Tag: Gimlet

‘Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s Wins duPont-Columbia Award for Journalism

February 10, 2023

Gimlet_Podcast_Stolen_S2_ShowArt

Journalist Connie Walker often tackles projects that hit close to home, but none compares to the second season of her Gimlet and Spotify Original podcast, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s. Throughout the eight-episode journey, the Okanese First Nation (Cree) investigative reporter takes a look into her father’s harrowing experiences at a Canadian residential school in the 1960s. She uncovers deep abuses at the hands of school administrators that led to childhood death and adulthood trauma—outcomes that were not unique to St. Michael’s.   

Connie’s deeply personal telling of this harrowing story has made a profound impact on investigative journalism. On February 6, Connie and the Stolen team won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for the series. This prestigious award honors the best in broadcast, documentary, and on-line reporting as selected by peers and fellow journalists. Stolen is the first Spotify or Gimlet podcast to receive a duPont.

For the Record caught up with Connie a few days after the award ceremony to hear more. 

What was your reaction to finding out you won a duPont?

I was thrilled. And also kind of in disbelief. It’s such an incredible award, and just to have that type of recognition for our podcast, it was just so unbelievable and thrilling. I’m still pinching myself. 

Looking back on the season, were there any elements of investigating, recording, or editing that stood out as notable to you?

This is a very different story for me, perhaps because it’s such a personal story. As journalists, we’re often advised not to make yourself part of the story—it’s kind of a taboo thing. And so that was really a big challenge for me personally, to include so much of my personal story and my father’s family story in the podcast. But it also felt like the perfect format for doing that, you know? A serialized investigative podcast allowed us to really explore all the nuance and context that’s so important in understanding not just residential schools but stories about Indigenous people in general. 

Surviving St. Michael’s started out as this really personal story about my father and his experience at a residential school—I never imagined it would end up as one of the most comprehensive investigations into a single residential school. And what we were able to uncover in our investigation was staggering. One thought I had as it was happening was, “This should have happened earlier.” The window for accountability is shrinking, and the window for survivors is shrinking as well. Coming out of this, I feel the urgency to keep on telling these stories. 

The jury commended the series for “its consistent focus in pursuing the truth.” What are your hopes for mainstream media and its future focus on the realities Indigenous people faced and still face? 

I started my career over 20 years ago when there was really very little interest in our communities and very little understanding of the importance of our stories. And to be at this point where now I’m supported to share these stories on Gimlet and Spotify—with the big audiences and the ability to take some of these big risks with our storytelling—it kind of feels to me like a dream come true and something that I just want to continue for as long as I can. There’s been a huge shift in the last 5 to 10 years, not just in terms of an understanding of how important our stories are, but also that Indigenous people should be the ones to tell them. And obviously we all want to keep going. We know there are so many more stories. 

Podcasting is becoming an increasingly accessible medium to historically marginalized creators. What would you like to see more of coming out of Indigenous communities? 

I think it’s fantastic that podcasting is now a platform for us to share these really important journalistic and investigative stories. What I personally would love to see more of is a better representation of the diversity of our experiences. Obviously, as an investigative journalist, I’m going to take on a certain kind of story in a podcast like Stolen, but Indigenous people have so much beauty and humor, and an incredible culture, and so many things to share. I feel like it’s never been easier to share some of those parts of our culture and that diversity that exists in our experiences. But I’d love to see more of that—more laughter, more celebration, more sharing of the beauty and strength of our culture.  

What are you up to next?

We’re already hard at work on Season 3 of Stolen! We’ve already done a few recording trips. Our team is really excited to keep going. Like I said, there are so many stories from our community that need to be told, and I’m excited to shed a spotlight on more of them. 

Catch the first episode of the duPont-winning series below.

Spotify’s ‘Gay Pride & Prejudice’ Marries a Beloved Classic With Queer Stories and Scripted Fiction Podcasts

June 15, 2022

The cast and crew of Gay Pride & Prejudice (L-R Ronald Peet, Vella Lovell, Zackary Grady, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, Blake Lee) on the red carpet ahead of their Tribeca Film Festival Panel: “A Romantic Comedy Event: Gay Pride and Prejudice.”

Photo: The cast and crew of Gay Pride & Prejudice (L-R Ronald Peet, Vella Lovell, Zackary Grady, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, Blake Lee) on the red carpet ahead of their Tribeca Film Festival Panel: “A Romantic Comedy Event: Gay Pride and Prejudice.” Credit: Getty.

Few writers have made their mark on the literary canon quite like Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice—her saga of courtship, candor, class, and, ultimately, love and marriage—has been the subject of much adaptation, interpretation, and admiration since its 1813 publication. It’s a personal favorite of playwright Zackary Grady, who, after the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage, set out to work on a script for a queer, modern stage adaptation. Around the start of the pandemic, his idea transitioned from one on the stage to a fully auditory performance—spurring the new fiction podcast Gay Pride & Prejudice.  

The Spotify Original podcast and Gimlet production follows Bennet, a 30-something gay man navigating dating and avoiding commitment in Boston, over the course of a year. The 10-episode saga—chapters run approximately 20 minutes each—stars Blake Lee as Bennet; Ronald Peet as a brooding, ex-football-playing Darcy; Tony Award–winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Colin; and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Vella Lovell as Charlotte. Jesse is also an executive producer alongside her husband, Justin Mikita, and Mimi O’Donnell, Gimlet’s Head of Scripted Fiction. Gay Pride & Prejudice debuted in time for Pride Month and new episodes are released every Wednesday. 

The production, which has been in the works for over six years, is one that has been treated with utmost care—as well as incredible levity. “Having someone who’s such a fanatical Jane Austen fan being charged with this has been really fun because [Zackary’s] left a lot of breadcrumbs for people who are big fans of Jane Austen,” Jesse told For the Record. Yet Zackary, fan as he is, looked at his task through a sober lens. “The purpose of an adaptation is not to nerd out, it’s to tell a good story,” he explained. And to tell a good story, Zackary indebted his setting with intention.  

A time and place for everything

“Gay Pride & Prejudice takes place from June 2015 to June 2016, so it is a period piece,” Zackary told For the Record. “And I leaned into anything that happened in that year—that was really our world and our backdrop. And what it meant to be queer through that year was very different than it is today. It feels like a time capsule already, which is both great and sad how much has changed so quickly.”

Zackary’s first impression of Pride and Prejudice was that it was “very gay” in its original telling. “They go to balls and have drama. Oh, so they’re gay,” he joked. So when the 2015 ruling occurred and Zackary realized there was finally an opportunity to tell this version of the story, he seized the opportunity. And with this backdrop came the opportunity for new evolutions of the beloved characters to unfold. 

“The way that Zackary wrote it to be so irreverent in the period that it’s set in, I didn’t feel like I had to play any kind of game with matching my character up with the Darcy that I had encountered in reading, or in other adaptations or interpretations,” said Ronald. “So it felt like all of us had free range to make our characters extremely original.” 

Ronald’s other half in the show, Blake, agreed. “Every rom-com started with [books like Pride and Prejudice],” Blake explained. “But I didn’t feel like I had to play the Lizzie Bennet from the books. There were just these moments that came through in his writing that I felt were so true to the original character, but we still got to make it our own thing.”

The entire cast, though, is clear-eyed about the relevance of Gay Pride & Prejudice’s setting today. “Hopefully the podcast serves as a reminder of how much this legislation, these decisions, impact people’s lives in such a small, nuanced way,” Zackary said. “It’s more than just laws; it’s people’s lives. And I think we forget that, and I hope that our story contains a picture of fully rounded queer people and reminds us that it’s not just a marriage certificate. It’s so much more than that.” 

Adapting and queering characters

Fans who listen to Gay Pride & Prejudice will encounter a cast of characters who represent many facets of the LGBTQ community—and give a voice not only to different races and sexualities, but also to those who are HIV+. This is conveyed through casting, scripting, and use of voice and audio queues. 

“It was important to represent the diversity in the community,” Justin told For the Record. “We also have some ideas for future seasons that would expand even further upon the world and and be inclusive of trans, nonbinary, and pansexual stories. We really wanted to make it feel authentic and inclusive without feeling forced. And it was very important for us to find a cast that also reflected the stories that we’re telling.” 

Some of the characters even flipped common conventions—such as the gay best friend trope—on their heads. “To me it’s just real life,” reflected Vella, who plays Charlotte, the token straight best friend. “In real life, it’s not just straight white men with one Black sexy friend. Everyone is a star of their own story, and everyone has different supporting characters, and I think it’s so much fun to play with that. This is real life for this particular story and this particular perspective.” 

A work of audio fiction

If marriage is a key theme of the podcast, it’s also a prominent one between the creative team and Gimlet. “Audio always lends itself well to playwrights,” noted Mimi. 

Transforming a play-based script into an audio-focused production isn’t always seamless. So that’s where Mimi comes in. “Some of the sound queues are written into the scripts already,” she noted. “I always try to get the writers to think about that ahead of time. So when the scripts are being developed, we have sound designers and engineers at Gimlet who then also weigh in. And then a lot of this transformation actually happens in post production.”

Zackary fell in love with the audio medium throughout the process as well. “Fiction podcasting is an opportunity to tell stories in such a clear way,” he said. “Audio helped the story be clearer because it was Bennet keeping his friends together while they were apart—through phone calls, text messages, voicemails—something that we couldn’t adequately convey when they were all in the same room, as they were in the original stage play. Yet we don’t even have a name for audio fiction yet. We compare it to television. We compare it to film. But it’s really its own medium.” 

Jesse also noted how excited he is for fiction podcasts to come into their own. “I find myself listening to scripted podcasts a lot more, and I love the medium,” he noted. “I’m a stage actor first, and I started doing TV and a little bit of film. So now this is another whole section of the entertainment industry that I can play with. That as an actor, as a producer, is really exciting.”

A new gaze

Gay Pride & Prejudice is part of a more recent trend embracing celebratory, over-the-top, and even satirical depictions of queer life and community in mainstream media. This is a noticeable and impactful change that Jesse sees in the new content. 

“When you’re talking about queer storytelling, it suddenly takes on this very somber, serious tone,” he said. “I mean, that’s the stuff I grew up with. I’m 46 years old, and so some of the first queer content I remember seeing always had to do with people dying of AIDS. And these are stories that are very, very important. I mean, Angels in America is one of the best pieces of writing ever. But, we’re also allowed to be flirty and fun. There are still moments in this podcast that are very serious and heartbreaking, but I wanted it to be a romp, and I think it is. We deserve that. The gays deserve a romp.”

Listen in on the tale of Bennet and Darcy in the latest episodes of Gay Pride & Prejudice every Wednesday throughout June. 

Around the World With Our Spotify Studios Producers, Editors, and Engineers

September 30, 2021

Mano a Mano. Kaulitz Hills. Coming Out. Virus 2062. The Inspired Unemployed. These are just five of the 1000+ Spotify Original podcasts that have found their way into listeners’ podcast queues this past year. And there’s always more where that came from.

Spotify is dedicated to producing creative, engaging shows for our audiences around the world. Each podcast takes hours and hours of taping, producing, and editing. So to do this, we bring together a stellar team of producers, engineers, hosts, and editors across many of the countries we have offices in to work on every type of podcast from scripted to documentary to news podcasts. 

In honor of International Podcast Day, we asked several rising Spotify Studio team members from around the world to tell us how they fell in love with podcasting and about the exciting projects they’re currently working on. Get to know them below.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson of ‘How to Save a Planet’ Shares Her Top 5 Climate Justice Podcast Episodes

April 19, 2021

How do you make a climate justice-oriented show that people actually want to listen to? Corny jokes seem to be a big part. 

At least, that’s the takeaway from Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, who, alongside her cohost Alex Blumberg, worked for nine months to bring a climate solutions-focused podcast, How to Save a Planet, to the world. Now, another nine months later, the show boasts a dedicated fan base and 30 episodes, arming listeners with knowledge and actions to take to address climate change. 

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth also recently put together Your Guide for Climate Solutions, a podcast playlist to further inform both podcast and planet lovers about ways they can get involved in the intersectional fight for environmental justice. We took the time to ask her about the playlist—as well as how she keeps up-to-date on all things podcast and climate and what she’s learned since launching How to Save a Planet. 

The five episodes in the Your Guide for Climate Solutions playlist span three podcasts. Why did you choose those episodes to feature?

This was really hard because I wanted to just feature other people’s shows, but I have loved so many of the conversations that we’ve had with amazing guests on How to Save a Planet. So I couldn’t help myself and picked three of ours. “Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?” is the question everyone is asking, right? “Do my individual actions matter or is it all about big systemic change?” And so we wanted to offer our answer to that big question. And then, this past September, we did an episode called “Black Lives Matter and the Climate” where we interviewed activists and organizers who were doing absolutely remarkable and critical work. And as a Black woman in America, being able to have that conversation, connecting the dots to climate, just felt really good. It’s a soulful discussion with Maurice Mitchell, who leads the Working Families Party, and Colette Pichon Battle, with Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. And then the grand finale episode in this playlist is about seaweed farming, because I’m a marine biologist, and I really love the ocean. 

For the other two, first is an episode from A Matter of Degrees hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson. I guess I would call it a more wonky version of How to Save a Planet. They go a bit harder on policy and are similarly trying to welcome people in. And then the other episode I recommended was from Ezra Klein’s podcast when he interviewed Dr. Kate Marvel, who is a climate scientist at NASA. It’s a super-long conversation, but she is fascinating and one of the most poetic scientists I’ve ever met. The way that she talks about the planet Earth and the climate system is so utterly delightful. 

How do you stay upto-date on media related to environmental and climate topics?

There is so much going on in terms of environmental and climate topics—that’s a great thing— and it’s all happening so fast that I really can’t keep up. But there’s two climate newsletters that I really do read every installation of, and that is HEATED by Emily Atkins and The Frontline, which is published by Atmos from journalist Yesenia Funes. And those two are really beautiful, nuanced takes that really include the complexities of what we’re dealing with, the sort of people and justice and science and policy puzzle that we’re trying to solve, so that’s how I even vaguely stay up-to-date. But I will admit that I have, like, 20 browser tabs open with various articles about climate and ocean policy that I want to be reading. So maybe this weekend, TBD. 

How do you find new podcasts you’re excited about? Anything you’ve really loved recently?

I guess I just ask my favorite group text thread. (Hopefully everyone has one that got them through the last year.) And I ask for episodes rather than podcasts. I love Alie Ward’s Ologies. That is a great show. NPR’s Throughline I enjoy. Of course, there are a bunch of Gimlet podcasts that are wonderful. Resistance is particularly notable for me right now. 

We last checked in right as How to Save a Planet was debuting, and the show has now been live for about 9 months. Can you tell us about a few lessons you’ve learned?

As someone who doesn’t come from media or storytelling, I have definitely learned something that the rest of the team is well aware of, which is that topics and stories are different things. And so figuring out how to turn a climate solution topic—whether that is regenerative farming in the ocean or Black Lives Matter and the climate, or trying to get to 100% renewable electricity by 2035—into a story is something that I’m very much still learning. But the easiest way is to have incredible guests. 

Another lesson learned: It is hard to make a podcast. I kind of thought, oh, we’ll just have a chat and then upload it to the internet. But if you want to explain complex science/policy/culture topics, you actually really do need to edit and layer in multiple interviews and give context to help people digest it all. It’s a big, extremely impressive skill set. Just watching what our reporters and producers pull together has been astounding to me. It is not as easy as it looks, and when it comes together in an episode, it’s magical.

What’s one takeaway you’re hoping new listeners (especially those who might not listen to your show) might get from this podcast playlist?

I think the thing that we’re really hoping people get out of listening is an understanding of just the multitude of ways that they can be a part of climate solutions. We want to show the diversity of work that needs doing and of ways that you can contribute to it. What we hope is that people will see themselves in this work somewhere, whether it’s protesting pipelines and land defense, or practicing regenerative agriculture, or reforming the grid, or getting excited about offshore wind energy. We really do need such a diversity of areas, of expertise, of people. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do and fix. We’re going to need everyone. 

Find your place. Stream Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Your Guide to Climate Solutions podcast playlist. 

Journalist Connie Walker Leverages True Crime Format To Spread Awareness of Violence Against Indigenous Women in ‘Stolen’

March 8, 2021

Journalist Connie Walker’s first podcast detailing violence against Indigenous women, Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams? was originally meant to be a two-minute news story. But while attending a conference about reporting on Indigenous issues in her home of Saskatchewan, Canada, the Okanese First Nation (Cree) journalist was compelled to go deeper. So she took a 20-year-old murder case and turned it into an eight-part investigation into the traumatic history of residential schools for First Nation Canadians. Then, she followed up with another award-winning season, Finding Cleo. 

Now, five years later, Connie has released her newest investigative podcast, Stolen: The Search for Jermain. The show focuses on the case of Jermain Charlo, a 23-year-old Indigenous mother who suddenly disappeared in Missoula, Montana, in June 2018. Connie ventures into the ongoing investigation in the popular true crime style. Stolen also carefully examines what it means to be an Indigenous person in America, as the show explains how Jermain’s case represents the larger epidemic of violence that faces Indigenous women and girls.

For the Record sat down with Connie ahead of the release of episode 2 to learn more about the importance and process of telling Jermain’s story.

What about Jermain’s story called to you? Of the many women you research and report on, why did you choose her for your next podcast?

Spotify and Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Partner to Produce Scripted and Unscripted Podcasts

January 21, 2021

Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay is best known for hard-hitting biopic, documentary, and fiction movies and TV series like Selma, 13th, and Queen Sugar. Starting today, DuVernay will also be bringing important stories to a different format—audio—in a new, multiyear partnership with Spotify. Together, Spotify and DuVernay will produce exclusive scripted and unscripted original audio programming through ARRAY, DuVernay’s multiplatform arts and social impact collective dedicated to narrative change.

“Recognizing the undeniable power of voice and sound, I’m thrilled to extend ARRAY’s storytelling into the realm of podcasts,” shared DuVernay. “The opportunity to work with Lydia Polgreen and her passionate team drew us to Spotify as a home for our audio narratives, and we couldn’t be more excited to begin this new creative journey.”

Under the exclusive partnership, ARRAY will bring new stories to Spotify’s global 144 million Premium subscribers and more than 320 million monthly active users around the world, amplifying a variety of voices and perspectives through podcasting. 

“Spotify’s partnership with ARRAY continues our commitment to bringing the world’s most powerful and creative voices into podcasting,” says Spotify Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff. “Ava DuVernay and her team at ARRAY will offer a singular perspective on audio storytelling. We look forward to Spotify listeners hearing from the exceptional creators that she will be elevating by leveraging our global platform.”

ARRAY will partner with Spotify’s Gimlet studio on a number of scripted and unscripted narrative podcasts overseen by ARRAY Filmworks President Sarah Bremner.  

“Ava DuVernay and her team at ARRAY are at the forefront of telling powerful stories about the most pressing issues of our time,” says Lydia Polgreen, Managing Director of Gimlet. “We’re so excited to bring their passion for lifting up forgotten and neglected voices to life in audio.” 

Stay tuned for the upcoming exclusive ARRAY-Spotify podcast titles, which will be available for free on Spotify.

Spotify’s ‘Sandra’ Podcast Goes Global—and Local—With ‘Sara,’ ‘Susi,’ ‘Sonia,’ and ‘Sofia’ Debuting in France, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil

July 6, 2020

In April 2018, Gimlet (now a Spotify company) launched Sandra, a seven-part fictional drama depicting a world where artificial intelligence isn’t so artificial. With big names (and voices) like Alia Shawkat (Helen), Kristin Wiig (Sandra), and Ethan Hawke (Dustin), the show launched to critical acclaim. And due to its relevant themes of technology, security, and self-actualization, Spotify deemed it a story worth telling listeners around the world. 

So on Tuesday, July 7, Spotify and Gimlet will premiere an exclusive localized version of the Sandra podcast in four markets: France, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. The show has not only been translated into each local language—it’s also been specially adapted via a culturally relevant name (Sara in France, Susi in Germany, Sonia in Mexico, and Sofia in Brazil), a customized storyline, and more.

Other podcasts have been translated, but these Sandra adaptations will be the first truly localized adaptations ever made of a hit fictional podcast. The Spotify Studios teams in France, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico have worked with local directors to adapt the script, cast local talent, and reimagine the podcast with an appreciation for local culture, language, and nuance. In each market, the podcast has an A-list cast mixed with traditional TV and film actors as well as digital creators and influencers. 

Take a look at the names behind each market’s version and the unique spin the creators have taken to make it their own.

France — Sara

  • Starring Virginie Efira as Sara (Sandra), Natoo as Helen, and Stéphane De Groodt as Dustin
  • Biggest change for Sara: “The geographical localization of the story is a change which required a lot of thinking. We needed to find the French equivalent of Helen’s hometown, a small city with little perspective and excitement. But it also needed to fit the story’s actions in a realistic manner. Which French city is close enough to a prison so that you can go and come back in a day as Helen does when she visits her husband? This is how Guymon became Ruffec, in the French region of Charentes.” – Claire Hazan, Head of Studios, France & Benelux
  • Biggest challenge for Sara: “Keeping the original rhythm and dynamic of a scene is something that can be tricky when changing languages. The words can be longer or shorter, they can impact how a sentence feels, the duration of a whole scene and, in the end, the pace of the story. We chose to work with a production studio who developed a very specific creative response to that issue. They created a tool which synchronizes the soundwave of the original English-speaking audio and the words in French. It has greatly helped our actors to find the right tone and rhythm for their acting.” – Claire Hazan, Head of Studios, France & Benelux

Germany – Susi

  • Starring Martina Hill as Susi (Sandra), Almila Bagriacik as Sara (Helen), and Bastian Pastewka as Jens (Dustin)
  • Biggest change for Susi: “All the little details that will make it authentic to the German audience. For example, the big change is in where the story is set and things you can hear in the background—watch out for the TV program in one scene.” – Saruul Krause-Jentsch, Spotify Head of Studios Germany
  • Biggest challenge for Susi: “We ended up casting quite big names even for the smallest roles which, obviously, made scheduling and recording difficult from time to time. But after hearing the result, that was all worth it.” – Saruul Krause-Jentsch, Spotify Head of Studios Germany

Mexico – Sonia

Brazil – Sofia

  • Biggest change for Sonia and Sofia: “This is our first podcast project on a global scale on Spotify. Our expectations are high with Sonia in Mexico and Sofia in Brazil.” – Javier Piñol, Head of Spotify Studios in Latin America and U.S. LatinX audiences
  • Biggest challenge for Sonia and Sofia: “Our main challenge when it comes to adapting a global project is that it doesn’t always allow you to introduce some local tones and nuances, but when we decided that Sandra would go global, we agreed on one common goal: to adapt it to the local culture. And that’s exactly what we did by having a local production and casting these talents. The result couldn’t be better.” – Javier Piñol, Head of Spotify Studios in Latin America and U.S. LatinX audiences

The Sandra adaptation marks a podcasting milestone across the world. “Spotify is uniquely positioned to grow podcasting globally, but we know our customers also want authentic local programming,” says Courtney Holt, Global Head of Studios and Video, Spotify. “Adapting Sandra is a great example of that. By thinking and programming locally, and using our creative teams on the ground in each market, we’re able to develop a show that feels like a German, or French, or Mexican, or Brazilian podcast, rather than a translation. Sandra was also Gimlet’s first scripted podcast when it launched in 2018. The fact that podcasting, and specifically Sandra, has drawn such a group of A-List talent in each market is also a great endorsement of the medium growing at a global scale.”

Missed out on the original? Stream Sandra below.

What’s New This Week in Spotify Podcasts

April 3, 2020

Welcome to This Week in Podcasts, where we share what’s new in the podcast world. Here you’ll find a roundup of series debuts, can’t-miss episodes, and so much more—all available to stream on Spotify. Whether you fancy yourself a content connoisseur or an audio amateur, you’re sure to discover something worth listening to. Keep scrolling to check out the latest and greatest in podcasts this week—including Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith, Heavyweight, Kids & Family Podcast Hub.

What’s New This Week in Spotify Podcasts

March 20, 2020

Welcome to This Week in Podcasts, where we share what’s new in the podcast world. Here you’ll find a roundup of series debuts, can’t-miss episodes, and so much more—all available to stream on Spotify. Whether you fancy yourself a content connoisseur or an audio amateur, you’re sure to discover something worth listening to. Keep scrolling to check out the latest and greatest in podcasts this week—including Story Pirates, Reply All, and Science Vs. 

What’s New This Week in Spotify Podcasts

February 21, 2020

Welcome to This Week in Podcasts, where we share what’s new in the podcast world. Here you’ll find a roundup of series debuts, can’t-miss episodes, and so much more—all available to stream on Spotify. Whether you fancy yourself a content connoisseur or an audio amateur, you’re sure to discover something worth listening to. Keep scrolling to check out the latest and greatest in podcasts this week—including The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon, Story Pirates, and Parcast Daily.

New Season of World-Renowned Therapist Esther Perel’s ‘Where Should We Begin?’ Podcast to Launch on Spotify

September 26, 2019

It’s not uncommon to see innovative couples’ therapist and author Esther Perel compared to Dr. Ruth, who helped the masses understand the importance of confronting sensitive subjects. Yet unlike the celebrity therapist of the ‘80s, Perel never sticks to a script or specific approach as she deftly unwinds the complicated dynamics of each relationship. That’s why her groundbreaking podcast Where Should We Begin? has proven so popular among everyone from singles to those celebrating 50 years of marriage. Beginning October 10 — and in conjunction with the launch of the podcast’s third season — Where Should We Begin will become a Gimlet series and will be available as a windowed exclusive on Spotify.

What makes Perel’s approach unique—and uniquely attractive to listeners the world over—is that there’s no distinction between her public and private counseling. Each episode of the podcast is a recording of a therapy session with a real couple navigating the complexities of their relationship—from the euphoric beginning to long-term love, unexpected loss, power struggles, and the ups and downs in between—right from her New York office. In the podcast’s new, third season, Perel explores the evolution of marriage through the stories of six couples at different points in their relationships.

“Where Should We Begin is a groundbreaking podcast and Esther is a unique and singular voice in podcasting,” said Nazanin Rafsanjani, Head of New Show Development at Gimlet. “She uses the power of audio to let us listen in and learn from people’s most personal revelations and struggles. We are thrilled to be partnering with her and bringing her talents to Spotify.”

“As we continue to explore the complexities of modern relationships, season three takes you through the stages of marriage, from the dreams to the disillusions to the dissolution and the new dreams,” said Perel. “My hope is to provoke, evoke, and stimulate meaningful conversations. When you listen deeply to the stories of others, you see yourself, you feel less alone, are open to new ideas and are emboldened to start the conversations that will transform your life. We’re pleased to partner with Spotify and Gimlet to bring my work to a dynamic and global audience. We have a shared belief: Beyond the riches of our individual and cultural particularities, we all have a universal need for connection.”

Perel, whose two TED Talks combined have more than 28 million views, is also the author of two best-selling books that have been translated into multiple languages: Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence, which explores the crossroads—and the often conflicting forces—of domestic partnership and desire; and The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, which analyzes infidelity not from a perspective of right and wrong, but in terms of what it can teach us about modern relationships and commitment in general.

Spotify and Gimlet look forward to working with Perel on future seasons of Where Should We Begin? 

Click below to stream the season three trailer of Where Should We Begin?

 

Gimlet and The Wall Street Journal Launch New Podcast, ‘The Journal.’

September 3, 2019

The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet, a Spotify company, have teamed up to launch The Journal., a new daily podcast about money, business and power. The Journal., which is hosted by veteran Wall Street Journal reporters Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, will release a new episode each day at 4 PM ET starting Tuesday, September 3. 

Together, the hosts make relevant and timely stories understandable and relatable—from what an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve means for you to why FedEx decided to stop delivering your Amazon orders. And because The Wall Street Journal is known for its world class business journalism, the podcast will be a medium for exclusive reporting and insights from WSJ journalists.  

The Journal. is one of several new Spotify podcasts dedicated to news and analysis, including market-specific shows like El Primer Café in Colombia and Café da Manhã in Brazil. 

Stream the latest episode of The Journal. here.