It took two days for “Archetypes” to top the podcast leaderboards in the US, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and even the UK. Guests like Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton came. Nevertheless, it’s over now. Spotify is canceling the joint project, there will be no second season on the streaming portal. This was announced by Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry (38) on Thursday evening in a joint statement. It is said that they have separated amicably.

“Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” the couple’s production company quoted People magazine as saying. A multi-year partnership was originally planned. Together they wanted, it was announced in 2020, “to build a community through shared experiences, stories and values”.

“Archetypes” was well received by listeners, even winning a People’s Choice Award in 2022. It is not known why the podcast has now been discontinued. At the beginning of June, however, Spotify announced that it wanted to realign its podcast strategy. It was announced that around 200 employees would leave the company as a result. Does “Archetypes” no longer fit into the new concept? Or did the podcast not live up to expectations. Because after a high at the start of the podcast, the format in the charts had crashed at times.

“The team behind ‘Archetypes’ continues to be proud of the podcast they have created at Spotify,” a representative from WME, the artist agency Duchess Meghan signed with earlier this year, told The Wall Street Journal. The “Archetypes” project is probably not finished with the farewell to Spotify. As he revealed, Meghan is developing more content for the ‘Archetypes’ audience – “on a different platform”.

Meghan gave a first indication that “Archetypes” on Spotify could be a discontinued model in the last episode of the podcast, which was released in November 2022. Even then she said that other ways of continuing the conversation were being worked on, but at the same time she thanked the audience, which already seemed like a farewell. “Thank you for listening and studying with me,” she said. “It was liberating and healing, and it was fun.”

Quelle: People, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, mit Material von Spoton