Albums of the Year 2025: #66

Worldwide introduces us to the next chapter of Snooper — more personal, more cathartic, sharper, bolder, catchier.

“Push pull/ Side to side/ This way/ That way/ Can’t decide/ Pressure! Pushing in/ Flattened me out from end to end,” Blair Tramel sings on “Worldwide,” the title track from Snooper’s new album. The song captures the dizzying headspace of the band’s rapid ascent from the Nashville DIY circuit to global touring and notoriety in far-flung corners of the world’s underground music scene. But though the band was feeling the pressure — the song is partially inspired by hydraulic press YouTube videos — all the challenges presented opportunity for transformation.

Worldwide is a mission statement for the record not just thematically, but also aesthetically, showcasing Snooper’s stylistic exploration. Newly inspired by electronic music, the rhythm of Worldwide is unrelenting and mechanistic — capturing the frenzied pace at which Snooper’s lives were moving, but allowing for release in Tramel’s yelps and Connor Cummins’ scuzzy guitar breaks.

“There’s a sweet spot,” Tramel says of the evolution that came out of Snooper’s whirlwind experience these last few years. “For a moment, push and pull create this beautiful dance.”