Live From Mars

Matt Hansen joins Live From Mars for an emotional deep dive into his debut album Orchid, the songwriting experiences that shaped it, and the realities of building a music career completely independently.

Matt opens up about going from posting covers in parking garages during COVID to becoming one of the internet’s fastest-rising independent artists with over a billion streams worldwide. Alex and Matt discuss emotional songwriting, social media burnout, creative freedom, therapy, heartbreak, healing, and why Orchid feels like the first project that truly tells his story.

They also break down the pressure of virality, transitioning fans from covers to original music, the cinematic influence of Coldplay and Hans Zimmer, and the meaning behind songs like “Let Em Go,” “Yellowstone,” and the album’s title track.

Topics covered:
• The story behind Matt Hansen’s debut album Orchid
• How TikTok changed his life and music career
• Building an audience independently without a label
• The emotional process behind songwriting and healing
• Why “Let Em Go” changed everything for him
• Coldplay’s influence on his music and production style
• Learning to separate artistry from analytics and virality
• The importance of emotional maturity in songwriting
• Why happiness felt scary after years of sad songs
• What Matt hopes to learn from the Orchid era

Follow Matt Hansen:
Spotify: Matt Hansen
Instagram/TikTok: @matthansenmusic

Follow & support the show:
TikTok: @vinylbymars
Instagram: @vinylbymars
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The Grammys are officially wrapped, and we’re breaking down everything that happened the night after music’s biggest show. In this episode of Live From Mars, Alex is joined by returning guest and fan-favorite Amanda Leopizzi to recap the biggest wins, surprise losses, standout performances, and the moments everyone is still talking about.

We dive into Bad Bunny’s historic Album of the Year win, Olivia Dean taking Best New Artist, Billie Eilish’s controversial Song of the Year victory for “Wildflower,” and why Sabrina Carpenter walked away empty-handed. We also talk through Lady Gaga’s pop vocal win, Kendrick Lamar’s continued dominance, and the evolving relevance of award shows in today’s music landscape.

Beyond the trophies, we get into the cultural and political moments from the night, social media reactions across platforms, and how fan discourse is shaping the narrative around artists in real time. To close things out, we look ahead to the 2027 Grammys and start calling early contenders across pop, country, and alternative.

In this episode:
• Biggest winners and snubs of the 2026 Grammys
• Best New Artist performances and medley highlights
• The Billie Eilish eligibility debate
• Lady Gaga vs. Bad Bunny Album of the Year conversation
• Social media reactions and fan culture shifts
• Early 2027 Grammy predictions
• Best and worst moments of the night

Follow me:
Substack: https://vinylbymars.substack.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vinylbymars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinylbymars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vinylbymars
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Subscribe on Substack: https://vinylbymars.substack.com

Grammy week is here, so I’m locking my final predictions before the votes are revealed.

In the first official episode of 2026, I break down my Grammy ballot across 12 categories, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. I also compare my picks against hundreds of listener submissions from my Grammy poll to see where the internet agrees with me and where it doesn’t.

This episode is all about how the Recording Academy actually votes, where narratives matter, and which categories are primed for upsets.

In this episode:
Final Grammy predictions across the Big Four
Why Album of the Year is a three-artist race
The category I’m least confident about
Listener poll results vs my actual picks
Dark horses the Academy could surprise us with

The next episode will be a full Grammy recap reacting to the winners, performances, and biggest moments of the night. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast to be notified when the next episode drops!

Chapters
01:46 Predictions for Record of the Year
03:53 Album of the Year Contenders
07:55 Song of the Year Insights
18:19 Best New Artist Predictions
19:24 The Rise of Olivia Dean and Leon Thomas
20:37 Predictions for Best Pop Solo Performance
22:37 Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Insights
24:33 Best Pop Vocal Album Showdown
27:01 Best Dance Pop Recording Predictions
28:04 Best Dance Electronic Album Insights
29:17 Best Remixed Recording Analysis
30:38 Best Traditional Pop Album Discussion
31:46 Best Music Video Predictions

Follow & support:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vinylbymars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinylbymars/
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Substack: https://vinylbymars.substack.com
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In this episode of Live From Mars, I sit down with John Stein, Head of Editorial at Spotify, to break down Spotify Wrapped 2025 and what the year in music actually sounded like.

We go behind the scenes of how Spotify Wrapped is made, how editorial teams balance streaming data with human curation, and how playlists like Discover Weekly and Fresh Finds help artists break and grow over time. John shares his 12-year journey at Spotify, how editorial has evolved, and how decisions made inside Spotify impact millions of listeners every day.

We also unpack the biggest music trends of 2025, including introspective pop, album-first listening habits, country rock crossovers, masked metal artists, and why songs released in previous years continued to dominate the charts. We talk about slow-burn artists, touring as a growth engine, and how older catalog songs keep finding new life on streaming.

Plus, we look ahead to 2026 music predictions, the rise of more organic sounding music in response to AI, and which albums and artists might still be talked about a decade from now.

If you’ve ever wondered how Spotify decides what you hear, why Wrapped became such a massive cultural moment, or how music discovery actually works in 2025, this conversation pulls back the curtain.

📲 Follow Alex Mars
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vinylbymars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinylbymars
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vinylbymars
Substack: https://vinylbymars.substack.com

#SpotifyWrapped #SpotifyWrapped2025 #YearInMusic #MusicTrends2025 #SpotifyPodcast #MusicPodcast #LiveFromMars #MusicDiscovery #DiscoverWeekly #FreshFinds #StreamingMusic #PopMusic #MusicIndustry #AlbumListening #MusicTrends #MusicYouTube #PodcastInterview
To provide feedback, please fill out this survey: http://bit.ly/livefrommars-survey
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Subscribe to my Substack for more pop music deep dives and unfiltered reactions: https://vinylbymars.substack.com

This week on Live From Mars, I’m joined by my good friend (and resident guy-who-screams-songs-in-the-car) Nick Palmai to finally give Miley Cyrus’ Something Beautiful the deep dive it deserved. We’re talking about why this album became my favorite of 2025, why it got such a mixed reception, and how a messy rollout and delayed visual release may have kept people from fully getting what Miley built here.

What we cover in this episode
Why Something Beautiful is one of the most underrated pop albums of 2025
Our IRL story: meeting at the Something Beautiful premiere and watching the film before the album dropped
The rollout choices that helped and hurt the album (and why “End of the World” deserved way more)
Why the project feels so cinematic, loud, and experimental compared to Endless Summer Vacation
Best Worst Fave: our picks for the best song, weakest track, and personal favorites (yes, “Golden Burning Sun” stans rise)

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you’re following the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and if you feel like being nice today, drop a 5-star review.

Follow me:
Substack: https://vinylbymars.substack.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vinylbymars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinylbymars
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vinylbymars
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vinylbymars
To provide feedback, please fill out this survey: http://bit.ly/livefrommars-survey
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.