Several of the most popular podcasts today (Las Culturistas, SmartLess, Why Won’t You Date Me?) feature your favorite celebrities as guests casually sharing personal anecdotes while dropping major career announcements.
Recently, Taylor Swift made an appearance on the podcast New Heights, co-hosted by her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason (both of whom are football royalty), to announce her 12th album The Life of a Showgirl. Clips from the podcast see the pop star blushing over her boyfriend flirting with her, as well as Jason seemingly shocked at Swift’s album announcement. “T.S. 12, baby!” Travis shouts out over his brother’s screaming.
There is nothing formal about Swift announcing her new album on her boyfriend’s podcast, but that is exactly why her album announcement works (and also, I mean, it’s Taylor Swift). Singers, actors, and personalities no longer need to hold tightly scripted press conferences or rely on sometimes awkward late-night talk shows to break the news.
What’s more, as fans, we crave more moments of seeing our idols being (or pretending to be) casual and human, just like us. There’s a reason why celebrity-centric podcasts like Call Her Daddy, hosted by professional podcaster girlboss Alex Cooper, do so well (it was ranked the second most popular podcast in the world in 2024). Cooper has almost single-handledly wheedled out some of the most revealing, tell-all interviews from this generation’s biggest stars, so much so that Vulture once ran the headline, “The Anatomy of an Alex Cooper Interview.” From coaxing Hailey Bieber into talking about her and husband Justin Bieber’s favorite sex positions to getting Zayn Malik comfortable in the spotlight after vehemently avoiding it for six years, Cooper has turned podcasts into the new celebrity confessional booth.
We have to remember that these podcast appearances are most likely well-timed to help promote a singer’s new album or an actor’s latest movie. These podcasts fall under something called the New Media Circuit, a route of maddening, sometimes nonsensical public appearances on YouTube videos, lookalike contests, and, you guessed it, podcasts that publicists must plan out well in advance in order to spread awareness about their celebrity clients’ latest ventures. Gone are the days of traditional PR. “Publicity used to be so straightforward,” wrote podcast critic Nicholas Quah for Vulture. “Now, for stars and their teams, no one’s sure what works.”
Twenty years ago, the word “podcast” had just been coined, and the world was still trying to figure out how these strange, not-quite-radio-but-also-not-quite-blog audio clips fit into the wider scheme of storytelling. But now, it’s one of the most widespread forms of media, and the format has gradually become synonymous with casual celebrity interviews and unedited, subtly PR-driven yapping.
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