Archetypes

Utter drivel from start to finish. An interview requires you to ask questions and let the guest speak. This was entirely one sided. Mariah Carey being the only one who could get comment in and make me laugh. Accused her being a " Diva" in a friendly fashion whilst Markle took exception. Humour was absent from the episode Markle then added a rambling piece, telling us why she was not a Diva. Many episodes felt disjointed and pasted haphazardly together.

It seemed that every guest was regaled (pun not intended) by Markle and her own experience about each guests culture, with very little input from the guest. The rest is me, me , me and more me. I will not be tuning again.

I'm afraid I found it too hard to listen for more than a couple of minutes at a time. What a farce. I understand many of her guests were not even in the room with her which of course gave her the opportunity to talk about her favourite subject - herself.

The subject matter was, for the most part, not archetypical or even stereotypical - I'm not sure how they applied to the majority of listeners or even to Markle herself. It felt as if she was clutching at straws and her podcasts were, of course, peppered with veiled threats to the British Royal Family which she squeezed in between talking about a Meghan. Terrible.

There is an art in hosting a podcast. It's not having a chat with your.be buddy. It's not having a monologue where you get to vent your views and interrupt the guest. Your job is to make your guest feel comfortable. Encourage them to talk about themselves. An Amateur relates what the guest says to herself and then goes on a diatribe, leaving the poor guest in the dust. The audience came to listen to learn more about the guest. That was the contract. A podcast host is in breach of contract when she uses the podcast as an excuse to give her views.

What's the difference between a podcast and a straight interview? The podcast should have give and take conversation. To put it simply, the host says a little something to elicit a response from the guest and then feeds off of what the guest says. If the conversation gets dry, then the host can initiate a new topic. The host should also channel the guest to talk about what the host believes the audience wants to hear.

Unfortunately Meaghan was not trained to be a podcast host. On her first podcast she went on for 11 minutes and gave a speech. She repeated stories about her childhood such as the dish soap commercial which has already been covered many times and has even proven to be inaccurate. She has not learnt restraint and continues to interrupt her guests which is the exact opposite of what a good podcast host should do. The whole point of the podcast is to create an atmosphere for the guest to express herself freely in a way she might not in formal interviews.

If this podcast has won any awards, it only proves that money can buy anything. It is sad that the public can no longer trust awards given out.

While I really would have liked to hear more from the quests, Markle has an annoying habit of interjecting herself into the conversation. It is less interview or even chatting "with a friend" over a defined topic and more a dissertation on how Markle perceives herself. It's forced, uninteresting and exemplifies why people have said in other reviews, that's its more about Markle, less about quests. Mariah Carey at least got a few words in. I won't tune in again. I have no interest in a podcast with celebrities that don't get to speak while Markle spends so much time on her favorite topic....herself.

I personally found the podcasts pretty outdated in terms of real life issues women face today. The 'barriers' Meghan Markle discusses in the podcasts have been discussed on so many other occasions and sprinkling some 'celebrity discussion ' into the mix doesn't add much to the wider discussion in my opinion.

Its perhaps harsh to say some of the points are irrelevant, but it could have reached much further into current issues for women in the workplace, looking at lower pay rates and promotion to higher levels of responsibility. Certainly in the UK there's plenty of evidence to support these discussions. Evidencing the barriers with facts and data rather than anecdotal stories adds more weight to the argument.

In addition I struggle with Meghan Markle as a presenter of this series. She has used this platform and others to forward her own agenda and whether her allegations are true or false they affect her credibility as a presenter which is another issue in my view.

As a Spotify customer i hope they can find more credible input to pay for in the future.