In a year in which paying attention to national news often felt like an exercise in masochism, pop culture provided a welcome respite. The year 2025 handed us a thrilling new pop provocateur, a wise-beyond-her-years soul singer, and an incoming K-pop juggernaut. It gave us actresses who can radiate charisma even when they’re causing trouble, spark internet-wide conversations about the challenges of coming of age as a young woman, and leap through their own zip-tied arms to steal a car and save the day. Below, we’ve gathered together our interviews and profiles with six of the year’s best new performers, both in music and onscreen. Read on for our favorite rookies of 2025.
Katseye
Katseye rose to fame through a reality show—actually, two reality shows—but this summer was when the K-pop group really broke through with the campy hit “Gnarly.” In a conversation with Bazaar, the six members explained how they knew immediately that the song would change their career and admitted that they’re as obsessed with their fans as their fans are with them.
Lola Tung
It was the summer of The Summer I Turned Pretty, and as the finale approached, the show’s star sat down with Bazaar to contemplate her success—and defend her character, Belly, from the haters. “With Belly, I just felt drawn to her,” she explained. “She has this spark and this curiosity and determination.”
Chase Infiniti
Playing the kidnapped daughter of a leftist revolutionary in One Battle After Another, Chase Infiniti had to be convincing as both an emotionally conflicted teenager and an action hero—and she had to do it while sharing the screen with industry veterans like Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Regina Hall. She spoke with Bazaar about learning from the legends on set and teaching Leo how to use TikTok.
READ THE INTERVIEW HERE
Adéla
It’s hard for a new pop girl to stand out in the crowded musical landscape, but that’s never been a problem for Adéla. The Slovakian-born singer came up in the same competition show that birthed Katseye but was ultimately cut for fear that she would draw attention away from the rest of the group. After the release of her album The Provocateur, she sat down with Bazaar to talk about making subversively hypersexual pop in the vein of Madonna and Lady Gaga.
Olivia Dean
“I’ve been in therapy for a long time,” Olivia Dean told Bazaar in October, adding, “I’m very interested in the concept of music as therapy.” In a conversation about her soulful second album, The Art of Loving (which launched the timeless-feeling hit “The Man I Need”), Dean demonstrated her grounded approach to making music, falling in love, and trying to understand her innermost self.
Odessa A’Zion
Q4 belonged to Odessa A’Zion. The actress starred in two very different breakout hits—the HBO comedy I Love LA and the Safdie brothers period piece Marty Supreme—playing two women who have little in common when it comes to time or place or costuming but who share irrepressible charisma and nerve. Landing both roles felt like the culmination of a longstanding ambition for her, A’Zion told Bazaar in a recent interview. “It felt like people weren’t taking me seriously for a long time, whether that be because of age or gender or whatever,” she said. “But ultimately, you’ve got to just push yourself.”
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