[imagesource:spotify]

A well-placed source has said that while everyone else might be shocked to hear the news of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry being axed by Spotify, the Duchess’ rebranding has been in the works “for weeks”.

The source, from the Hollywood talent agency WME, with whom Markle recently signed, said that the team knew the Spotify announcement was imminent and so they’ve been preparing for a major gear shift.

The source said that the agency’s chief of talent, Ari Emanuel, is really good at making deals and is excited to be representing Meghan, having “thrown all his energy into it” and assuring that “offers have been pouring in, including from other podcast platforms”, per Stuff.

This is following on from the fall-through of the Duke and Duchess’ £15,5 million podcast deal with Spotify, and subsequent labelling as “f…ing grifters” by one of the streaming giant’s executives.

Nonetheless, WME is full of confidence as Meghan shifts from the Duchess of Sussex with a failed podcast to the ‘Duchess of Dior’, becoming one of the new faces of the luxury French fashion house:

According to the Daily Mail, the deal is designed to rebrand Markle’s image which, alongside her husband’s, suffered a major fall in popularity following the couple’s Netflix documentary and the release of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.

A prominent Los Angeles socialite told the British outlet, “there have been rumours for weeks that she’s about to sign a deal with Dior which has put the gossip mill into overdrive”.

“If she pulls that off, then no one will remember that her silly little podcast got cancelled after one season,” the insider said.

If all goes well, Meghan will be joining the likes of Rihanna as Dior’s new go-to for campaigns, along with other famous actors/ ambassadors like Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, and Natalie Portman. Meghan is not the only controversial character that Dior is backing though, as the fashion house signed a million-dollar fragrance deal with Johnny Depp in mid-May.

Prince Harry and Meghan announced on Friday that they have ‘mutually’ split from Spotify, tearing up their contract to produce podcasts for the streamer, per Metro. The couple had produced a single season of their podcast, Archetypes, that launched in August 2022 under their Archewell Audio podcast wing.

Spotify also apparently stressed that dropping the Archetypes podcast had nothing to do with it laying off 200 workers in its podcast division earlier this month. A few days later, Spotify’s senior podcasting executive Bill Simmons tore into the royal couple on his own podcast:

“The f…… grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” Simmons said.

“I’ve got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories. The grifters.”

He added in the rant about the Duke on The Bill Simmons Podcast: “What does he do? What’s your talent? Why are we listening to you? So you were born into the Royal family and then you left. What are you good at?”

Simmons, who founded sports/pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer, has also previously reportedly said he is “so embarrassed” that he has to “share Spotify with him”.

In early June, an inside source told The Sun the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had “nothing left to say” and would no longer be producing new books and films.

Being the face of Dior might give the Sussexes some much-needed fresh paint.

Considering how the luxury brand had a close relationship with Princess Diana, with the iconic ‘Lady Dior’ bag named after her in 1996, this rebranding is on point.

[sources:metro&stuff]