In 2025, we talked to a lot of celebrities. So, as the year rounds to a close, we took the occasion to comb through our favorite stories and compile their cultural recommendations. In this next installment of our year-end round-ups, we offer some sonic suggestions from the tastemakers who defined 2025, from Interview cover stars Sabrina Carpenter and Jeremy Allen White to comeback queen Lily Allen and Bugonia composer Jerskin Fendrix.
———
SABRINA CARPENTER
“Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of the Blue Nile. The ’70s are where I find a lot of comfort songs. Obviously, my love for bands like Fleetwood Mac and ABBA is endless, but I’m having so much fun discovering new albums.”
———
LILY ALLEN
“There’s an album I love called A Grand Don’t Come for Free by the Streets, and it’s like a movie from start to finish. Each song can stand alone and make total sense, but together it’s more like a novel.”
———
KIM PETRAS
“I’ve always loved Love. Angel. Music. Baby. by Gwen Stefani.”
———
NYMPHET ALUMNI
ALEXI ALARIO: The Well-Tempered Clavier and girl groups of all sorts—my favorites are the Ronettes and IZ*ONE.
BIZ SHERBERT: “Fruits of My Labor” by Lucinda Williams.
SAM CUMMINS: Tom Petty, Tom T. Hall, Tom Tom Club.
———
JESSIE MURPH
“My first full album experience where I was like, “Holy shit, music is everything,” was 21 by Adele. One of my mom’s friends had an extra CD and I stole it and played it over and over and over and over.”
———
PAUL ANTHONY KELLY
“I also listened to [John F. Kennedy] Jr. read his father’s book Profiles in Courage every day before work to get into his cadence and vocal style.”
———
FRANKIE GRANDE
“David Bowie…And then, of course, George Michael. Obviously Michael Jackson—”Remember the Time.” Are you kidding me? Then there were all of the female inspirations that I was listening to with Mommy—Madonna, Whitney [Houston], Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand.”
———
HARRIS DICKINSON
“At the moment, I was just talking about Digga D–he’s a British rapper. He’s kind of been on the scene for a couple of years now. He’s pretty sick. I think Central Cee’s doing bits. I think Jay Cole’s doing bits.”
———
JERSKIN FENDRIX
“SOPHIE. I do not believe any musical death in the 21st century has so violently altered the trajectory of pop music than hers. I think about what she would have done next, even though I would be so powerless to execute it.”
———
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE
“I listened to [Bruce Springsteen] so much that it was driving me crazy.”
———
DYLAN O’BRIEN
“Do you know Karina Longworth’s podcast, You Must Remember This? She’s a total cinema freak. She contextualizes these eras of film with what’s going on sociopolitically and culturally with the world at the time and how that tracks through decades of patterns in cinema and the industry. Recently, I’ve been in an erotic ’90s land.”
———
