Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
What does a year sound like?
What were the sounds of 2025?
Well, it wasn't any single hit song, but a collection of sounds that moved from the background to the center of youth culture.
Today we'll trace the soundtrack of a year from the adrenaline of blockbuster scores to the quirky loops of unboxing videos and the hyper catchy jingles from the streets.
These sounds created a shared rhythm of hype, comfort, and memory, so how did they become the unofficial anthems for this year's generation.
We're live from our studios in Beijing.
This is Roundtable.
I'm Steve.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today.
And for the show, I'm with Niu Honglin and Yushan.
First up.
Every year, of course, has its own soundtrack.
In 2025 is no exception.
Today, we'll piece together a sonic map of Chinese youth culture through the background music of the year.
Some even escaped their original settings and became collective earworms from the cinematic roar of the Nuja 2 soundtrack to the oddly addictive beats looping behind la boo boo unboxings from Pop Mart and the hyper-efficient brain hijacking jingle of a major tea brand.
Those BGMs were played in cinemas on short video platforms in shopping malls and on the streets quietly stitching themselves into our daily lives.
Put together, they form a timeline of moods, hype, comfort, and collective memory.
Each year is always defined by what we do and what we say and what we listen to.