My Women in Music Recap: Winter '25-'26

This has been a crazy season. I’ve committed to this blog (and journalism in general) big-time and have so many pieces I’m pushing out. Even with so much going on, one of the types of articles I do that I try not to take for granted is my seasonal roundup of music recommendations by women.  

Admittedly, this winter was a little dry. Winters tend to be. Artists are wrapping up their projects and starting new ones as the new year begins. They’re not often rolling out an album in the first and last few weeks of the year. This is not to say that the songs released weren’t impeccable, though. The quality was as delectable as songs of any other season; there just weren’t as many new ones.

The album cover for The Art of Loving by Olivia Dean

The first song I added to my playlist this winter was the first new addition in over a month (I combine my fall and winter playlists), “A Couple Minutes” by Olivia Dean. That electric guitar. Olivia Dean has quickly become one of my comfort artists. “I’ve Seen It” was added on New Year’s Day and was also the last song I listened to of 2025 and of being eighteen.

Luca stunned me with her EP everything i am. She’s shown up on this blog quite a few times, even being one of my first features involving an artist interview. I adore her. “Over.” and “Unlove” are masterpieces. She even got number four on my albums of the year ranking!

I discovered Lizzy McAlpine in 2021 through When the World Stopped Moving: The Live EP. I admittedly wasn’t extremely tickled by five seconds flat (2022) and never really cared enough to give Older (2024) a proper listen. That was until she was my friend Malia's top artist of 2025 and I had her play me some favorites. As we drove through Nashville one night, Malia witnessed me crashing out to “Nothing / Sad N Stuff” (2020). I spiraled to “Staying” (2024) and danced to “Orange Show Speedway” (2022). I got into yet another deluxe track, included on Older (And Wiser) (2024), “Method Acting (Demo)”. That deluxe edition is gold. I just adore Lizzy’s way with words. A couple lines that stick out to me from these songs include (in the order I mentioned them) “I’m not sorry that I loved you till I couldn’t breathe”, “Maybe I will, one day, let this go forever, hold me until I find the nerve”, “You’re racing headfirst into something that’ll kill you in five seconds flat” and “One of these days it’s gonna kill you, and you will see it coming but you will not run away”.

The album cover for Cloud 9 by Megan Moroney

I admittedly didn’t think I’d listen to Megan Moroney’s new album – my love for country music has waned over the years. That was until I humbled myself by remembering that I really can’t run a blog oriented around women in music and not listen to a popular female artist from the genre that sparked the rage behind this entire blog. To be clear, though, rage isn’t truly what started this. Passion was. Anyway, I am so glad I listened to Cloud 9, because I do in fact adore it. I’ve been seeing promotional spray paint for “Six Months Later” on Music Row for probably six months now, and I’m glad to know that the song is in fact great. My favorite track on the record is “Change of Heart”, mainly because “I was in love and you were just bored” (“just bored” is screamed) is a marvelously executed line. As is the hook for “Convincing”, “I say ‘This is so dumb’, you say ‘Shut up and kiss me’/we ain’t in love, but damn, we’re convincing”.

Now, a nod to some local artists I’m friends with. Elayna LaPeer (my Belmont TT-leader, a welcome week thing for those of you who aren’t knowledgeable about Belmont) wowed me with “Relapse”. I love her entire discography and will be posting a piece on her soon. Tiffany Johnson released “Shocked!” before announcing her debut album Temptress, out April 24. I adore the song – it reminds me of Olivia Rodrigo and Avril Lavigne while also being very true to Tiffany.

The cover for upcoming album Temptress by Tiffany Johnson

Lastly, some random picks. My favorite Taylor Swift songs this season included “Sparks Fly” (2010), “Clean” and “Wildest Dreams” (2014), “imgonnagetyouback” (2024), and “Death By A Thousand Cuts” (2019). “Unwritten” (2004) by Natasha Bedingfield was a new-year-new-me classic. I added “Perfect Places” (2017) by Lorde to my playlist upon turning nineteen (“I’m 19 and I’m on fire”). I heard “Dying For You” by Charli XCX while exploring the Wuthering Heights soundtrack, and I loved it. Finally, “On Purpose” (2016) by Sabrina Carpenter flooded my TikTok feed for some reason, so I leaned into it.

And that’s a wrap on this winter! I am sooooo looking forward to this spring. I’m exhilarated for the new Maisie Peters album, especially. Have a lovely season and stay tuned for some very exciting pieces on this blog!