Kicking off a brand new year, we're proud to present our annual celebration of the most hotly tipped Irish and international talent, with our Hot For 2025 special issue – available to pre-order now – featuring cover star Jordan Adetunji...

Virtually unknown outside of Ireland this time last year, the genre-bending artist is now rubbing designer-clad shoulders with the likes of Kehlani, Travis Scott, Lil Baby and Busta Rhymes, and also has Barack Obama as a member of his fan club. He tells Stuart Clark where it’s all gone right...

Jordan Adetunji. Credit: Emily White

Jordan's cover story leads us into our essential Hot For 2025 round-up – featuring our picks of the Irish and international artists who are gearing up for a massive year. It's must-read for those who want to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new music...

Elsewhere in the issue:

As their debut Who Let The Dogs Out album strikes fear into the hearts of the Andrew Tate incel brigade, Lambrini Girls talk to Hot Press about misogyny in the music biz, Irish connections, hanging with punk royalty, crowd surfing adventures and the other bands poised to give 2025 a kick up its arse.

Lambrini Girls. Credit: Nicole Osrin

Art-punk supremo Aaron Corcoran, aka Skinner, sits down to reveal how the infamous 57 Club in Manhattan's East Village inspired his stellar debut album New Wave Vaudeville...

Megan, Cian and Adam of hotly-tipped alt-rock outfit Bold Love discuss name changes, having Dermot Kennedy as a fan and the chemistry that led to six-piece finding their sound.

Having enjoyed a breakthrough 2024 after appearing on Jools' Annual Hootenanny, teenage sensation Muireann Bradley reflects on a whirlwind year, her love for the blues, and the welcome challenge of writing her own music.

Muireann Bradley. Credit: Ethan Porter

After a riveting guerrilla gig at Spindizzy Records, David Gray sits down with Will Russell for an in-depth discussion about his fantastic new album, Dear Life.

In Dublin for a screening of I Am Noise, a powerful documentary on her life, folk icon Joan Baez discusses her first act of civil disobedience, Martin Luther King, guerilla recording in Hanoi, and the need for a universal protest anthem.

President Michael D. Higgins with Joan Baez at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield / copyright Patrik Meier /hotpress.com

Jason O'Toole talks to the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, about the harrowing events of the last 15 months, in which the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza by Israel left close to 50,000 people dead.

In our bumper movie section, Roe McDermott chats to Peter Sarsgaard about his new Munich Olympics drama, September 5; director Sinead O'Shea discusses her Edna O'Brien doc Blue Road; and legendary director Mike Leigh talks about his latest movie Hard Truths.

Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story

There will also be a special Brigid 2025 Festival preview – your guide to all the unmissable action taking place across Co. Kildare over the days ahead...

And that's just a taste of what you can expect from this action-packed Hot For 2025 issue – available to pre-order now below: