FiscalFusion

NEW YORK — The Associated Press has selected the 10 best songs of the year, presented in no particular order. Read on and then listen to all of the tracks on our Spotify playlist. “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii,” Bad Bunny — Selecting just one song from Bad Bunny’s pivotal 2025 album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” is a fool’s errand. Most would likely select one of the ubiquitous, up-tempo hits: “DtMF,” “Baile Inolvidable,” “NuevaYol.” And they’d be just as right.

But at its heart, this album is both Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio’s love letter to Puerto Rico and his fierce protection of it. Nowhere is that made more apparent than on “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii” (“What happened to Hawaii”), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico’s cultural autonomy in an era of neocolonialization. It begins with a somber Bad Bunny lamenting over the scrape of a güiro — a folkloric percussive instrument made of a hollow gourd. It sounds like inherited history and modernity all in one, a kind of political, timeless tune from an artist so accustomed to being the sound of the moment.

“Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga — A triumphant return to form, Lady Gaga’s latest album “Mayhem” is an amalgamation of her past works. But where a return to roots for many veteran artists can play out like soft self-parody, Gaga stomps her Alexander McQueen heels on the gas pedal. Of the bunch, “Abracadabra” is a case study: maximalist electro-pop like an alternative universe “Bad Romance” with a Gesaffelstein sound. It’s familiar and evolved, Gaga’s robotic cadence delivered atop house piano and in an addictive hook.

Her throaty call for magic — “Abra-ca-dabra” — is a one-woman masterclass in dance pop. It’s a little off-kilter and a whole lot addictive..