Meghan Markle's New Podcast Drops On Spotify! Will You Be Tuning In?

The wait is over! The first episode of Meghan Markle's new podcast has finally hit Spotify.

Back in March, an Archewell spokesperson shared that the Duchess of Sussex would be launching her podcast on Spotify in the summer. This launch comes nearly two years after Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, signed a multi-year partnership with Spotify and Archewell Audio.

For the podcast's first episode, which she named the "Archetypes," Markle sat down with her longtime pal and Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams. Both women talked about several topics, including the concept of ambition and how to control their narratives. 

Read on for more details.

As reported by Variety, The podcast's first episode features Serena Williams, who recently announced her plans to retire from tennis. Both women sat down to talk about the early years of their friendship, being ambitious as children, and the double standards the tennis player faces throughout her career.

The pair were also joined by Dr. Laura Cray, a professor at UC Berkeley and an expert on gender in the workplace.

"I don't remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word 'ambitious' until I started dating my now husband," Markle began.

"And um, apparently ambition is, uh… a terrible thing, for a woman that is—according to some. So, since I've felt the negativity behind it, it's really hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller — so much smaller — regularly."

In a March 2022 teaser, the former "Suits" actress hinted to fans about what they should expect from her "Archetypes" podcast.

"This is Archetypes, the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back," she said in the clip which was share by The Blast .

"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."

She continued, "This is how we talk about women: the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women to us, but where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they keep showing up and defining our lives?"

According to Variety, the next episode of the podcast will feature an interview with the queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey.

"Archetypes" is produced by Archewell Audio in collaboration with Spotify's Gimlet Media. Markle is the executive producer alongside Catherine Cyr and Terry Wood.

Before this, the studio had only one podcast for Spotify, "A 2020 holiday audio special." Through "Archetypes," it was "committed to producing programming that uplifts and entertains audiences around the world; spotlights diverse perspectives and voices; and builds community through shared experience, narratives, and values."

It's not surprising to anyone that the Duchess of Sussex is toeing this path as she has a long history of speaking up for women's rights.

One of such dates back to when she wrote to Procter and Gamble at the tender age of 11, asking them to revise a commercial that insinuated that women were the only ones "fighting greasy pots and pans in the kitchen."

According to She Knows, The company later changed its language to a more gender-inclusive one, stating that "people are fighting greasy pots and pans."

Since then, Markle hasn't backed down from fighting for what she believes in. She has used her platform as a royal to highlight the advantage of parental leave for families and some other causes which are dear to her heart.

Earlier in the year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex voiced their concerns with Spotify over COVID misinformation on the platform. This was amid a bigger backlash over vaccine misinformation on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

"Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis," an Archewell rep said in a statement (via Deadline).

"Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day. 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."