Secondhand Setlists

You definitely underuse your library card.

I, for one, know I do. There are all sorts of services available to us, online and in-person, that your library card lets you take advantage of. Here in LA, I have access to the Central Library’s Octavia Lab, which boasts sewing machines, professional recording studios, and even a 3D printer. Despite being a member, I rarely make my way down there, but I encourage all to do so because A. it’s cool and B. we need to better utilize and appreciate our public spaces.

On the digital side, your local library likely offers plenty of entertainment that you never need to leave the house for. Hoopla is a pretty well-known e-Service, with ebooks, movies, and music free to download to your device for a week. They carry all sorts of titles, including plenty of contemporary releases. Personally, I find Hoopla to be perfect for listening to any of the big releases of the day: it’s free with your library card, there are no ads, and it’s not Spotify or YouTube, objectively evil companies. However, the one downside, as with any streaming service, is that you don’t get to own these titles, which eventually leave your device after a week. That said, one library service does allow you to keep some goodies for yourself.

A slightly lesser-known service provided by many libraries is Freegal. Don’t let the odd name and somewhat clunky interface dissuade you – Freegal presents a wealth of goodies to enjoy, and you can add them to your MP3 library, too. Each week, you get five free downloads on Freegal; this totals to 260 songs a year if you never miss a week. Play your cards right, and you could download 2025 blockbusters like Addison, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Something Beautiful, and Lux in their entireties and still have enough free space to download other timely LPs by Erika De Casier, Tate McRae, f5ve, and Nao. So, in the spirit of the giving season, I laid out 25 songs from 2025 that are available to you, dear reader, all of which you could download by the end of the year.

And this is all just music from this year. Freegal carries a lot of shit, and pretty comprehensively too; just look through their Destiny’s Child catalog to get an idea of how many little Easter eggs you can find. The service is great with its international selections, too, particularly Hispanic artists. To my knowledge, every iteration of Bizarrap sessions exists on Freegal, including this year’s with Daddy Yankee.

Regardless of what you choose, I do hope you use the service. Not only is it yours to use (your taxes pay for it) but it is also one that I fear we’ll start to lose as our inept government continues to slash funding for anything that isn’t the miliary or law enforcement. There’s plenty for you to enjoy on Freegal, so treat it like you’re at the record store or thrift shop. Although it takes some digging, it just makes the finds feel all the more special.

AMORE “I Gotta Feeling” – Perhaps the prettiest production I’ve heard all year. Light as a feather and tickles the ears like one, too.

Mathias Aguayo “El Internet” – Big year for understated, spoken-word Latin bangers. Aguayo’s straitlaced production choices and vocal delivery only heighten rather than dispel any unease.

Fiah “Playboy” – Fellow Argentinians, club maximalist Juana Rozas and Fannypack revivalist Six Sex, both also are on Freegal, and I definitely encourage you to check out their material. That said, I want to give some shine to Fiah and her Pussy in Boots album, specifically “Playboy.” At a blistering tempo, Fiah hammers home a singular phrase: “I’m a cowgirl, and you’re a cowboy.” The whole album slaps, one of my favorites of the year, this is just a sampler.

Gaba “So Happy I Could Die” – As Cecile McLorin Salvant makes note of in a recent interview, cover songs are far less common than they used to be. And what a shame, because covers can be so remarkable, so fitting, so random. What I like about Gaba’s power pop reimagining of one of Lady Gaga’s finest songs is exactly that it’s a song I wish more people knew about. Covers remind us that any song can find a new audience today, and sometimes one even larger than its previous one.

Restinga “salina” – Combines the haunted reggaeton of an act like Meth Math with a soft, dreamy vocal.

Emilia, TINI, Nicki Nicole “Blackout” – A big banger from some of Latin America’s heavy hitters in the pop realm. This is also your reminder to check out Emilia’s fabulous .mp3 album, as well as another one of her bad bitch linkups with Ludmilla, the standout “no_se_ve.mp3”

KiiiKiii “Dancing Alone” – Soooooo ’80s in the best way. Just try to keep still when you hear this come on. As an added bonus, you can also download all the remix versions, too.

Wolfacejoey “Vanessa” – You never need to hear that G***** song again thanks to Wolfacejoeyy. Midway through “Vanessa,” a deeper bass tone creeps in, further expanding the sound of the song.

Princesa Alba “amor verdadero” – Chile’s Princesa Alba continues to make well-constructed, easy to sink into pop music with 2025’s “amor verdadero.” As an added treat, much of her back catalog including 2021’s stellar Besitos Cuidate have been uploaded to the platform recently. If you can’t find something in her repertoire that you like, it’s very much a ‘you’ problem.

Sayuri & Sopholov “1-800” – Anytime a hotline gets mentioned in a song, you know what to expect. As they say, this song is where your wet dreams come true. More cowbell, por favor.

Eli “God Bless the BFA” – I know a few people with BFAs and this made me howl. Eli’s in on the joke as much as she is the joke, a popstar who studied the 2025th edition of How To Be a Popstar. Songs about getting hurt so good typically involve sex and romance; in Eli’s case, the guilty pleasure in question is stardom. She studied so hard that she definitely learned the Fiona Apple lesson about the music industry, and yet can’t find herself able to turn away.

Davido “With You” – That guitar in this number just tickles my hips in the best way. The little 16th-note jitters every 16 counts provide an additional jolt to keep you on your toes. Davido asks that you join him, and he also asks that you keep up.

Irmãs de Pau “Eterna Fiel” – The Brazilian duo challenges you to a battle you will be sure to lose. This is rip-roaring in the best possible way. Non-Portuguese speakers, translate at your own will.

Leikeli47 “450” – Did you know that Leikeli47 revealed her face? If not, well, now you know. You’ll also be blessed to know that she still does these imposing, danceable rap bops like no one else. Even if you don’t download “450” (your loss), her whole catalog, full of heaters (“Post That,” “Mulita,” “Wash & Set”), are all available to you via Freegal. You could easily use up the rest of your 2025 free MP3s on Leikeli47, and they’d be very well spent.

Ali Sethi “Villain” – Pitchfork puts it better than I can: the hyperpop cabaret of “Villain” reimagines the 1970s trope of the Bollywood vamp—glamorous, campy, and promiscuous, in contrast to the chaste heroine—as a queer antihero, cocking a licentious snook at the gatekeepers of love, identity, and morality. Scooped-out dhol rhythms and cheesy ’80s disco riffs lead into a crescendo of glitchy bleeps and jagged industrial synths as Sethi’s voice alternates between breathy whisper and kittenish croon. Even with this wonderful descriptor in mind, you’re not prepared for what “Villain” has to offer.

Tyla “Chanel” – One huge Freegal advantage over the public library system is that there’s more space and less hassle to include standalone singles and EPs in their artists’ catalogs. So if you could only get Tyla’s self-titled record in-person from your local library, Freegal’s got you covered with her WWP EP and the infectious “Chanel.”

KAIRI YAGI ELECTRIC-PLAY “Neko Dash” – An upbeat pop song that lies atop some very busy production, which zigs and zags in ways you don’t always expect in a pop number. Let it take you for a ride.

NiziU “Love Emotion” – Another sugar rush from the J-Pop contigent. NiziU’s been all about love this year (see their previous single “Love Line.”), and to hear them wail “Love is everywhere!” on “Love Emotion”‘s finale is a burst of sunshine in the doldrums of late fall going into winter.

2Charm “Boyfriend” – Get your TikTok dance fix in with this infectious slice of pitch-shifted dance music. In my opinion, the easiest song I’ll sell you on in this listicle.

Cutie Street “We Can’t Stop Suddenly” – Brimming with the exuberance that J-Pop is known for. The descending melodies in the chorus feel akin to gaining momentum on a rollercoaster. Rather than take a tumble, let your falls lend you momentum into making your next move.

Ninajirachi “iPod Touch” – An album so good that Pitchfork was forced to cover it months later. Run don’t walk to Ninajirachi, who gives the gift of flight to our memories, ones we ironically enjoyed stationarily in a computer chair.

Marina Sena “Desmistificar” – Probably like nothing else you’ve heard this year. Hints of Brazilian music, Middle Eastern rhythms, and Sena’s own distinct timbre. You won’t go wrong with this or any of her album, Coisas Naturais, one of my favorite projects of 2025.

Skyla Tylaa, JAZZWRLD, Thukuthela, Elaine “Vele Uyena (Risk It All)” – I recently got hip to JAZZWRLD thanks to a post on The Singles Jukebox. Searching their name on Freegal, it pulled up this new banger from UK DJ Skyla Tylaa, who blessedly gives us over six minutes of dancefloor euphoria. This find felt sort of like crate-digging in a way, which I believe makes Freegal such a fun tool to use.

Nashy-Nashai “Calor” – This in many ways feels like the inverse of what I love about Marina Satti’s “Igaga.” Whereas that song uses propulsive synths and melodies to conjure a sunny day on a jetski, “Calor” charges into the sunset urged on by stabs of piano. Nashy-Nashai boasts a strong contralto not unlike Rina Sawayama’s, and it adds an emotional heft to the song. I could shimmy my shoulders all night to this, and in an ideal world, I will.

FRUITS ZIPPER “Kawaii The Magic” – A citypop tinged romp that gives away its conceit in the title. It’s really that adorable. It also feels like the soundtrack to the end credits of an extremely happy movie, and so, that’s why I’m leaving it as the finale for this list.