Podcast Summary: All Songs Considered – "Songs that Hit Hard in 2025"

Host: Robin Hilton (with Dora Levitt & Mitra Arthur)
Date: December 16, 2025

Overview

This annual All Songs Considered episode is devoted to songs that "hit hard" in 2025, as chosen by both the hosts and the NPR Music audience. Submissions included songs that listeners couldn’t stop playing, found cathartic, or emotionally resonant during a challenging year. The central theme running through most picks is gratitude—gratitude for the journey, memories, family, friendships, and fleeting moments that make up life.

The hosts share several moving listener stories and three of their own personal picks, exploring the emotional weight and beauty of 2025's standout tracks.

Key Discussion Points & Song Highlights

Setting the Tone: Looking Back on 2025

• The hosts groan and reflect humorously on the rapid, emotionally intense passage of the year.
  • Robin Hilton (00:53): "I'm just grateful to be here with you two. Gratitude is actually, for the most part, at the heart of this week's episode..."
• Three years into this series, listeners are once again asked: What song hit you hardest in 2025, and why?

Listener Picks: Impactful Songs & Stories

1. Back in Town – Annie Derusso

• Submitted by: Annie from Miami, FL [Voice Memo @ 02:19]
• Story: As the mother of a toddler, Annie uses this song for morning reflection—reconnecting with her pre-parent identity, blending nostalgia and gratitude for her present.
• Quote (Annie from Miami, 02:19): "I don't want to change my life for from what it is right now at all, but... I remember, like, a different version of who I am, who is still in me and has shaped me today."
• Hosts’ Take:
  • Dora: "I love how much Miami Annie was talking about appreciating who you used to be..." (04:28)
  • Mitra: Ties the theme to the phrase “spinning the block” and learning from returning to old patterns.
• Song Clip: 03:15

2. Drop – Tunde Adibimpe

• Submitted by: Deborah, Provo, UT
• Story: This track soundtracks spring bike rides—embodying both angst and joy post long winter.
• Host Insights:
  • Robin: "Gratitude seemed to be the most often recurring theme...And that's what this song really is ultimately about." (07:21)
  • Mitra: Loves the rejuvenating phrase "a spark of revival" and the cyclical nature of rediscovering energy.
• Song Clip: 06:24

3. You Without Me – Brandi Carlile

• Submitted by: Julie, Kansas City, MO [Voice Memo @ 09:04]
• Story: For parents witnessing their child’s independence, the song is “amazing and heartbreaking all at the same time.”
• Quote (Julie, 09:04): "I never heard that voice before. Today I remind myself to breathe. There you are. It's just you without me."
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • Mitra: "I got beef with Brandi Carlile because I have shed more tears listening to her music..." (11:25)
  • Robin: "You can see it from both perspectives as both the parent and the child." (11:52)
  • Dora: "It's such a gift to see someone you love grow separate from you." (12:10)
• Song Clip: 10:02
• Notable: Described as the single most nominated song from listeners.

4. DTMF – Bad Bunny

• Submitted by: Barbie, North Carolina
• Story: A song about cherishing time with loved ones—especially those now distant or gone.
• Quote (Barbie, via Mitra, 15:44): "As I grow older and the distance...the song reminds me of the good times I did get to share with my family. I should have relished those times more..."
• Hosts’ Take:
  • Robin: "The idea of time passing and you missing things..." (16:58)
  • Mitra: Shares the importance of meaningful, lasting photos and memories.
  • Robin shares friend's wisdom: "...after you're gone, your kids get no more new words from you." (19:38)
• Memorable Moment: Emotional discussion about preserving journals, photos, and memories for future generations. (19:10)

5. The End – Of Monsters and Men

• Submitted by: Beth, St. Louis Park, MN [Voice Memo @ 20:20]
• Story: Chilling harmonies about "the end of the world" and pressing on.
• Quote (Beth, 20:47): "It just felt a little relatable in 2025...it is beautiful, it is stunning, and it just feels very topical."
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • Dora: "Everything is falling from the sky...it's just gravity. It's out of our control. And that lets me breathe a little bit easier." (22:26)
  • Mitra: "Pushing through, despite all of the madness..." (23:04)
• Song Clip: 21:04

Hosts’ Picks: The Songs That Moved Them Most

6. Malachi the Uber Driver – FC

• Robin’s pick
• Story: A true-life inspired chance encounter with an Uber driver who is also an artist.
• Quote (Robin, 26:25): "It just reminds you of your humanity...how important and rewarding it is to just be with your fellow human being and be kind..."
• Dora: Calls it "one of the biggest moral philosophy questions of what we owe to each other just in this one interaction..." (27:16)
• Memorable Lyric (cited by Robin, 27:42): "Malachi the Uber driver, I think we changed each other's lives in the span of a ride, a moment in time I remember what it could all be like."
• Song Clip: 24:02

7. Rose's Turn (from Gypsy, Audra McDonald version)

• Mitra’s pick
• Story: Iconic Broadway song, newly interpreted by Audra McDonald, marking the first black woman to play Rose on Broadway.
• Mitra (29:25): "What really speaks to me is the way she really punches in and leaves you in my turn and for myself, because nothing in her life has been for herself."
• Reflection: Honors the generations of women who “lived in the background of their own lives.”
• Dora: "She does it in such a new, refreshing, incredibly passionate way..." (30:45)
• Song Clip: 28:35

8. Los Angeles – Big Thief

• Dora’s pick
• Story: Dora cried listening on a flight home from California; song invokes nostalgia, familial distance, and the metaphysical power of connection.
• Quote (Dora, 34:07): "This whole song is about feeling comfort in the ones that you love and your community... Adrianne here, I really love how she talks about how even when we're separated from one another, we all feel the same things..."
• Key Lyric (Dora, 35:34): "'We dream our dreams together without lying in the same bed,' which I just. I believe so much in the power of our dreams."
• Robin: Draws attention to the importance of joyful, communal moments—“the metaphysical is a great word to describe Big Thief." (35:04)
• Song Clip: 33:04

Closing Listener Selections

9. Afraid – Flock of Dimes

• Submitted by: Caitlin, Gaithersburg, MD
• Story: Processing the death of a mother; the importance of courage and resilience in facing inevitable change and loss.
• Quote (Caitlin, 36:44): "I did not enter the world afraid, and I refused to leave it that way..."
• Host Insight:
  • Robin: “Just embracing the inevitable with courage... what a great mantra.” (38:49)
  • Mitra: "We learn the fear. We learn to be afraid..." (38:26)
• Song Clip: 37:00

10. Forever Doesn't Seem Quite Long Enough – Ben Rector

• Submitted by: David, Cincinnati, OH [Voice Memo @ 40:00]
• Story: A father’s gratitude for fleeting family time; reflective and upbeat, “the days seem long and the years seem short.”
• Quote (David, 40:00): "Forever doesn't quite seem long enough. And that's kind of how I feel. I'm still in the years of my family when the days seem long and the years seem short."
• Song Clip: 41:20

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Robin Hilton on memories and legacy:
  "After you're gone, your kids get no more new words from you. Those journals, when they go through those, those will be the way they have new words from you after you're gone." (19:38)

• Mitra Arthur on Brandi Carlile:
  "I got beef with Brandi Carlile because I have shed more tears listening to her music...And I do not like to cry that much." (11:25)

• Dora Levitt on Big Thief:
  "We dream our dreams together without lying in the same bed, which I just. I believe so much in the power of our dreams. And that line really stuck with me." (35:34)

Major Themes

• Gratitude: A thread in almost every submission—whether for the past, for loved ones, or simply for surviving another year.
• Fleeting Time and Memory: Many songs and stories dwell on moments gone by, family, and the desire to capture life before it fades.
• Emotional Resilience & Change: Listeners and hosts alike are drawn to songs that help them process personal growth, grief, loss, transformation, and the acceptance of change.
• Connection—Family, Friends, Strangers: From family separations to chance encounters with Uber drivers, human connection is deeply felt and central to the year’s most powerful music.

Timestamps for Key Songs & Stories

| Song / Segment | Speaker/Submitter | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------|--------------------------|-----------| | Back in Town (Annie Derusso) | Annie, Miami (+ hosts) | 02:19 | | Drop (Tunde Adibimpe) | Deborah, Provo | 05:47 | | You Without Me (Brandi Carlile) | Julie, KC (+ hosts) | 09:04 | | DTMF (Bad Bunny) | Barbie, NC | 15:44 | | The End (Of Monsters and Men) | Beth, MN | 20:13 | | Malachi the Uber Driver (FC) | Robin (host pick) | 24:02 | | Rose's Turn (Audra McDonald) | Mitra (host pick) | 28:22 | | Los Angeles (Big Thief) | Dora (host pick) | 31:57 | | Afraid (Flock of Dimes) | Caitlin, MD | 36:44 | | Forever Doesn’t Seem Quite Long Enough | David, Cincinnati | 40:00 |

Closing Notes

The episode concludes with hosts reflecting on the power of music to crystallize gratitude, loss, growth, and connection—reminders to "keep your journals, keep all your stuff" (Robin, 20:01) and cherish even the fleeting moments. A full playlist with listeners’ picks is available under “Songs That Hit Hard” on major streaming platforms via NPR Music.

This episode, steeped in gratitude and open-hearted nostalgia, is a rich reminder of how music both marks and shapes our emotional lives year after year.