Taylor Swift 'rejected Meghan Markle's request to appear on podcast'

Pop star Taylor Swift rejected Meghan Markle's request to appear on her Spotify podcast Archetypes, reports say.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Duchess of Sussex personally reached out to the Blank Space singer, even writing a letter that contained her request.

However, the 33 year-old pop sensation declined the request through a representative for the podcast, which has since been canned by the audio giant.

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The paper alleges the podcast's production faced problems, mainly surrounding securing the right guests, as well as Meghan asking for late changes.

Archewell employees claimed that the company often lacked direction, with Harry and Meghan "at times seem surprised by the work required to finish entertainment projects."

"Most potential initiatives, they said, follow a similar route: Big idea, subpar execution." one claimed.

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Earlier this month, the podcast was axed after just 12 episodes.

Featuring celebrity guests such as Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, Candice Bushnell and Andy Cohen, the podcast aimed to disrupt female stereotypes.

The podcast was even honoured at the People's Choice Awards in 2022, with Meghan saying in a statement at the time: "I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative. And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them, and with each of you listening."

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However, the podcast has recently been marred by resurfaced rumours that the Duchess "faked" the interviews.

The New York Post alleged that several interviews with guests were conducted by producers, with the Duchess of Sussex's voice being substituted in at a later stage.

The root of this issue comes from an Instagram post by writer Allison Yarrow, who featured on the episode "To 'B' or Not To 'B'", which discussed the use of the word "difficult" being used to describe some women, in August 2022.

Yarrow shared a photo posing in front of a sign at Gimlet Media where Archetypes was being produced.

She wrote: "Cheers to producer @farrahsafari (an excellent interviewer) and the folks at @Gimlet @spotify who get it done!"

The claims come as Spotify executives axed the podcast last week after reportedly "underperforming."

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Spotify's chief executive Danny Ek spoke about the audio streamer's $1bn spending spree in 2019, agreeing they had been "overpaying and overinvesting."

"We're going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals," he told financial analysts.

"And the ones that aren't performing, obviously, we won't renew.

"And the ones that are performing, we will obviously look at those on a case-by-case basis on the relative value."

Among those, along with the Sussex's' Archewell Audio deal, was Barack and Michelle Obama's podcast deal with the company.