WOOM

Known in recent years for their breathtaking choral covers, 2025 marked a self-assured shift for South London group WOOM. Laying down the gauntlet with dazzling original material, WOOM's 2025 EP To Slow You earned praise across the board. Harnessing their combined skills and creativity, WOOM built a world around the EP with self-directed videos and in-house artwork that let the world see what they're really about. Achieving numerous milestones including a sold out show at the ICA in London and their first headline tour of the UK, there's a momentum and excitement building, let alone bags of potential. With little to no one out there doing what they do, WOOM are poised for greatness and rightfully so.

Tracey

Still very much an enigma, anonymous South London duo Tracey were on everyone's lips in 2025. Arriving like a wrecking ball with 'Sex Life (feat. Riko Dan)', the track spread like wild fire in the global underground dance scene before picking up a play from Bjork (her majesty) at one of her lauded DJ sets. Shortly followed by a self-titled EP and 2 more exceptional singles 'Sleazy' and 'Above The Clouds', Tracey are showing no signs of slowing down and its our job to keep up. With each new work acting like the sonic equivalent of a mic drop, Tracey are locked into the zeitgeist and are an easy pick for our top 20.

Max Winter

We hear a lot of new music here at TMR and it's rare to be stopped in our tracks the way we were when Max Winter dropped 'The Olympics' in September. Powerful and uncompromising from the offset, dirgy guitars introduce a striking string arrangement that announces Max Winter's creativity with gusto. First played by Zakia Sewell on 6 Music, 'The Olympics' arrived alongside news of Winter's newest EP Mourning Routine. Consisting of 5 phenomenal tracks, including the equally breathtaking 'Buttercup', Mourning Routine is easily one of our favourite releases of the year (alongside the debut album of Winter's other project Thredd). A star in the making if ever there was one, Max Winter (and anything he touches) should be at the top of your radar.

Hornet

Hornet sent our hearts racing in 2025 with an innovative evolving EP 253a well street. Featuring heavy-hitters 'leaving with Lisa' and 'Cafe L', 'Precious body' completed the shimmering collection just a few weeks ago with an appropriately explosive video. Carving her own way through hyper-pop tropes and explorations into more avant-garde territory, Hornet's output feels impactful and impossible to ignore as we look to the future. With one show left in the diary for the year (at Sleepwalk in Brooklyn, NY), the US-born, London-dwelling artist deserves a celebratory send off as we keep a close eye on her plans for 2026.

GeeJay

GeeJay cemented their status as one of 2025’s most compelling artists by grounding their music in jazz and delivering a beautiful body of work that balanced real life with rare honesty. The London-based duo consisting of vocalist and songwriter, Gee (Gina), and multi-instrumentalist producer, Jay (Jacob), stepped deeper into music that feels so personal, shaped by their experiences as a real life couple, while at the same time universally resonant. Their story began where the pair first met while working as baristas in a café. What started as spontaneous jam sessions on the café’s old piano soon evolved into a beautiful relationship and a creative partnership built on chemistry and shared musical language. That foundation has carried GeeJay from those early moments to the independent release of two EPs and their debut album, earning over 40 million streams and acclaim from tastemakers including The Guardian, BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra and CLASH. In 2025, their songwriting reached new emotional depths: 'Young Girl' written for their first daughter, offered a tender reflection on growth and protection. 'My Rock' explored love as stability and partnership, while 'Murder' showed GeeJay at their most resolute and purposeful- a soulful stance that asks what we are willing to fight for, and insists on peace without ever losing hope. The year closed with 'My Baby', released in November to express the arrival of their second child, reinforcing how GeeJay’s music functions as a living record of their lives. Just weeks after welcoming their second child, GeeJay delivered a defining live moment with a headline performance at Islington Assembly Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival. It was a powerful reminder of their growth into a commanding live act: one rooted in jazz expression, emotional truth and an undeniable connection. What truly sets GeeJay apart authentically, is the way they allow life to shape their music organically.