Song of the Year: Doechii’s ‘Anxiety’

Doechii performs at the Glastonbury Festival in 2025. (Credit: Oli SCARFF / AFP)

You know that overwhelming feeling of uneasiness you’ve been experiencing lately? That sense of dread and uncertainty, as if you’re waiting for the next bad thing to happen? Perhaps you’ve felt an unexplainable tightness in your chest, followed by a shortness of breath, and thousands of “what if?” thoughts invading your head. If so, you and countless others are feeling this way. That’s 2025 in a nutshell. 

So, it’s only appropriate that we chose Doechii’s “Anxiety” as 2025’s Song of the Year. 

There’s a reason this song and its video became a viral sensation this year, with billions of streams across platforms, propelling the Florida rapper to hit more than 57 million listeners on Spotify and scoring her first Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. While it’s an extremely catchy and danceable track, featuring samples of “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, a song that itself samples a 1967 instrumental called “Seville” by Luiz Bonfá, Doechii’s lyrics are absolutely relatable, such as “I get this tightness in my chest / Like an elephant is standing on me / And I just let it take over,” tapping into the stress we’ve all been facing this year. 

Though she originally self-released it on YouTube in 2019, the song went viral on TikTok earlier this year, thanks in large part to a video mashing “Anxiety” with a dance scene from “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” prompting Doechii to release a new version.

Due to the song’s immense popularity, Doechii launched “Anxiety is Watching Me,” an online resource hub inspired by her own experiences that provides tools for those who struggle with anxiety, stress, or other mental health conditions. 

Like seemingly everything else this year, however, the song has created a divide among music fans. While more than 80,000 TikTok users uploaded their own videos inspired by their love of the song, thousands of others on social media posted their hate for it, for varying reasons. Many complained about fatigue from the song’s oversaturation on video platforms. Others complained about the song being gimmicky and lazy, and not a true showcase of Doechii’s artistic talent. And still others felt the song made light of mental health issues.

Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny the grip “Anxiety” has had on the cultural collective in 2025. And as we look forward to 2026, remember that you’re not alone in your stress and feelings of uncertainty about the future. We’re all in this together, with Doechii leading the charge.