Mavis Staples and Yola will appear on the inaugural episode of Duet, a new podcast from Spotify. Set to debut on Thursday (1/18), Duet pairs musicians and entertainers to discuss tracks that are meaningful to them in relation to a common theme.
Duet will be a part of Spotify’s “Music + Talk” collection as the streaming giant ramps up its production of original podcasts. The theme for the first episode, featuring Staples and Yola, will be songs for difficult times. In the next episode, Big Mouth co-stars Nick Kroll and Ayo Edebiri will discuss songs to calm an anxious mind.
“The Duet team and I wanted to explore music’s unique ability to tether you to a time and place, and to connect you to the people in your life,” Boll said in a statement.
In a preview for the podcast, Staples can be heard telling Yola, “You know, the song just let me know to keep my radio on, because some song is gonna come through that lifts me up and makes me feel better.”
Yola responds emphatically, “That’s what music does. It lifts things out of you and goes ‘this is what’s happening, look at it!'”
Listen to a preview of the Duet podcast below and stream the first episode on Thursday.
Introducing Duet
Future episodes will host Big Freedia and Shangela (RuPaul’s Drag Race) as they examine songs from pivotal moments, in addition to John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats) and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers, Fun) who will explore songs that exercise pain. New episodes of Duet will appear on Spotify each Thursday and are hosted by Matthew Boll.
[H/T Rolling Stone]