{"id":2744,"date":"2026-01-01T21:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.goodgallery.com\/blog\/?p=2744"},"modified":"2026-01-01T21:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:31:03","slug":"returning-to-myself-25-songs-from-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/returning-to-myself-25-songs-from-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to Myself: 25 Songs from 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sarahestudios.goodgallery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026_01_Becoming-Myself.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"2746\" src=\"https:\/\/sarahestudios.goodgallery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026_01_Becoming-Myself.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026_01_Becoming-Myself.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026_01_Becoming-Myself-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026_01_Becoming-Myself-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This year didn\u2019t ask for reinvention. It asked for truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These songs trace the quieter work of becoming, letting go, staying present, and choosing what remains. Each one comes from an album released in 2025, and together they form the emotional soundtrack of a year spent returning to myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A few notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All songs were released on albums in 2025.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No rankings. This is a collection that I pulled together; not a competition between songs or artists.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some are sentimental favorites, some clients have shared with me, others have words that just hit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>1. <strong>For Good<\/strong>, Cynthia Erivo &amp; Ariana Grande<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. <strong>Almost<\/strong>, Lewis Capaldi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. <strong>Eldest Daughter<\/strong>, Taylor Swift<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. <strong>Returning To Myself<\/strong>, Brandi Carlile<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. <strong>Solstices<\/strong>, Andrew Belle<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6. <strong>Sunlight On Water<\/strong>, David Gray<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>7. <strong>Through Nameless Air<\/strong>, Hammock<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>8. <strong>I Hate That It\u2019s True<\/strong>, Dean Lewis<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>9. <strong>Loved You Better<\/strong>, Jonas Brothers &amp; Dean Lewis<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>10. <strong>Praying For Me (feat. Mat Kearney)<\/strong>, Ben Rector<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>11. <strong>I Will Not Forget You<\/strong>, William Fitzsimmons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12. <strong>Melodies<\/strong>, Dermot Kennedy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>13. <strong>Wayside<\/strong>, Ruston Kelly<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>14. <strong>Summer\u2019s Ending Soon<\/strong>, The Midnight<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>15. <strong>Sidewinder<\/strong>, Ken Yates<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>16. <strong>No Love<\/strong>, Matt Berninger<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>17. <strong>Impossible Things<\/strong>, Matt Nathanson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>18. <strong>Hold Me Now<\/strong>, Lena Hall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>19. <strong>Sailor Song<\/strong>, Gigi Perez<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>20. <strong>Golden<\/strong>, HUNTR\/X, EJAE, Audrey Nuna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>21. <strong>Hope<\/strong>, TWO LANES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>22. <strong>Camera<\/strong>, Ed Sheeran<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>23. <strong>So Unfair<\/strong>, Sophia James<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>24. <strong>Opalite<\/strong>, Taylor Swift<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>25. <strong>Pablo Picasso<\/strong>, Matt Nathanson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are the songs that stayed. Maybe a few will find their way to you too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can listen <a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/returning-to-myself\/pl.u-RRbV9K2T9AX0V\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/returning-to-myself\/pl.u-RRbV9K2T9AX0V\">HERE<\/a> if you would like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Honorable Mentions:<\/strong> Cold (Dean Lewis), Favorite Person (Ben Rector), Good Old Days (Mat Kearney), Holy Water (Andrew Belle), Learn To Love (Zoe Wees &amp; Dean Lewis), Momma Song (Benson Boone), Not Goodbye (Close My Eyes) (The Goo Goo Dolls), Ordinary (Alex Warren), Red, White and Jersey (Bon Jovi), Slow Motion (Half Hour Late), SORRY (NF &amp; James Arthur), The Big Goodbye (AJR), The Thing I Love (MAX &amp; Andy Grammer)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year didn\u2019t ask for reinvention. It asked for truth. These songs trace the quieter work of becoming, letting go, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[363],"tags":[366,365,364],"class_list":["post-2744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections","tag-366","tag-listening","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2744"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2750,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions\/2750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahestudios.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}