Artists are bound by the chains of censorship and self-censorship.
Angry and censored rap, kind indie, Nadezhda Kadysheva and Larisa Dolina, Vanya Dmitriyenko and "Bond with a Button", as well as a musical interpretation of "Ural-Batyr" came together in 2025 with AI artists.
Music reviewer RBC Life and author of the Telegram channel "Normal Indie Rock" Dmitry Khanchin compiled a detailed report on the main heroes, villains, and notable phenomena in the music of the outgoing year.
One of the loudest and most resonant phenomena on the Russian music scene was the success of the group "Bond with a Button". The indie-folk collective has existed for several years. Previously, it was a niche story, but everything changed this spring when the song "Kukhni" topped the charts of "Yandex Music" and "VK Music", where it outperformed tracks by pop and rap artists.
The continuation of this story happened in the fall when, against the backdrop of the album "Dom" being released, a mass discussion about the group erupted on social media. Participants in the discussion were divided into two camps: some rejoiced that guitar music could again be popular in Russia, while others accused the frontman of "Bond with a Button", Ivan Zolotukhin, of graphomania — the line "the freedom of Stalin's tunic color" from the song "Sidr" raised the most questions. Either way, the group ended 2025 in the status of a major headliner — this year was indeed a breakthrough for "Bond".
"New Kindness"
Another phenomenon that was actively discussed in the Russian music environment was a musical wave called "new kindness". It all started with a post in which book blogger Dmitry Gorshenin talked about attending concerts of the groups "Bond with a Button", "Sova", and "Dajte Tank (!)" and shared his observation: "It seems to me that a wave of kind rock has gained influence on the Russian independent scene — music that draws strength from vulnerability and makes personal experience universal."
The term "new kindness" was coined by Nikolai Redkin, the author of the channel "Broken Dances", and the phrase was picked up by other journalists. The wave included artists like Sirotkin, Rushana, Yerkatt, Beautiful Boys, and others who perform comfortable, comforting, predominantly guitar music. As a result, a whole thematic playlist appeared on "Yandex Music".
Self-Censorship of Rappers
This year, a law prohibiting the promotion of drugs on the internet came into effect, and Russian rap abruptly stopped being angry. Labels and music services are asking artists in advance to check their tracks for mentions of prohibited substances and methods of use.
Many artists began to make changes to their tracks: muting certain words, and in some cases, rewriting entire lines. The group "AK-47" significantly censored their discography. For example, instead of "I love drugs of particularly potent sorts", it now sounds like "I love bucks, but our ruble is cooler".
One of the most popular contemporary Russian rappers, Icegergert, went further and muted the words "mafia", "rob", and "bandit" in his songs. This is related to a recent scandal: a criminal case was initiated against the artist after he publicly raised a toast: "Life to thieves!" As a result, the rapper issued a public apology and paid a fine of 2,000 rubles.
The Rise of SoundCloud Rap
In recent years, a new musical trend has emerged in Russia — SoundCloud rap, or SC-rap. Many young people record and post SoundCloud tracks on social media, where they find a huge number of similarly young listeners (despite the site being blocked in Russia). The SoundCloud scene has gained such strength that it is moving from the underground to the mainstream: the main star Madk1d is already touring the country, while artists like Fortuna 812 and Dark Prince are becoming the main freshmen of the season and topping the charts.
SoundCloud rap is hip-hop with overloaded bass, hissing drums, flowing synthesizer sounds, emo motifs, and an overall informal aesthetic. The social network has become a free field for self-expression for genre representatives: they upload raw tracks without mixing or, for example, songs over other people's beats. But there is also a downside: monetization is impossible on this platform, and partly for this reason, the main artists of this scene are moving to other services. Fans of the genre have already proclaimed the death of SC-rap, while the wider masses are just beginning to learn about it.
Macan and the New "Boyish Rap"
In contrast to the nonconformist SC-rap, "boyish rap" is enjoying great popularity in Russia, experiencing a powerful revival. The most popular representative of the genre, Macan, went to serve in the army, having released the blockbuster album "Bratland" beforehand, but other artists are not lagging behind.
For example, this year, two of the most popular representatives of the St. Petersburg group "52-x" — ALBLAK 52 and FRIENDLY THUG 52 NGG — released milestone works. "The street knows me, the districts will speak for me," the latter raps, and the "street" in the face of millions of listeners confirms his words: there is indeed a demand for harsh wisdom from "cool guys". Critics have already characterized the confrontation between the nonconformist and boyish branches of Russian rap as a "conflict of Westernizers and Slavophiles".
AY YOLA and Another New Folk
In spring, the star of a young group from Bashkortostan suddenly shone. AY YOLA combines traditional instruments with modern electronics. A reel with a snippet of their song "Homay" gained several million views in just a few days. The plot of the video is simple but captivating: a beautiful girl in a fluffy fur hat sings in Bashkir under synthwave.
By summer, AY YOLA was headlining many festivals, and in autumn, they reinforced their success with the release of their debut album "Ural Batyr". By the way, this group is a family business: the music's author is a producer from Ufa, Ruslan Sever, and the girl in the hat is his daughter, Adele.
AY YOLA's success fits into the overall trend of revival and recontextualization of folk: from the viral "Matushka" by Tatyana Kurtukova to more niche projects like Settlers, Hodila Izba, and "Komon" — many domestic musicians practice a "return to roots", and their music finds its audience.
Kadysheva, Bulanova, Dolina
In the outgoing year, the names of three experienced representatives of the Russian pop scene were on everyone's lips.
First, Nadezhda Kadysheva gained immense popularity among zoomers. Her tracks went viral on TikTok and reels, resulting in ticket sales for her concerts increasing more than 30 times from January to July this year, and she became one of the highest-paid singers in the country. Crowds of young people dressed in kokoshniks attended performances of "Zolotoe Koltso" as if they were unusual raves.
Following Kadysheva, Tatyana Bulanova experienced a new surge of popularity — she could be seen in the lineups of the main festivals of this year. Her team received special attention: in summer, a video featuring extremely melancholic backup dancers went viral online. The slow, minimalist dance became a meme and brought the performer additional traffic. However, in November, it became known that Bulanova would no longer work with this team: the singer accused them of betrayal and stated that they "could not withstand the test of copper pipes".
By the end of the year, another discussed figure was Larisa Dolina. The resonance, however, was not caused by songs or concerts, but by a scandalous situation involving the sale of an apartment. The singer unexpectedly became the face of a fraudulent scheme — a term "Dolina Effect" even emerged. This situation negatively impacted the singer's musical career: she was boycotted online, and ticket sales plummeted.
Children's Hits: "Sigma Boy" and "Barabulka"
The song "Sigma Boy" by young performers Betsy and Maria Yankovskaya (at the time of the track's release, they were 11 and 12 years old) resonated throughout the country. The track was released back in 2024, but at the beginning of 2025, it reached the seventh position on the international Billboard chart, sitting alongside Billie Eilish and Katy Perry. The story is similar to how in 2023, the global internet exploded with the song "My Marmeladny" by Katya Lel.
Another children's hit was "Barabulka" by 13-year-old blogger Vova Solodkov. Again, the track appeared in 2024, and this year it surged into trends and turned the performer into a superstar. Now Solodkov, a young man with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, can be seen in the most unexpected places: as an android Carlson in the series "Magic Plot" or as a guest at rapper Husky's concert.
The Success of Vanya Dmitriyenko
By the end of autumn, relentless success caught up with Vanya Dmitriyenko — by the age of 20, he had become the youngest holder of the "Golden Gramophone", written a hit for Grigory Leps, and starred in high-profile series. The young man, who rose to fame at 15 with the hit "You are Venus, I am Jupiter", now fills stadiums. He has gained particular popularity among the 30+ audience: adult listeners admit that his songs evoke feelings of nostalgia and transport them back to their own youth.
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