Sinophone Music in 2025: A Year of Creativity
2025 is almost over, and like every year, here is a list of Sinophone songs and albums I listen to this year. For me, this year was a year of intense creativity, with bands trying new sounds and playing with the genre, as Riot in School with their post-hardcore ironic take on punk music or Wasted Laika with their beautiful but strange second album. After the consequences of the COVID pandemic, the surge of live performances in China, and old bands releasing new albums (remember Omnipotent Youth Society and No Party For Caodong?), 2025 was a return to normalcy and creativity. Here’s a list, with no particular order, that will be updated until the very end of the year.
As always, I recommend checking out the Top 40 Mandopop Albums by Michael Hong and Jake Newby’s “Best Albums from China in 2025“.
And of course there’s a Spotify playlist for this year as well:
SMZB 生命之饼, “The Last of the Mohicans”
If the Wuhan punk legends SMZB are forbidden from performing live in China, they are still recording new songs. This single, “The Last of the Mohicans” (both in English and Chinese) is the first from their upcoming album that is supposed to be released in 2026. A song dedicated to the Ukrainians:
“There will always be one left, after all the others have gone,
Keep fighting until the children grow up strong.
A new generation will come with their wisdom and keen mind,
To take back all those things that belonged to them.”
Teresa Teng 鄧麗君, “情歌最愛夜霧時”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Taiwanese eternal queen of pop music Teresa Teng untimely death in Chiang Mai. On June 25, a newly discovered song in Japanese by Teresa Teng was finally released in a tribute album for Japanese composer Takashi Miki according to The Conversation. The Japanese song is entitled “Love Songs Are Best in the Foggy Night” (“ラブソングは夜霧がお好き” in Japanese and “情歌最愛夜霧時” in Chinese).
Wasted Laika 丢莱卡, “红蜻蜓,绿孔雀”
After years of waiting, we finally have a successor to Wasted Laika’s incredible 2021 album, “走神的卫星”. The new album can be a bit confusing, it is very different from their first album, but the magic is still intact. After listening several times to “红蜻蜓,绿孔雀”, a musical consistency emerges. The nostalgic sound of their newest album is a testimony to the current state of the Chinese underground. I am still obsessed by “白夜狐步舞” or “La Dame de Brassempouy”.
Riot In School 返校日, “//Punk Rock Blasphemy”
Second album for the Chengdu post-hardcore band, with a production quality unmatched in the short history of the band. According to their bandcamp page, “The album cover features a left-behind child from a rural town in Sichuan. Along with the three other children appearing in the album’s insert, the band organized a charity tour to raise funds for their education.”
Wutiaoren 五条人, “Earth’s Love Songs” 地球恋曲
Since The Big Band, Wutiaoren have been very busy, participating in Jia Zhangke’s last movie, performing all over China and the world, being invited at Harvard, and finally releasing their new album, four years after “活鱼逆流而上,死鱼随波逐流”. As the title suggests, it’s love songs, with a Wutiaoren twist. Not the most inspired album, but a nice come-back from the Haifeng legends!
T.A.I.K. 亚细亚报童, “蓝心”
The new side-project of Spike, the lead singer of Demerit with this time 小池 as the lead singer, and his tribute to the early Japanese punk band The Blue Heart (hence the title of the album, 蓝心, literally “Blue Heart”). A true punk love song to the Japanese band and restless youth, the best punk-rock album of the year.
VOOID, “2025”
The new project of the lead singer of Taiwan indie rock legend Touming Magazine 透明雜誌. Hung Shen-hao states in interviews that he doesn’t want to be nostalgic, and VOOID tries indeed something else, going beyond what Taiwan indie rock has done so far.
Instinkto Industrio 本能实业, “Blackout of the Century” 烈日独行
I was very sad when Suliao 塑料 disbanded – it was one of my favourite Chinese indie rock band, and I still frequently listen to their first and last album, “New World“. Suliao’s lead singer, bokai, formed a new band, Instinkto Industrio with a more avant-garde and experimental style. Their first album “Blackout of the Century” is a DIY jewel that we all needed this year.
COLD DEW, “Taipei Cultural Landscape” 臺北人文地景
You can’t be more Taiwanese than COLD DEW. The shoegaze quartet released this year an album dedicated to Taipei, where the band recall their childhood in the capital, and more precisely Dadaocheng.
夏之禹 & Dizkar, “Everybody Loves Hip-Hop” 人人都爱嘻哈乐
Nowadays everybody indeed loves Chinese hip-hop – and SKAI ISYOURGOD can confirm. But we prefer this album, the encounter between Chengdu rapper Xia Zhiyu and Kunming soul musician Dizkar. Xia proves with this new album, after the phenomenal “Young Fresh Chin II”, that dialect rap is still the best thing that happened for Chinese hip-hop.
Hang On The Box, “Spiritual War”
We waited 10 years – since the EP “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” released in 2015 – for a new Hang On The Box’ album. If you don’t know, Hang On The Box is one of the earliest riot grrrl band from Beijing. Was it worth it? GIA is now on a spiritual path, and it shows in the album. I will perhaps retain the song “2020”, which is the closest to the Hang On The Box we love.
New Pants 新裤子, “自恋是骄傲”
New Pants will always be New Pants. Four years after their last album, the Beijing indie-rock-ironic-punk legends come back for with a new album (including a song with 旅行团). With the song “不要骗我”, Peng Lei shows the world New Pants is perhaps the best Chinese disco band.
Dirty Fingers 脏手指, “整一座城市的胡椒粉也辣不死人”
Can we still talk about Dirty Fingers in 2025? The singer of the Shanghai punk band was accused last year of sexual harassment by fans during their performance. The scandal brought a must needed public discussion about sexual misconduct and patriarchy in the Chinese rock and punk scene. Dirty Fingers nonetheless released a new album, and continue to tour (some of their shows are regularly canceled). The come back of their original drummer, the Brazilian Ale Amazonia, had a positive impact on this new album.
Supermarket 超级市场, “阳光,空气,还有水”
The veteran of Chinese electro Supermarket came back with two new albums, “5689” and “阳光,空气,还有水”, a couple of years after their participation to The Big Band.
意色樓 An Id Signal, “The Path Where Grief and Joy Intersect” 悲喜交集的路綫
The Hong Kong post-hardcore veterans An Id Signal, formed more than 20 years ago, released their first album since 2007. And the wait was worth it. Members of the Un.tomorrow collective, An Id Signal proves that the Hong Kong underground spirit is still alive.
My Little Airport, “死亡賦格 駱駝”
It wouldn’t be a annual list without Hong Kong anti-folk legends My Little Airport. This year, My Little Airport only released one single, “死亡賦格 駱駝”, about Paul Celan’s “Todesfuge”, Picasso, and a camel that committed suicide. But it’s really about Hong Kong.
Click#15, “疯客感官3”
The funk band Click#15 released a new album this year, as usual inspired by Prince, with a new electro vibe.
DJ小女孩 (DJ Gurl), “头7”
One of the strangest but perhaps best ambient/electro album of the year, DJ小女孩 (DJ Gurl) gives us Asian Horror, Chinese pop of the 1980s, anti-patriarchy vibes and just plain weirdness.
8 Immortals 八仙, “River of the Giant” 巨人川
Revealed by their participation to The Big Band, 8 Immortals released a new album this year, with their usual mix of garage rock and psychedelic orientalism.
Denise Ho 何韻詩, “Allô! Marie-Claude!”
There’s always a December song by Denise Ho. The most courageous Hong Kong pop star – who cannot even organize a small concert without the police coming to shut it down for “noise concern” – gave us her Christmas gift with the song “Allô! Marie-Claude” on December 17.
Wang Wen 惘闻, “Clap Your Hands (OST)” 電影《追幸福的人》原聲音樂
The legendary post-rock band from Dalian crafted a special original soundtrack for the movie “追幸福的人” (Clap Your Hands), directed by Zhu Jie, about the hardship of a mother and her daughter’s illness. I haven’t seen the movie, but Wang Wen’s soundtrack is as expected, beautiful.
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OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Nathanel Amar (18 décembre 2025). Sinophone Music in 2025: A Year of Creativity. Scream For Life. Consulté le 24 janvier 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15dv1


