What Were Felix and Ana's 2025 Favorites?

Alt.Latino

NPR

Music

4.5 • 701 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This year was bookended by two major statements in Latin music. In January, Bad Bunny released DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, and followed that up with a 31-show residency in Puerto Rico over the summer. Then, in November, the Spanish vocalist Rosalía released her genre-defying masterpiece LUX, which sent legions of music lovers scrambling to try to grasp the magnitude of an album performed in 13 different languages.

But they were only the tip of the iceberg of yet another year of mind-bending creativity in Spanish language music. This week we look back at some of the other artists and recordings that made 2025 another year of adventurous and rewarding listening. These six artists made only a fraction of music that caught our attention. But we only have so much time on these podcasts! Use this as a starting point to explore the year that was on your own. And check out more of NPR Music's coverage of the best music of 2025 here. Enjoy!

Artists and albums featured in this episode:

- Bad Bunny, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
- Rosalía, LUX
- Queralt Lahoz, 9:30 PM
- Roxana Amed, Todos los Fuegos
- Arath Herce, Musas en Mi
- Mon Laferte, Femme Fatal
- rusowsky, DAISY
- Lido Pimienta, La Belleza

This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from Bayer. Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven. This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward. Innovations that save lives and feed the world. Science delivers.com.
0:18.2	A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language.
0:22.3	Felix, I have something to tell you.
0:23.9	Dima.
0:24.7	I'm quitting the band.
0:26.1	I knew it.
0:28.1	You knew it?
0:29.5	Yeah.
0:30.1	God, I was expecting more waterworks, to be honest.
0:33.3	There'll be other background singers.
0:35.8	Oh, my God.
0:38.6	Now I'm the one who's crying.
0:45.1	From IPR music is not Latino.
0:47.1	I'm Felix Contreras.
0:48.2	And I'm Anna Maria Sayer.
0:50.1	Let the Chisme begin.
0:51.6	And the Chisme is apparently Felix hates me.
0:55.3	I could just tell you weren't into it.
0:59.6	The tease me this week is, we're looking back at the end of the year.
1:03.6	The best music of 2025.
1:06.8	This was a daunting year.
1:08.4	Maybe I say this every year, Felix, but I do feel like this year in particular, there was so much culture shifting, record-breaking music from the Spanish-language world.
	...

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