ALT BLK ERA is back rhyming “tissues” with “issues”! Charlotte Church would be proud. What’s she up to? (Checks.) Huh, interesting journey, but watch out for spoilers for Celebrity Traitors.
13. Christine and the Queens, Thee Diane: Ah Ya
France
Have always been hot and cold on Christine and the Queens but I am (re?) warming up as the recent Rahim Redcar collabs continue to hit gold, first his song with Cerrone and now with French Afrobeats generalist (post-Afrobeats? is that a thing?) Thee Diane.
14. PPJ: Me Pega
France-Brazil/France
She’s from Brazil, he’s from France, which is about where I left the research. Decent bongo mileage, nice harmonies.
15. Serebro: Кто я для тебя [Kto ya dlya tebya]
Russia
Wasn’t sure exactly when Serebro flipped back into the ON position, or in what formation, or who flipped the switch and how I should feel about that. I started on the Wikipedia and there were twists and turns galore. This is a fully rebooted new line-up and the “past members” list now stands at a whopping eleven. Aims for the lightly trashy melodrama heights of t.A.T.u., but I can’t really blame them for falling far short, as the bar is literally in outer space.
16. Lala Lala: Arrow
US
Struggling with my Amerindie quota this month, does Lala Lala count? To find out, I have burned two of my four Pitchfork views outside the incognito tab to reveal she has gotten two polite 7.5’s, which I probably didn’t need to click through to guess.
17. Charlotte de Witte f. Conduit: A Prayer for the Dancefloor
Belgium/US
Some real techno for my fake friends (that is, people who actually go to clubs) despite usually sharing fake techno for my real friends.
18. Nation of Language: Inept Apollo (Tom Sharkett Remix)
US
First question was whether the indie vocals were going to be a dealbreaker, and when they weren’t, the second question was whether the groove is worth seven minutes. It…isn’t, quite, but it’s close enough!
19. Mulest Vankay, Pcee, Scotts Maphuma f. Slyzza Rsa: Mark Zuckerberg
South Africa
Skimming various South African charts to see which amapiano hits I’m missing and turned up a good ‘un, hopefully this is not pro- its titular billionaire (don’t tell me if it is, though).
20. Societeit de Harmonie f. Natasya Elvira: Syakara
Indonesia
An Indonesian band doing decent Tin Pan Alley and swing era classics, both covers and originals. Singer Natasya Elvira does a mean kazoo solo.
That’s it! Until next time, practice your kazoo solos.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from Eem Triplin: If I Wanted To
I'm just playing and replaying the Hemlocke Spings album. How did something so good only take two people to write, in 2026? In places even sounds like Wicked might have sounded if it was actually good - Hemlocke's taste really is that wide, but it is never questionable.