Selective Hearing’s 2025 Year-End Recap

Introduction

2025 Tranquilo

The 19th year of Selective Hearing once again ends with this grand finale, summarizing all the good, bad, and the ugly of 2025. Unlike 2024’s tests of patience, 2025 turned out to be much better than expected on many fronts, with the high points outweighing the low points by a significant margin.

I felt very little frustration with the site’s direction this year. I have humbly accepted the saying “It is what it is” and have taken much more time to appreciate what we do well and to expand the content into areas we have only barely explored. There is only so much a small crew, or even a single individual, can do, and whatever small achievements we have accomplished this year are all cause for celebration.

With all that said, let’s look back at Selective Hearing in 2025.

Content

WYP Album Art Large

This year’s most consistent content was Allen’s What You Playing series of articles. He has been quite diligent in making sure that those of us who participate get our contributions in. So much thanks to him for cracking that whip when the rest of us are too lazy or busy to get our parts added on time.

My personal goal has always been to establish consistency in posting any type of article. Be it on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. At the start of the year, I had some good intentions and started off strong, trying to get something out at the end of every week. However, that fell off once May hit, and I never fully recovered from getting back into the groove. That can be attributed to a few things that will be discussed later, but I did what I could to somewhat get back on track.

Article-wise, my numbers are much lower this year (and for good reason), but I believe I did a respectable job regardless. My stats for 2025 are:

  • 17 Music Reviews
  • 12 Remixes
  • 4 Concert Reviews
  • 1 Interview
tripleS ∞!_artist photo Large
tripleS Hatch! Promotional photo — Photo courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.

I think the biggest get content-wise was securing an interview with triples Hatch! I’m hoping I can get more artist interviews in the upcoming year, but we’ll see how that goes.

Events

With the geopolitical tensions between the United States and Canada being at an all-time high, I wasn’t expecting my travel schedule to be jam-packed. I managed to go to the U.S. just once this year before all the bullshit of the 51st state, tariffs, and whatever else the circus of a government there is threatening threw a wrench into potential plans for repeated visits to see my peeps and attend concerts. But life has a funny way of presenting new opportunities in the face of insurmountable odds.

tripleS Come True in North America Poster

tripleS Come True in North America, Houston

This was my one and only trip to the U.S. in 2025. I went to Houston to see a tripleS split-squad show. Why Houston? Well, it was the only show I could get first- or second-row tickets to. Plus, I’ve never been to Houston, so it was an opportunity to see a new place. I also didn’t want to freeze my ass off in the dead of winter in Toronto or Montreal, so a warmer climate where I knew I would be waiting outside for long periods of time also played into my decision.

With NewJeans self-sabotaging their career, I was on the hunt for a new #1 girl group to replace them, and tripleS slotted in perfectly. Up to this point, I had already watched all the Signal episodes on YouTube, learned everyone’s name, reviewed every one of their releases, and picked a bias (Yooyeon), so the only thing missing was seeing them in concert.

Attending this concert only reaffirmed that I made the right choice for a new ult group to follow as they put on an entertaining and energetic show. The bonus of taking two shots with the members was the icing on the cake, and it was great to see them up close and personal, if only for a few fleeting seconds.

XG 1st World Tour The First Howl Final Landing in Tokyo Dome

XG 1st World Tour THE FIRST HOWL FINAL in Tokyo Dome

The last time I saw XG in concert was at the end of 2024 when I went to the Los Angeles stop of their North American Leg of this tour. I had known about the finale in the Tokyo Dome but didn’t apply for tickets because of scheduling conflicts at work.

But I went YOLO and decided to put my name in for the final lottery anyway. My batting average with Japanese ticket lotteries is pretty low, so I wasn’t expecting much other than to get ghosted or to receive the standard rejection e-mail.

So I was VERY surprised when I got a congratulatory e-mail saying I was attending the show.

This trip was my return to Japan after 5 years away, so I was a bit nervous, since many things can change in that time. Yet when I landed, it was as if I never left, and old habits started to come back naturally, including my Japanese, which I had not used frequently until this return.

XG in the Tokyo Dome was much grander and spectacular than when I saw them in the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, and a fitting ending to cap off their first world tour.

tripleS Alphie Alpha Percent World Tour 2025 Poster

Linkin Park: From Zero World Tour/tripleS Alphie World Tour @% in Vancouver

My plan for this trip was only to attend the tripleS show, but I got last-minute nosebleed seats to the Linkin Park show mid-flight to Vancouver. Linkin Park was basically a side quest, so there’s not much I can say about it other than that it was very loud and I got to hear all the classic Linkin Park tracks live. It was a great start to my trip in Vancouver.

The main event for me was tripleS, and, much like the Come True tour, it featured a split squad of 8 members. The big draw for me was that my bias was part of this group, so there was no way I was going to miss out. Like in Houston, I was in the second row, but this time dead centre. Which was good for getting overall group shots and video. Bad for tracking Yooyeon, since she was always on the right side of the stage.

The set list for @% was much different from the Come True tour, which was good, as I got to hear some variety from tripleS’ discography between both tours. The after-concert benefits were a bit more rushed than Houston, but at least I got my 3 pictures with Yooyeon.

LE SSERAFIM EASY CRAZY HOT ENCORE IN TOKYO DOME

LE SSERAFIM EASY CRAZY HOT ENCORE 2025 in Tokyo Dome

My final trip of 2025 was another that came down to the lottery gods smiling down on me. LE SSERAFIM has been on my K-pop acts-to-see wishlist since their formation, and I would have seen them in the U.S., but you know… So my only alternative was Japan.

In July, I entered the lottery for LE SSERAFIM’s EASY CRAZY HOT ENCORE show in the Tokyo Dome. I applied for both nights, because why not? I have to get into at least one show, right? Well, I got into both. So this marked my second trip to Tokyo this year. It was a much more condensed and focused itinerary than in May, but whatever, I was back in Japan.

Kuromi Blood

LE SSERAFIM were everything I was expecting and more. The pacing of their concert is fantastic, and I didn’t even know 3 hours had passed until I was heading out of the Tokyo Dome with bags of Kuromi blood to re-energize for the short walk to my hotel. I would say they have the most fun encore of the concerts I have attended this year.

Music

Anime Music Studio

Remixes

Year five of composing music has resulted in 12 remixes. 10 bootlegs and two remix contest entries.

Original Songs

I have also started composing original songs whenever I come across a briefing or request that grabs my interest. While I now have a good grasp of building just the instrumental, thanks to remixing. The idea of coming up with a fresh melody AND lyrics to accompany the instrumental is a whole different set of things I have to get quickly proficient at. What I am learning the hard way is that the deadlines for some of these projects I’m taking on are very tight, so there’s no time for trial and error. Because of that, I have had to sacrifice the time I would have dedicated to other site content to submit something for these requests.

So while other content suffers temporarily, I am becoming much faster at piecing together a demo-worthy song. While I don’t think it will be like when I DJ (I can fire off a mix in my sleep, basically), I think I am getting close enough that it won’t be as much of a time sink as it is now to have a complete submission. Hopefully, I can get good enough to fit in a song request per month similar to my DJ mixes.

Music

I’m not one to assign arbitrary rankings to my year-end lists. My listening habits don’t really involve listening to the same song on repeat to help increase streams or views and I’m usually entrenched in the new release section every week since I’m always on the look out for fresh tunes. But If I like something I make note of it in my spreadsheet (yes I have a spreadsheet to keep track of what I listen to) so I can refer back to it for this particular article.

2025 Year-End Recap Jukebox

Favorite Songs

These are the songs that have hit heavy rotation on my media player(s) and computer(s) throughout the year.

Favorite Albums

2025 Favourite Albums-1

2025 Favourite Albums-2

I don’t listen to full albums as intensely as I do their more easily consumable individual single releases. Nevertheless, these are the ones that stood out to me this year and deserved repeated listens.

  • AVA MAX – Don’t Click Play
  • FIFTY FIFTY – DAY & NIGHT
  • ILLIT – BOMB
  • IVE – Empathy
  • Jisoo – Amortage
  • Lady Gaga – Mayhem
  • LE SSERAFIM – HOT
  • ME:I – Who I Am
  • MUQUE – DOPE
  • NMIXX – Blue Valentine
  • ONE OK ROCK – DETOX
  • Sakurazaka46 – Addiction
  • Teddy Swims – I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)
  • tripleS – ASSEMBLE25
  • tripleS Hatch! – SecretHimitsuBimil
  • tripleS msnz – Beyond Beauty

Conclusion

I believe the best way to sum up 2025 is that it was a year of discovery, not only for myself but for the site as a whole. Last year, I spent much of my time trying to game the site’s metrics rather than embracing the free-spirited mentality that birthed this place. And while I still care about metrics, I’m not going to make them the driving force behind the content I and the others provide.

The reality is that those who are part of this site are all grown ass adults with real-life things to deal with, such as work, bills, family, etc. Unlike the average consumer of current J-Pop and K-Pop, we don’t have the luxury of being eternally online and connected and if we’re a little late with something, so be it. Trying to be on the ball is what caused all the stress last year. Now? It’s more about being tranquilo.

So I want to thank the current group of contributors, Allen, Ellis, Justin, and BigFreaky, for their continued time and effort to make this our own unique piece of land on the Internet. My hope is that year 20 will continue the good fortune that we have been blessed with in 2024.

I also want to thank those of you who have visited this site in 2025. Whether you are a long-time reader or just passing through. Your visit is always appreciated; every hit counts. =)

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