“Hi, guys. I’m Harry.”
“And I’m Meghan.”
And that’s how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are kicking off their newly announced podcast in partnership with Spotify.
Well, to be more precise, a preview of their upcoming Archewell Audio podcast officially begins with the couple bantering about who’ll start those introductions, with Harry voting for a “ladies first” approach and his wife, the former Meghan Markle, overriding his vote “because I think it sounds really nice with your accent.”
Note: She’s not wrong.
On Tuesday, Spotify announced a multiyear partnership with the couple’s new sound production company, Archewell Audio, that will include original podcasts and shows hosted by the pair and made available exclusively through the streaming service.
According to a press release, the first full series of free podcasts won’t debut until 2021, but the first stand-alone episode — a holiday special — will premiere later this month. And the aforementioned preview is already out now.
“So many people have been through so much pain this year, experiencing loss, a huge amount of uncertainty,” Harry explains in the clip. “But it feels worth acknowledging that 2020 has connected us in ways we’d have never imagined, through endless acts of compassion and kindness.”
And according to Meghan, “What really matters is clearer now more than ever.”
That’s the year-end topic they’ll tackle in the holiday special, and they’ll do so while speaking to others about their own experiences.
“What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction,” the duke and duchess said in a joint statement. “With the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to do so, because when we hear each other, and hear each other’s stories, we are reminded of how interconnected we all are.”
Spotify’s chief content officer, Dawn Ostroff, says the royals are the perfect pair for this new project.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may live in California but the power of their voices rests in their status as citizens of the world,” she said in the press release. “That they are embracing the extraordinary capacity of podcasts on Spotify while also seeking to elevate underrepresented voices is a testament to their appreciation for the potential of audio storytelling. We are proud to partner with the duke and duchess and look forward to listeners hearing directly from them and the other creators that they will be elevating via our global platform.”
If the name of their Archewell Audio endeavor sounds familiar — beyond its similarity to their son's name, Archie — it's because Archewell is also the name of Harry and Meghan's nonprofit foundation, which they unveiled in April, just days after officially stepping away from their duties as senior members of the British royal family.
And this isn't the only other project in the works. In September, it was announced that the couple had also created their own video production company and signed a multiyear deal with Netflix.