The Best Musical Moments Of 2025
Choreography and Merriment, karaoke nights, and, yes, girl groups are so back! When it comes to the unforgettable musical moments of the year, the writers of Pop Culture Planet are sharing the Best Of 2025.
Abbott Elementary Season 4
As a karaoke queen, Abbott Elementary’s karaoke episode in season 4 has to be my favorite of the entire series! I was cackling and kicking my feet like a little kid watching the Abbott gang’s musical shenanigans outside of school. From Jacob’s emo rage to Zach’s Rent duet, it’s funny because it’s TOO REAL!
Abbott Elementary airs on ABC and streams on Hulu.
- Kristen Maldonado
Building The Band
Building The Band gave talented singers a chance to create a band solely based on their vocals and personalities. Girl group trio 3Quency made it to the finale and their last cover performance of “Have Mercy” sealed their season win. The harmonies, the outfits, the dance, and the stage design was music awards worthy and we still can’t get over it!
Building The Band is out on Netflix.
- Paola Cardenas
Freakier Friday
One of the year's most anticipated sequels Freakier Friday gave us so many new songs to love including Lindsay Lohan’s “Baby.” The sweet finale scene shows Anna (Lohan) singing the song with her daughter Harper (Julia Butters). Cutest mother-daughter duo moment ever!
Freakier Friday is streaming on Disney+.
- Paola Cardenas
KPop Demon Hunters
Okay, we have to cheat a little here! While KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” has broke insane records, there’s no denying the entire soundtrack is fire… plus it turned singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami into global superstars!
Not only does EJAE bring Rumi’s singing voice to life, but she wrote several of the film’s songs, including “Golden,” “How It’s Done,” “Your Idol,” and “Hunter’s Mantra.” While she comes from a K-pop trainee background, writing music for KPop Demon Hunters required more of a storytelling element in the vein of musical theater. “Balancing the two worlds was really hard because K-pop there aren't too many melodies [and] theater and K-pop sometimes lyrically can be very different. It was fun to have Mark [Sonnenblick], who's one of the co-writers,” she shared. “He's in the theater background and I'm in more the pop background and having us like be each other's police of like, ‘No, Mark, that sounds a little weird,’ or Mark would be like, ‘No, come back to the story, guys.’ That was really fun, but also challenging, but the result was amazing.”
I have to give love to “Free” and “What It Sounds Like” which have been getting major play in my house!
KPop Demon Hunters is streaming on Netflix.
- Kristen Maldonado
Overcompensating
Campy young adult series Overcompensating not only gave us laughs the entire time, we also got Mary Beth Barone’s rendition of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome To The Black Parade.” The scene tugs at our emo heartstrings, but also serves as an important scene for her character as she embraces her true self.
Overcompensating is streaming on Prime Video.
- Paola Cardenas
School Spirits Season 2
I can’t stop rewatching our favorite ghosts dancing to Wally’s detailed “Let’s Dance” choreography. The School Spirits creators told me that it was such a “joyful day” on set filming that scene. “What is so funny is that our show works fast. We make this show really quick so our actors have to be really nimble,” said Nate Trinrud. “One of my best friends is Broadway choreographer Katie Spellman and she generated this dance for our actors to learn. We [had] maybe three rehearsals and then they had to go and do it in front of cameras and they nailed it.”
Megan Trinrud continued: “It was great to be able to pick that song too because we wanted to have the song chosen and ready to go so that we could really lean into it. It was just so much fun blasting the song on set and getting to watch them. Everybody was having fun. It was a very, very magical day.”
Milo Manheim brings so much humor and heart to School Spirits and I love that he’s gotten to lead fun musical numbers each season so far. Crossing my fingers that means a new one is coming in season 3!
School Spirits is streaming on Paramount+.
- Kristen Maldonado
Severance Season 2
Introducing….Choreography and Merriment! Mr. Milchick brings a whole marching band into the Lumon offices to celebrate Mark S.’s achievement pf completing the Cold Harbor file in Severance season 2. Tramell Tillman stepped in as the drum major with some pretty sweet moves, tapping into his real life HBCU roots. With aggressive blue and green flashing lights, the C&M team deserve a standing O!
Severance is streaming on Apple TV+.
- Kristen Maldonado
Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners brought out its Southern twang with Miles Caton’s “I Lied To You.” From Caton’s soulful vocals to the blues influences, the pulsating single featured in the Juke Club scene could very well be up for an Oscar nomination as Best Original Song.
Stream Sinners on HBO Max.
- Paola Cardenas
Vampirina: Teenage Vampire
Vee (Kenzi Richardson) and Sophie (Jiwon Lee) are best friends forever and “Supernatural” featured in Vampirina: Teenage Vampire proves it. In the debut episode “First Year To Watch,” Vee and Sophia perform the song about their friendship with a rap sequence from Elijah (Shaun Dixon). The bestie anthem sets off the tone for the rest of the series as Vee continues to chase her musical dreams.
Vampirina: Teenage Vampire is available on Disney+.
- Paola Cardenas
Wicked: For Good
Once her sister dies in Wicked: For Good, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) breaks. Erivo’s “No Good Deed” shook me to my very core, I literally started clapping in the theater. It is the most powerful musical moment in the film, vocally and emotionally, and becomes the catalyst for her to save Fiyero and finally give into the identity Oz has forced upon her: the Wicked Witch.
- Kristen Maldonado
Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires
Zombies 4: Dawn Of The Vampires merged our favorite Zombies characters with two new groups of sworn enemies. “The Place To Be” is by far the best out of the soundtrack as its our introduction to the Sunnyside and Shadyside packs with newcomers Freya Skye and Malachi Barton. It's upbeat, catchy, and the dance sequences are a joy to watch.
Available to stream on Disney+.
- Paola Cardenas
