The secret is out. Dazed’s Winter 2025 issue is here and, while it has a specific focus on film, the issue’s true essence – its shadow self, if you will – is about looking into the darkness.
In his editor’s note for the issue, Dazed editor-in-chief Ted Stansfield explains the concept: “Across these pages, you’ll meet a range of people who confront the darkness both inside themselves and out in the world in a variety of ways – channelling it into creativity, making sense of it through comedy, or allowing it to make them a little more empathetic.”
Indeed, the theme manifests in many ways: In one story, we travelled to the Fort Worth, Texas, leg of Turnstile’s Never Enough world tour to explore how the band are reviving the unbridled freedom of hardcore music for a new generation. Another saw writer Habi Diallo catch up with budding superstar Sekou, following his transition from recording backing vocals for the likes of Central Cee and Justin Bieber and into the limelight with his debut mixtape.
Elsewhere, we travelled deep into the musical undergrounds of New York, London and China, and spoke to the likes of Liim, Zukovstheworld and R!R!Riot – all artists who are shaping the popular sounds of tomorrow. And, of course, fronting the issue is none other than the Frost God himself, Yung Lean, a man who, even with an upcoming film and countless mainstream collaborations under his belt, stays rooted in the shadows, using music to process grief, identity and isolation.
Below, we break down the sounds of Dazed Winter 2025.
So committed is Yung Lean to his shadow self that he actually let it take the driver’s seat for a brief period in his career – in the form of his intimate and vulnerable musical side project jonatan leandoer96. Named after his real name and birth year, the side project emerged in the wake of Lean’s bipolar diagnosis and what he described as a mental distance from the global Yung Lean persona, instead drawing on musical influences outside of rap. The two – Yung Lean and jonatan leandoer 96 – eventually reconciled on Lean’s latest album Jonatan, released under the Yung Lean name, with lyrics and stylings that celebrate all aspects of his identity, both in rap and beyond. As such, there’s no better song to represent Lean’s inclusion in The Shadow Issue than “Forever Yung”, the lead single from Jonatan. (SPM)
Turnstile are the biggest hardcore band in the world right now, and they didn’t get there by playing it safe. There’s still a hard, rocky core to the Baltimore five-piece’s latest album, Never Enough, but it’s surrounded by something far more expansive – a world in which 80s synths merge into amped-up power chords, and the lineage of Bad Brains and Maryland legend Justice Tripp collide with contributions from AG Cook and Hayley Williams.
Featuring support from fellow punk-rock revivalists Speed and Amyl and the Sniffers, the Fort Worth, Texas leg of Turnstile’s Never Enough tour was filled with both hardcore first-timers and veterans. Together, these acts are recontextualising the scene’s language of heaviness for today’s digital, genre-diffuse youth, while reminding them of the collective euphoria catalysed by live music. “Even if it just looks like we like to hit each other, hardcore fans are so inclusive and loving,” says Julie, a fan at the show, explaining how Turnstile’s music helped her through her angsty teenage years while growing up in conservative, small-town Texas. (SPM)
With a voice that belies his age, 21-year-old musician Sekou has probably reached your ears through his collaborations with artists like Justin Bieber, or through opening for SZA and Renée Rapp. His new mixtape, In a World We Don’t Belong, is a reflective take on his journey to date. “I really just wanted to speak of life experiences, growing up as a Black boy in the UK.” A taste of more music to come, his latest single “Catching Bodies” is an anthem that speaks to a desire for deeper connection. “I really hope people listen to it and feel free,” he says. “Have fun, dance and cry and scream and be joyful.” (HD)
Born in Taipei and raised between Guangzhou and the US, R!R!Riot started out fronting pop-punk bands as a teenager before transitioning into the trap and R&B-fusing pluggnb genre in her early 20s. But it was a chance encounter with the producer she calls the “Metro Boomin of China”, Shanghai’s ATM Hanson, at an LA college party that changed the course of her career. “Hanson cracked the whole China scene open for me,” recalls R!R!Riot, who sings in both English and Mandarin and quickly went viral on Douyin (Chinese TikTok). “We released our tape in 2023, which was when the Chinese underground started to emerge, and now it’s getting seen by the mainstream. The internet loves Chinese kids now.” (SPM)
In the mid-2010s, April Harper Grey – now known as underscores – was one of many teenagers uploading homemade dubstep tracks to SoundCloud. But what began as a fascination with electronic production soon evolved into a meticulously crafted sound drawing on pop, punk and internet-born subcultures. On her 2021 debut album, fishmonger, the San Francisco-born musician pulled together threads from her early work – heavy dubstep bass, emo and electronic experimentation – while her 2023 follow-up, Wallsocket, turned its attention outwards, with a portrait of teenage suburbia set in a fictional Michigan town. (HD)
Liim’s debut album, Liim Lasalle Loves You, is an episodic tour of New York City, rolling from Harlem’s 125th Street down to the beach, hollering at a few girls along the way. True to character, Liim does his interview from the doorstep of a Brooklyn apartment complex. It’s his homie’s place, but he still greets residents as they enter the building. “I like being outside, I get stressed if I’m in the crib doing nothing,” he explains. “I have friends who are sitting in jail right now, friends who are sitting in a coffee shop, friends who are high up at Supreme, friends who are homeless on the street. All my sounds are appealing to somebody in some way.” (SPM)
Chanel Beads is the musical project of Shane Lavers, who is joined on stage by vocalist Maya McGrory and violinist Zachary Paul. Based in New York, the band blends live instrumentation with digital manipulation, creating a variant of hypnagogic pop. Last year’s debut album, Your Day Will Come, established the blueprint for Lavers’ sonic world, layering guitars, programmed drums and warped samples to make sense of life’s big feelings. It’s a distinctive sound Lavers has built over time, from his teenage years spent in suburban Minnesota to a stint playing basement shows on Seattle’s DIY scene after college. (™)
There’s a new sound taking over London’s streets right now, and Zukovstheworld was there from the start, fusing DIY punk and indie with trap and rage beats as far back as 2022. He gave Fakemink some of his first features, and received cosigns from Surf Gang’s Evilgiane, Nokia Mansion and NiNE8’s Mac Wetha. Still, when citing influences for his new mixtape, The End of the World, he names Taylor Swift. “I fuck with her heavy,” says the Thornton Heath-born artist. “I call my music avant-pop; I want it to sit in between people’s conceptions of underground music and high-end pop.” (SPM)
Boyish duo India Shore and Claire Altendahl met while studying at Berklee College of Music, performing together as The Blue before changing their name to Boyish in 2019. With Gun, the duo poke fun at Americana with their shoegaze anthems, using the town as a symbol of a much bigger picture. The pair’s queer identities provide a natural foundation for their lyricism and as they enter 2026, their focus is on their LGBTQ+ siblings. “Gay people have always been there and will continue to be there forever,” says Shore. “We have to continue supporting our community and protecting the trans people in our lives.” (IVD)
“Luna Carmoon makes films for gross girls,” writes Dazed beauty editor Alex Peters in the new issue. “Girls who free bleed; girls who want to kill (and kiss) their best friends; girls who surround them- selves with crap, who feel dirty inside, who are obsessive, compulsive, complex. Girls who aren’t perfect victims.” These themes took centre-stage on Carmoon’s 2023 debut feature film Hoard – a film that she describes as “very much about the women who start to confront their shadows.” In this spirit, here is brooding 90s dance-pop track “Missing” from Everything but the Girl, which appears on Hoard’s soundtrack.
Listen to our Sounds of Dazed Winter playlist above.