The Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast is already a hit, and only one episode has been released. In the first 24 hours of the release of Episode 1, Archetypes made it to the #1 position on the US Spotify charts, dethroning Joe Rogan. Archetypes is already #1 in Canada and (gulp) the UK too. Beyond the simple success of “people are listening to this,” it should be noted that Spotify needs the Sussexes’ magic and progressive energy. Spotify has been widely derided for platforming Joe Rogan’s anti-vaxx bullsh-t, and the Sussexes significantly help Spotify, branding-wise. It’s gravy for Spotify that the pod is already a hit.

Of course, it also helps that Salt Island has given Archetypes millions of dollars in free promotion. The sheer number of salty bitches hate-listening to Archetypes is simply staggering. And it will keep going, of course. There are eleven more episodes of Archetypes. Each episode will garner 20 Daily Mail stories alone. But to hear the salty bitches talk about Archetypes, you would think that someone was holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to listen to Meg.

Meghan Markle’s new Spotify podcast has been slammed by critics who said it was ‘almost entirely preposterous’ and ‘just another way she can talk about herself’.

Celia Walden in the Telegraph said it was ‘an interview with this inspirational sporting figure in name only’, and that Meghan was ‘interviewing herself’. She also said the Duchess was the sort of person ‘who hijacks every distressing anecdote with one of their own – only theirs is longer drawn-out, more distressing’.

The Spectator’s columnist Steerpike said it was ‘hard to believe that it took 28 people, including eight executive producers, to make the episode – plus Meghan’.

The review added that tennis enthusiasts who listen to the podcast to hear from Williams ‘might be a bit disappointed’ because it ‘is in fact all about Meghan’.

And James Marriott in The Times described it as a ‘tastefully soundtracked parade of banalities, absurdities and self-aggrandising Californian platitudes’. His one-star review said the podcast will ‘make you feel you’ve been locked in the relaxation room of a wellness spa with an unusually self-involved yoga instructor’.

But in The Independent, Clémence Michallon told how the podcast made it clear that Meghan ‘made the right decision when she cut and ran’ from the Royal Family. She said the story about how Meghan had to carry on with her duties after her son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his room must have been ‘uniquely infuriating’.

[From The Daily Mail]

The turnoff, for me, is the glee with which the British commentators jump on anything and everything she does. As Omid Scobie noted in his Yahoo UK column this week, these dumbasses are going to end up proving Meghan’s point without realizing it. So, it’s the lack of self-awareness from the salty bitches, as well as the hatefulness.

For years now, I’ve said the same thing: Meghan is not perfect, and there are a few minor criticisms or quibbles one could make, but the amount of vitriol, racism, anti-Americanism, misogyny and sheer hatefulness makes it impossible to make even a minor good-faith criticism. Like, I think Meghan could use more editing on her pod. I think a good ten minutes (maybe more) could have been shaved off the first episode. That’s it. That’s my big criticism. But I’ll still listen to Archetypes, and I’ll still enjoy it, as will millions of other people.

PS… As I’m writing this, I just realized that Meghan literally did zero media to promote the pod this week. LMAO. Imagine if she… did one interview for promotion. Salty heads would explode.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Backgrid and Spotify.