Meghan Markle, the actress-turned-royal-turned-activist-turned-author, is officially adding another role to her list: podcast host. On Thursday, Spotify and Archewell Audio, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s audio-first production company, announced Archetypes,
Archewell Audio’s first original Spotify series set to debut this summer.
Per a press release, the show will investigate “the labels that try to hold women back,” and host Meghan will “speak with historians and experts to uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives.”
In an audio teaser released on Spotify, Meghan tells audiences the the podcast is meant to “dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that hold women back.” She says, “This is how we talk about women—the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women back to us. But where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they keep showing up in defining our lives?”
The show is the first from an exclusive, multi-year podcast deal Spotify inked with Archewell Audio back in Dec. 2020. However earlier this year, the streaming service received backlash for misinformation on its platform, mostly from Joe Rogan’s popular but controversial podcast. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex then released a statement through their nonprofit Archewell, saying: “Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”
Since then, an Archewell Audio spokesperson said the Duke and Duchess are working with Spotify to create “policies, practices, and strategies meant to raise creator awareness, minimize the spread of misinformation, and support transparency,” per Harper’s Bazaar. In the press release for Archetypes, Spotify and Archewell Audio stated that they “both value responsible stewardship of the audio landscape, and as explained recently, are committed to working closely to support transparency and strong principles of trust and safety.”
Listen to Archetypes this summer exclusively on Spotify.