Meghan Markle has revealed she’ll be exploring female stereotypes and “labels that try to hold women back” as part of her first podcast series with Spotify.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a multi-million dollar deal with Spotify in 2020, but in the time since have so far only released one show, which was a one-off festive special featuring their son Archie and some celebrity friends.
On Thursday, Meghan announced her new series Archetypes, in which she’ll interview historians, experts and prolific women who have experienced being typecast about stereotypes that have been applied to women over the years.
In a teaser, she explains: “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 and defining our lives?
“This is Archetypes – the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.
“I’ll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And I’ll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place.”
Earlier this year, Spotify faced criticism over the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which has been known to air vaccine-sceptical views.
Amid the controversy, several musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell called for their music to be removed from the streaming service, with Meghan and her husband Prince Harry also speaking about the matter in a joint statement.
“Since the inception of [their production company] Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis,” they said. “Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day.”
They added: “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.”
No release date has been given for Archetypes, though Meghan has said the first episode will be released in the summer.