Aunt Gladys. Tyler, the Creator. That sex scene in “The Naked Gun.” These are the things Culture staffers couldn’t stop thinking about this year.

Nintendo has been fairly good at adding classic video game soundtracks to its Nintendo Music app on iOS and Android. The latest release added to the iOS and Android app is the soundtrack to the acclaimed Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. If you’ve got an active Nintendo Switch Online membership then it is well worth… Read More »Nintendo Music adds Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance soundtrack

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The 2025 Spotify Wrapped has officially landed, and the company has given us a sneak peek at what has been trending for music, podcast and audiobook listeners around the globe.

Personally, my 2025 Spotify Wrapped is one of my favourite end-of-the-year traditions. I am often surprised at how quickly a song I just learn about in September can make it on to my year’s round-up, with only two months to play it on repeat—which I do, often. I always throw my Wrapped into our CGM team chat, and it gets us all talking. It’s a great way to get people talking about music, podcasts, and more.

For those who don’t know, Spotify Wrapped sums up all of your listening for the year and lets you know who and what you’ve listened to most, and even lets you know how you compare to other listeners. In past years, you could even customize what your Wrapped looks like, changing background colours or choosing different categories before you shared it.

This year, the 2025 Spotify Wrapped is implementing brand-new features to the service. Here is a look at what that includes, directly from Spotify:

• Listening Age: This story compares your musical tastes to others’ in your age group, looking at the release years of the tracks you listen to most.
• Top Albums: For the first time, we’re spotlighting the albums you returned to again and again.
• Top Audiobook Genre: This story highlights your top audiobook genre and the book you listened to most from that genre.
• Your Author Clip: This year, we’re also including messages from authors, so you may hear from the writer behind your favourite audiobook. Clips include authors like Dan Brown, James Patterson, Abby Jimenez, and more.
• Your Podcaster Clip: You may also hear from one of your favourite podcast creators, now appearing directly in your Wrapped experience. Clips include hosts from shows like The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, The Mel Robbins Podcast, and Good Hang with Amy Poehler.
• Fan Leaderboard: Think you’re one of your top artist’s biggest fans? This year, you might see where you rank among their listeners worldwide, based on your total minutes listened.
• Clubs: This story celebrates the streaming habits that defined your year. You’ll be sorted into one of six Clubs – each representing a unique listening style – and see the role you play within that community.
• Listening Archive: Finally, get personalized snapshots of your most memorable streaming days. Powered by AI, this feature delivers up to five unique reports based on your daily listening. Available in English in select markets.
• Wrapped Party: For the first time ever, we’re introducing Wrapped Party – a new interactive feature that turns your listening data into a live competition you can play with friends. It’s the latest way to level up Wrapped, making it more exciting and fun than ever.​​ To join Wrapped Party, visit the Wrapped Hub on the platform, search for ‘Wrapped Party’ in Spotify, or access it at the end of your personalized experience.

To no one’s surprise, KPop Demon Hunters‘ bangin’ songs and soundtrack made the 2025 Spotify Wrapped list in Top Songs and Top Albums in both Canada and the world—Golden is just too good. Other similarities between Canada and the rest of the world include Taylor Swift, The Weekend, Kendrick Lamar and Drake appearing on Top Artists for both lists, though Canada leaned a little more country with the likes of Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan on their list.

Spotify Wrapped also shares insight no one really asked for, but everyone loves. For instance, in 2025, apparently more than 23 million men streamed Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild, Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia had more single-day listeners than any other song in Spotify history, and on their wedding day, more than 993,000 people streamed I Said I Love You First by the bride and groom themselves, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco.

For Canada, 2025 saw a 20% increase in people listening to French-Canadian music in Quebec. Across the entire country, they saw an 11% increase overall. Top songs included Feel Good by Charlotte Cardin, L’Amérique pleure by Les Cowboys Fringants, Je te laisserai des mots by Patrick Watson and more. You can see the full list and what else was popular in Canada and globally below.

The Top Lists for Canada’s 2025 Spotify Wrapped

Canada’s Top Artists of 2025

1. Drake
2. Taylor Swift
3. Morgan Wallen
4. The Weeknd
5. Kendrick Lamar
6. Zach Bryan
7. Tate McRae
8. Travis Scott
9. SZA
10. Kanye West

Canada’s Top Songs of 2025

1. “Ordinary” by Alex Warren
2. “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars
3. “APT.” by ROSÉ, Bruno Mars
4. “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone
5. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey
6. “Haegeum” by Agust D
7. “Golden” by HUNTR/X, REY NUNA, EJAE, KPop Demon Hunters Cast, REI AMI
8. “luther (with sza)” by Kendrick Lamar, SZA
9. “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams
10. “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan

Canada’s Top Albums of 2025

1. “I’m The Problem” by Morgan Wallen
2. “KPop Demon Hunters” by KPop Demon Hunters Cast
3. “SOS Deluxe: LANA” by SZA
4. “So Close To What” by Tate McRae
5. “You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1)” by Alex Warren
6. “Short n’ Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter
7. “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” by PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake
8. “One Thing At A Time” by Morgan Wallen
9. “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
10. “The Life of a Showgirl” by Taylor Swift

Canada’s Top Podcasts of 2025

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. The Mel Robbins Podcast
3. The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
4. Call Her Daddy
5. This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
6. Huberman Lab
7. Good Hang with Amy Poehler
8. Modern Wisdom
9. On Purpose with Jay Shetty
10. Crime Junkie

Canada’s Top Audiobooks in Premium of 2025

1. “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
2. “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas
3. “The Fellowship of the Ring” by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
5. “Lights Out” by Navessa Allen
6. “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas
7. “Quicksilver” by Callie Hart
8. “The House of My Mother” by Shari Franke
9. “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
10. “A Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah J. Maas

Quebec’s Top Franco-Quebecois Songs of 2025

1. “Feel Good” by Charlotte Cardin
2. “L’Amérique pleure” by Les Cowboys Fringants
3. “Je te laisserai des mots” by Patrick Watson
4. “Les étoiles filantes” by Les Cowboys Fringants
5. “Le stade” by Fredz
6. “Sur mon épaule” by Les Cowboys Fringants
7. “Copilote” by FouKi, Jay Scøtt
8. “Ça va” by Émile Bilodeau
9. “Toune d’automne” by Les Cowboys Fringants
10. “Woodstock” by Jay Scøtt

Quebec’s Top Franco-Quebecois Artists of 2025

1. Les Cowboys Fringants
2. Souldia
3. Jay Scøtt
4. Enima
5. Fredz
6. Les Trois Accords
7. Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project
8. Lost
9. Charlotte Cardin
10. FouKi

The Top Lists for 2025 Spotify Wrapped Globally

Global Top Artists of 2025:

1. Bad Bunny
2. Taylor Swift
3. The Weeknd
4. Drake
5. Billie Eilish
6. Kendrick Lamar
7. Bruno Mars
8. Ariana Grande
9. Arijit Singh
10. Fuerza Regida

Global Top Songs of 2025:

1. “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
2. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish
3. “APT.” by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars
4. “Ordinary” by Alex Warren
5. “DtMF” by Bad Bunny
6. “back to friends” by sombr
7. “Golden” by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI, KPop Demon Hunters Cast
8. “luther (with sza)” by Kendrick Lamar
9. “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams
10. “WILDFLOWER” by Billie Eilish

Global Top Albums of 2025:

1. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny
2. KPop Demon Hunters by KPop Demon Hunters Cast, HUNTR/X, Saja Boys
3. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
4. SOS Deluxe: LANA by SZA
5. Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
6. MAYHEM by Lady Gaga
7. You’ll Be Alright, Kid by Alex Warren
8. I’m The Problem by Morgan Wallen
9. GNX by Kendrick Lamar
10. Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny

Global Top Podcasts of 2025:

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
3. The Mel Robbins Podcast
4. Call Her Daddy
5. This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
6. Huberman Lab
7. Crime Junkie
8. Modern Wisdom
9. On Purpose with Jay Shetty
10. The Tucker Carlson Show

Global Top Audiobooks in Premium of 2025:

1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
2. Lights Out: An Into Darkness Novel by Navessa Allen
3. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
6. The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke
7. The Wedding People: A Novel by Alison Espach
8. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
9. Quicksilver: The Fae & Alchemy Series, Book 1 by Callie Hart
10. Great Big Beautiful Life: Reese’s Book Club by Emily Henry

How did your 2025 Spotify Wrapped compare to Canada and the Globe? Check out more on the 2025 Wrapped Hub here, and learn more from Spotify at their For the Record blog here.

Singer Elton John recently said that President Donald Trump could become “one of the greatest presidents” in history if he manages to end the AIDS epidemic. John shared these thoughts in an interview with Variety last week, praising the potential achievement.

John, who runs the Elton John AIDS Foundation, is pushing the administration to keep working toward getting rid of the disease. He believes fighting AIDS should be something both political parties support because it simply makes sense.

According to Fox News, John thinks this accomplishment could define Trump’s legacy. He mentioned that Trump has possibly solved peace issues, and if he ends AIDS, it would be a major achievement for his presidency.

The tools to end AIDS are already here

The goal feels possible now because of major advances in science. John explained that AIDS is the only disease that can be completely cured during a person’s lifetime. Recent breakthroughs in prevention have been huge steps forward.

“To see us come so far with the medical and scientific advances, and to think this is the only disease that can be completely cured in one’s lifetime. President Trump has maybe solved the peace problem. If he wants to go down as one of the greatest presidents in history… if he ended AIDS, that would really be a feather in his cap,” the Rocket Man singer said.

NEW: Elton John says he thinks Trump could become one of the "greatest presidents in history" during an interview with Variety.

The comments come one year after John told the outlet that he thought Trump calling Kim Jong Un 'Rocket Man' was brilliant (video below).

During the… pic.twitter.com/svaoHZ7Xd8

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 1, 2025

In June this year, the FDA approved a groundbreaking new treatment from Gilead Sciences. The company created a shot that people only need twice a year to prevent HIV/AIDS. Tests showed this shot was nearly 100 percent effective at stopping HIV from spreading, making it better than older drugs.

Trump already committed to this fight. During his first term in 2019, he launched a plan to completely eliminate the disease by 2030. The president has faced criticism on other policy fronts, including his proposed immigration restrictions on allies.

However, John expressed anger over obstacles that stop help from reaching HIV patients around the world. He pointed to budget cuts and legal restrictions from different countries, including the U.S. John told Variety he feels enraged and frustrated because the tools exist to end AIDS, but countries refuse to help.

This frustration makes sense when looking at past events. In July, the Trump administration tried to cut funding from PEPFAR, a major AIDS relief program. Senate Republicans later protected that funding, but the attempt worried advocates like John.

Critics have also questioned Trump’s recent comments on politicians, though the White House confirmed it is now working on solutions both in the U.S. and worldwide. Spokesman Kush Desai said the administration is strongly fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic at home and abroad through multiple government departments.

Madonna is speaking out against President Trump’s administration for not recognizing World AIDS Day on December 1. She called the decision “ridiculous,” “absurd,” and “unthinkable.” The pop star shared her thoughts in a strong Instagram post on Monday, criticizing the president for ignoring the ongoing impact of the disease.

According to Rolling Stone, the controversy started after the Department of State told government employees to “refrain from publicly promoting” World AIDS Day. The order told federal workers to avoid public messages, speeches, and social media posts about the event. The United States has officially recognized December 1 as World AIDS Day every year since 1988.

Madonna pointed out the importance of the day in her post. She wrote that for four decades, people from all walks of life have recognized this date around the world. She said millions of people have been affected by the HIV crisis. Many have lost “lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease.”

The pop icon says asking people to forget is absurd

Madonna criticized the administration for trying to erase the memory of the crisis. She wrote, “It’s one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s unthinkable.”

The issue is personal for Madonna. She made it clear she believes the president doesn’t understand how serious this decision is. She wrote, “I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath.” Like a mother who witnessed terrifying wildlife attacks, Madonna understands the trauma of watching someone suffer.

Madonna shares new post in honor of World AIDS Day:

“Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged…I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they look their last breath… pic.twitter.com/wEhvGrZZUf

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 1, 2025

Madonna has supported HIV/AIDS causes for decades. She said she has a long list of friends who died from the disease. She mentioned her former tour manager and roommate, Martin Borgoyne, who died in 1986 at age 23. She also remembered Chris Flynn, her first dance teacher, and artist Keith Haring, who died in 1990.

Madonna reminded people that the crisis isn’t over. There still isn’t a cure for AIDS, and people are still dying from it today. She believes recognizing the day is important to honor those who have been lost. Sometimes valuable things sit forgotten, like an Oxfordshire man’s garage discovery worth millions, until someone brings attention to their significance.

She ended her post by refusing to let the tragedy be forgotten. Madonna wrote, “I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain. And I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me.”

Well, today is the day when Destiny 2 marries Star Wars for reasons: Destiny 2 Renegades is officially live for fans who can make it make sense in their head or just, you know, love the heck out of lightsabers and John Williams-esque music. Which is most of us. “Today, Bungie launches Destiny 2: Renegades, […]

Where were you when you first heard about the original Guild Wars? For me, it was late 2004 when the online gaming world was entranced with World of Warcraft. I was reading through a games magazine that posted a whole spread on this new project that some outfit called ArenaNet was making. What caught my […]

Synaesthesia Never Felt So Good

HIGH Tutorials that help me get better at Lumines.

LOW Visual overload can make it hard to focus.

WTF How is the soundtrack this good?

---

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone, Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com.

I haven’t played a lot of Lumines, historically.

The remastered version from 2018 was my first intro to the series, and honestly… well, I didn’t really enjoy that first pass at it. It felt too loud, both audio and visually, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the horizontal puzzle style. Knowing that the people behind Tetris Effect were also behind Lumines, though, I wanted to give it another shot and see if this new entry was a better way to get into this franchise.

Mea culpa, Lumines — I was wrong about you. (At least in some ways.)

Lumines: Arise is a block dropping puzzle in conversation with Tetris, but rather than the classic tetrominos filling horizontal lines, it instead focuses on asking the player to create 2×2 blocks anywhere on a horizontal plane. Blocks drop from the top of the screen, and players need to move them around in order to create 2×2, 3×3, or larger, in order to score points. A “timeline” moves across the screen and erases any complete blocks it comes across, clearing more room for players to create more blocks, and so on. There is also a rare “chain block” that will allow all linked blocks of the same color to be erased from the timeline, even if they’re not in the shape of a square.

The big mechanical addition to this version is “burst”.

As players create blocks, a meter will fill at the top of the playfield. At any point, players will be able to activate the burst, which then stops blocks from falling for a few moments. If players can create a block during this burst period, it will cause blocks of the opposite color to fly above the screen. Players can continue and make more fly up. All of those blocks come rushing back down once the burst is over, then creating a large chunk of squares to combo with.

Gameplay is broken up into a couple of modes for Arise.

Journey takes players through sets of stages (four or five, normally) with increasing difficulty as things progress. Playlist mode allows players to combine their favorite stages together in a custom order to play, or just to watch if they want to take in the visuals and music. Lastly, there’s multiplayer, which consists of some solo leaderboard competition or battle modes.

I also will shout out the tutorials specifically as Arise tailors them to new players and gives small missions that make it easy to understand and learn not only how to play, but also how to grasp more advanced techniques. These tutorials made me better in a way other puzzle titles haven’t.

At this point in the review, it feels a little like burying the lead to only just now mention the visuals and the music.

Since each stage only has two colors players need to match, this mechanical simplicity allows for some creative and striking ways to keep the play field visually interesting, and the developers lean hard into delivering over-the-top sound and graphics, far above what you might expect for a puzzle title.

One in particular that I enjoyed was a food-themed level. Blocks started as red apples and green melons, but then changed to broccoli and tomatoes as I got further in, while classical string music played in the background. Another had orbs of fish and hermit crab shells that changed color to reflect the sun setting on the beach landscape behind the playfield while listening to slow, smooth pop vocals. The visuals and music combine masterfully to pull players into Arise on a level above just block-matching, and it eats up time in a way that hasn’t happened to me in a long while.

With that said, some of the levels do get overwhelming as previous versions of the game. However, there is a moment of pause and the music fades out between each song, giving a welcome break to catch your breath and reset before going into the next stage. There are also a wealth of accessibility options that allow players to adjust any of the visual stimuli including background effects, particle effects on the playfield, and so on. If it’s too much to take in visually, it can be turned down.

While my memories of playing it in the past weren’t great, the masterful music and visual presence combined in Lumines: Arise really turned me around on the series. It’s not one to miss!

For me, Lumines: Arise gets 8.5 blocks exploding into glitter out of 10.

---

Disclosures: This game is developed by Enhance and Monstars, Inc. and published by Enhance. It is currently available on PS5, PSVR2 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 6.5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. Around 1 hour was spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Fantasy Violence.  The blocks will explode into particles on screen, fantasy violence amounts to spiders and snakes that fight each other in the background (but these can be turned off in accessibility menus).

Colorblind Modes: There are multiple colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Sound is not needed to complete the game. Captions for character dialogue can be resized. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls are completely remappable.

The post Lumines Arise VIDEO Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Spotify may have popularized the Wrapped user recap trend, but more companies are jumping on that bandwagon every year. From rival music streaming providers like Apple, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer, to completely unrelated services across tech, gaming, and other industries, a huge range of companies are using fun visuals, stats, and personalization features to show how you’ve been using their platforms over the last 12 months.

The annual recaps trend shows no sign of slowing down, prompting companies to introduce new features every year to keep things fresh. Spotify Wrapped 2025 has added an interactive Wrapped Party feature that makes a game out of comparing your listening habits against your friends, for example, while YouTube has launched a separate Recap review for video insights, alongside its usual Music Recap.

This is also the time of year when companies drop their “best of” rankings charts for the year, charting the most downloaded apps across Apple and Google’s app stores, the most streamed music, movies, and TV shows, and more.

We’re rounding up all the biggest or most intriguing recaps for 2025 below as they’re announced, so check back to see how the services you’re using will be breaking down your data this year.

• Google shares 10 of its favorite Chrome extensions from 2025.
• Google Photos Recap will tell you how many selfies you took this year
• Spotify Wrapped 2025 turns listening into a competition
• Apple Music Replay 2025 is back with new listening stats
• YouTube introduces its own version of Spotify Wrapped for videos
• Amazon Music Delivered puts your top tunes on a festival poster.

For those looking for a complete list of all games included and supported in Nintendo Music, that’s where this post comes in. Nintendo Music only came with a few songs at launch. However, since then, a few more have been added. Nintendo has also indicated that additional music is coming in the future. Currently it seems that we can expect...

The post Nintendo Music – list of all games included appeared first on Nintendo Everything.

For those looking for a complete list of all games included and supported in Nintendo Music, that’s where this post comes in. Nintendo Music only came with a few songs at launch. However, since then, a few more have been added. Nintendo has also indicated that additional music is coming in the future. Currently it seems that we can expect...

The post Nintendo Music – list of all games included appeared first on Nintendo Everything.