2 episodes of Meghan Markle's podcast Archetypes are out. Are they worth your time?
Meghan Markle, the former actress and the Duchess of Sussex, has finally released her podcast Archetypes after months of wait. The first episode of the podcast saw Meghan bringing her first guest, the tennis star, and her bestie, Serena Williams. Episode 2 featured Mariah Carey.
Meghan’s podcast is currently trending at the top spot on the Spotify app, ending the reign of The Joe Rogan Experience. Archetypes has become one of the top hits within two days of its release not only in the UK but also in the US, Australia, Canada and Ireland. According to reports, Meghan and Harry charged US$ 18 million for an exclusive three-year podcast deal with Spotify.
But don’t let the numbers fool you. The podcast, even though on top of the charts, has received criticism of all kinds.
Episode 1: Meghan being Meghan
On the first episode of Meghan’s podcast, she invites Grand Slam champion Serena Williams to the mic. But before that, Meghan talks. She talks and talks about her younger self, who wrote a letter to the First Lady, and the management of a company that aired an advertisement so misogynistic that it forced the 11-year-old Markle to do so. She, in that letter, gave suggestions to the company on how they could improve their advertisement and make it less sexist.
While it might come across as a bit of a stretch, Meghan actually did send a letter to the company, when she was just 11.
The podcast dwells on one word per episode, delving deep into how women deal with it. For the first episode, her word was “ambition”. In keeping with the term, Serena Williams was Meghan's first guest.
Throughout the entire podcast, Meghan gives out various revelations about herself, and when she lets Serena speak, Serena reveals snippets from her life outside of the tennis court.
However, Meghan's constant reminding of the fact that she and Serena are 'friends' gets frustrating after a while.
On the first episode, Prince Harry also drops in (on a podcast on women and feminism) to say hi.
Episode 2: Mariah saves the day
On the second episode, Meghan tries to decode the word “Diva”, and, “who better to explain it than someone who owns the word, the singer Mariah Carey!” The episode sees both of them discussing the word "Diva", and how the meaning of the word has changed with time.
Diva, which was once meant as a compliment, soon devolved to a slang for women. Both of them also discussed what it means to be interracial.
Mariah also touched on how she had to move homes over a dozen times during her youth, and grew up without so much money.
"I didn't fit in. I didn't fit in. You know, it would be more of the black area of town or then you could be where my mom chose to live, were the more, the white neighbourhoods. And I didn't fit in anywhere at all," Mariah said. Something that Meghan said she could relate to.
This episode was not overall hijacked by Meghan because, well, Mariah wouldn’t let her.
In another bit, Mariah tells Meghan, “You give us diva moments sometimes, Meghan. Don’t act like [you don’t].”
Both episodes, regardless of how cheesy they were, did have a few major revelations from the life of Meghan Markle. Here are five of them:
- Her son Archie's room caught fire in Africa.
- She gave advice to Serena Williams on her retirement from tennis.
- Meghan felt the word 'ambitious' had a 'negative connotation' when she was dating Prince Harry
- She said that she was not treated as a 'black woman' until she started dating Prince Harry.
- And finally, that it was difficult for Meghan to get an acting job because she was interracial.
The podcast also features historians and experts who help Meghan "uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives".
Next week, Meghan will be speaking to Mindy Kaling.