Get ready to hear – and see – more from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2021 after the couple confirmed Tuesday they have agreed a new deal with Spotify to produce original audio programming that will help “heal the world.”
The news comes almost a year to the day after the pair fled the U.K. to escape media scrutiny and embrace a simpler, more humble life in their $14.65-million gated Los Angeles estate.
Variety reports their new Archewell Audio production company will create exclusive content for Spotify. Podcasts hosted and produced by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex themselves will feature heavily — with the goal to “build community through shared experience, narratives and values.”
The agreement will bookend another deal Prince Harry and Markle signed with Netflix in September for exclusive TV and film projects, as Breitbart News reported.
“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,” Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer, said in announcing the partnership.
“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.”
Like all podcasts on Spotify, including those exclusive to the platform, the Archewell Audio programming will be available for free with ads as well as to Spotify Premium subscribers with no ads.
Variety reports Archewell Audio’s first podcast series for Spotify is expected to premiere in 2021.
Before then, the companies will release a holiday special featuring “stories of hope and compassion” in celebration of the new year.
“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.”
Earlier this month Prince Harry said his world view has changed since parenthood, urging humans to care more and be “like raindrops” which “relieve the parched ground” to tackle climate change.
Harry spoke of the importance of “putting the dos behind the says” when it comes to tackling climate change and conservation, before imploring everyone on the planet to examine their souls, musing:
Every single raindrop that falls from the sky relieves the parched ground. What if every single one of us was a raindrop, and if every single one of us cared?
Harry also reflected on the “universally tough year” everyone has experienced during the coronavirus epidemic, adding he has found comfort in nature, which he believes is the “most healing part of life.”