Wow! I’m pretty sure it was just the start of April, but here we are at the end of June, and therefore the midway point of the year. Already! This week I’ll go over my thoughts and feelings and preliminary rankings for this year in music, so far. In two weeks, I’ll return with my bookish mid-year check-in. But before all that, the roundup for the past two weeks:
Roundup
Music
I’m still absolutely in my Olivia Rodrigo bliss. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been interesting stuff released over the past two weeks. Interesting but perhaps unexpected. Last week, my favourite album was The Story of Michael and Tanya, a theatrical exploration of a marriage at the intersection of country, gospel, and R&B. I also appreciated the return of Haircut 100, forty plus years since their last album. Yesterday’s highlight was Ryan Beatty’s Sweet Fortune, on which this long-highly-touted up-and-comer finally seems to have caught his stride as an artist.
Albums
- The Story of Michael and Tanya (The War & Treaty)
- Boxing the Compass (Haircut 100)
- You Don’t Know My Name (Baby J)
- Sweet Fortune (Ryan Beatty)
Songs
- “HOLLYWOOD” (YG)
- “Mesmerized” (The Aces)
- “Armor” (Medium Build)
- “My Body Isn’t Ready” (sombr)
- “Lost Boys” (Phoebe Bridgers)
- “Wink Wink” (Charli xcx)
Reading
- Deviants (Santanu Bhattacharya, 2025)
- Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman, 2021)
- White Nights (Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1848)
- Palm Meridian (Grace Flahive, 2026)
- Penelope’s Bones (Emily Hauser, 2025) – nonfiction
- Junior High (Tegan Quin and Sara Quin, 2023)
- All of Us Murderers (KJ Charles, 2025)
- Loved One (Aisha Muharrar, 2025)
- Nerd Faith (Rachel Kessler May 5, 2026) – nonfiction
Focus on: My Musical Mid-Year Check-in
I’ve been very vocal here about how underwhelming I’ve found a lot of this year’s new music, especially that coming from younger or emerging artists. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some good stuff on the cutting edge. Nor does that minimize how good some of the music from those older established artists has been. Below is a list, very roughly ranked, of the ten albums and ten songs that have made a big impression on me so far this year.
Albums
- you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Olivia Rodrigo)
- This Album May Contain Hope (Raye)
- Shhugar (Baby Nova)
- Cruel World (Holly Humberstone)
- Prizefighter (Mumford & Sons)
- Big Modern! (Goose)
- Between Us (Arkells)
- Dreamers in Exile (Voxtrot)
- Romanticize the Dive (Metric)
- Irreversible (Brigitte Calls Me Baby)
Songs
- “the cure” (Olivia Rodrigo)
- “Nightingale Lane” (Raye)
- “purple” (Olivia Rodrigo)
- “Virgin Heartbreak” (Baby Nova)
- “drop dead” (Olivia Rodrigo)
- “I Knew It I Knew You” (Taylor Swift)
- “stupid song” (Olivia Rodrigo)
- “Tell Me It’s Over” (Solya)
- “To Love Somebody” (Holly Humberstone)
- “I Will Overcome” (Raye)
Matthew Root 