2025 was the best year of my adult life when it comes to music. I feel blessed that so many of the bands on this list are bands who have been on our show (the instant hit podcast, Emo Kids Anonymous).

The mountain air felt crisp as we pulled into Estes Park, that high altitude feeling mixing with the kind of excitement you get before seeing a band whose music was part of the soundtrack to your teens. We made the trip for the Face To Face show at the Stanley Hotel, and the whole town already felt like the right place for it.

Alright alright so I tried cosplaying as a journalist again the other week when I released my first annual emo lists (™️) and I caught a LOT of flack. Granted, a lot less flack than I expected, but flack nonetheless.

Do you remember that one guy in high school? The gritty charmer who threw the wildest parties and never seemed to get in trouble? Well, he grew up, and today he’s cooler than ever.

What happens when four nerdy scene kids grow up but refuse to grow out of their love of emo music? Turns out, they get together to form a pretty rad band. Self-proclaimed ‘sad dad’ rockers, Further North, are everything you remember loving about your local pop-punk garage band, only a little older and with an extensive library of corny puns at the ready. 

Welcome to the first ever NAPNET Freshman Fifteen. If the Emo All Stars of 2025 list is the all-pro team, then is more like a top prospects lists than an all rookie team. Look, if hip hop and baseball get to do it then why can’t we?

The Art of Shattering, the debut album by Atlanta pop-rock band glimmers, dropped today. This has been one of my most anticipated full-length albums of the year. For years, glimmers (Maggie Schneider and Alex Downtain) have been crafting some of the most infectious pop-rock songs around. Now, with their first full-length album, they’re showing the full force of their sound when it unites into one cohesive story