It’s been a heavy year in many ways. And when you work in news, there’s no shying away from that. But music can be a respite – something to help process the heaviness, and something that brings escape and joy.

When we asked Head of Music at SXSW, Claire Collins, to pick her favourite albums of the year, both the heaviness and the joy were reflected back at us. She’s picked five albums for you to blast this summer, as you prepare for the year ahead.

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Guest: Claire Collins, head of music at SXSW

Photo: Ian West/PA Wire

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Marieke Hardy is a writer, broadcaster and former panelist on the ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club.

Marieke’s passion and enthusiasm for the books she loves is contagious. But she’s also direct and unapologetic when a book isn’t for her, so you always know that when she recommends something, it’s going to be worth your time.

Her list of favourite books starts with a sprawling novel about friendship and love – and winds its way through so many other huge themes: grief, violence, war, and how the internet has ruined us.

Today, Marieke Hardy with her five favourite books of 2025.

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Guest: Writer and literary critic Marieke Hardy

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Sarah Krasnostein has had a huge year. She’s teamed up with Helen Garner and Chloe Hooper to write The Mushroom Tapes – a true-crime book about Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial that asks what our fascination with the case says about us.

She’s also continued her work as a television critic, watching a hell of a lot of TV.

In her list of the best TV of 2025, Sarah Krasnostein is drawn to shows that feel uncomfortably close to real life – from teenage boys pulled into the manosphere to post-apocalyptic worlds shaped by AI. And for her, even the bleakest series this year are ultimately hopeful: they’re less about what’s been destroyed than about what could be rebuilt, and the chances that still exist to step in before things go wrong.

Today, she’s picked her top 5 shows for you to binge over the summer.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Author and critic, Sarah Krasnostein

Photo: Apple

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