Not every song in 2025 was a winner. Some were overproduced, some were overhyped and some just left us wondering who signed off on them.
Here are five songs that, for better or worse, stood out for all the wrong reasons. And for the best, go here.
1. Kanye West, “WW3”
“WW3” leaned hard on provocation and forgot everything else. Kanye West opened by looping “She wanna hop in a ‘Rari” until it lost any meaning, then veered into self-referential controversy with lines like “They telling me that I’m a bully, I’m antisemitic fully,” dropped without context or insight. There was no hook, no build and no payoff – just blunt lyrics thrown at the listener and left there. For a song named after a global catastrophe, it mostly sounded like an unfinished rant set to a beat.
2. Will Smith ft. OBanga, “Pretty Girls”
Talk about a slap in the face. “Pretty Girls” felt like Will Smith trying to reboot his fun-loving rap persona while pretending the last few years never happened. The song’s overly earnest lyrics about admiring women landed awkwardly, especially coming from an artist whose personal life had already supplied more plot twists than the track itself. Instead of sounding charming or playful, it came off stiff and dated – a comeback attempt that probably didn’t need to involve music, let alone this song.
3. Cruz Beckham, “Optics”
“Optics” sounded exactly like what it was: a song that existed because the optics were good. Cruz Beckham leaned into glossy production and vague, self-serious lyrics about perception and pressure, but nothing in the track ever said much of anything. Released as headlines swirled around his brother Brooklyn and the ongoing Beckham family drama, the song struggled to stand on its own merits. The hook repeated buzzwords without landing a point, and the performance felt more like a brand extension than a musical statement. In a year full of actual breakout songs, “Optics” mostly proved that good connections don’t guarantee good music.
4. Rihanna, “Friend of Mine”
Expectations were understandably high when Rihanna finally returned with “Friend of Mine,” her first new single since 2022’s “Lift Me Up.” The problem was that the long-awaited comeback arrived via a perfectly pleasant – and perfectly forgettable – song made for the latest “Smurfs” movie. Light, upbeat and clearly geared toward a younger audience, the track felt more like an obligation than an artistic statement. It wasn’t bad – it just wasn’t the Rihanna return most fans were waiting for.
5. Lil Wayne, “Peanuts 2 N Elephant”
“Peanuts 2 N Elephant” was a baffling detour on an album that didn’t need one. Built around a bouncy, circus-like beat produced by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, the track leaned hard into novelty, complete with cartoonish sounds that distracted more than they impressed. Wayne’s verses were packed with wordplay, but they felt buried under a production choice that never quite found its footing. Instead of sounding playful or inventive, the song came off unfocused – a strange experiment that made more sense as a curiosity than a keeper.
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