The Afropean.com team is excited to be continuing our Best of…End of Year tradition in 2025. We have a few new names all up in the mix this year, too. Below is the 2025 selection from the team’s newest contributor, Chanelle Patterson. Happy Christmas to all our readers.

Happy 2026!

2025 has been a very exciting year. It is my first year being part of the incredible Afropean.com team – a truly warm welcome.

2025 has also been a great year for music and creativity. Here is a selection of the tracks I have listened to most throughout the year.

Wishing everyone a loving and peaceful entry into the new year.


A Couple Minutes by Olivia Dean

Arguably one of the most introspective albums of the year, Olivia Dean’s second studio release, The Art of Loving, covers the full expanse of life and loss within romantic, platonic, and personal realms. It was a triumph of an album which rocked mainstream concepts of love and is already being considered for major awards, including Best New Artist at the upcoming 2026 Grammys.

My favourite track on the album, A Couple Minutes, exemplifies the feelings that come with the optimistic acceptance of new beginnings – an experience I am sure we can all relate to.

I am incredibly excited to see her live for the first time next April, and I look forward to seeing what she produces next.

Spotlight line: ‘love’s never wasted when it’s shared.’

Rise by Raveena

The third song on Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain, Raveena’s Rise, is a somewhat stripped-back melody about emotional healing (what a perfect way to enter the new year!). Even though I associate this particular song with soft summer mornings because of Raveena’s gentle harmonies and jazzy crescendos, Rise is sweet comfort for winter too.

In the song Raveena alludes to the importance of staying committed to the Palestinian struggle through the lines ‘thousands of babies [are] under rubble’ who are kept ‘from playing’. I admire her constant advocacy for the movement as well as for her Aurora Loving Kindness Project, a mutual aid platform for championing underground Black and Brown artists.

Sycamore Tree by Khamari

Reminiscent of Untitled (How Does It Feel?) by the late D’Angelo, Khamari‘s Sycamore Tree is a song I came across in the latter part of the year, which explicitly pays homage to D’Angelo’s legacy. His key inspirations, as mentioned in an interview with Billboard, are D’Angelo and Jeff Buckley – both incredibly emotional artists whose passings the music industry will always be affected by.

In the making of the album, To Dry A Tear, Khamari focused heavily on developing soulful chord progressions which pull at the heartstrings and leave listeners wanting more. What an exciting time for rising R&B artists.

Most of the Time (Live at The Bunker Studio) by Jackie Evans

I believe Jackie Evans is an extremely underrated artist in the folk genre. I first encountered her music online when she had posted a clip of her singing Most of the Time before it was officially released. This song ended up being my most listened-to track of 2025 (54 listens!) and practically became my anthem when I walked across the stage at graduation this summer.

An ode to the special relationship between a daughter and her mother, Jackie Evans’s lyricism throughout the song reminds me how important the little moments with loved ones can be, especially around this time of year.

Spotlight line: ‘out of everyone, my mother says my name the best.’

For more of Chanelle’s musical selections, check out her Instagram page, Between the Records