There’s never a bad time to come across a promising new podcast, whether you’re gearing up for a long drive or just need company while you clean your apartment. (Note to self: clean apartment.) Luckily, 2023 is overflowing with additions to the genre, whether it’s all-new shows or updated seasons of our old and trusted favorites. Below, find a guide to Vogue editors’ favorite podcasts of the year:
This isn’t a new series—you hardly need us to advertise the once groundbreaking, still innovative audio experience that is Radiolab—but this two-part series, a collaboration with NPR’s Rough Translation, breaks the mold for the show. It hews closer to current events than the usual fare, tracing the ad hoc and almost guerrilla efforts to get abortion pills into Ukraine following the Russian invasion last year, in part to address the sexual violence that was perpetrated as part of that attack. What begins as a complex operation with a seemingly straightforward mission becomes a more wide-ranging and heartbreaking reflection on the consequences of war. Chilling, thrilling listening. — Chloe Schama
It’s probably the understatement of the year to say that the Serial team knows how to craft an investigative podcast, but they’ve definitively recaptured their 2014-era mojo with this series, in which New York Times reporter Kim Barker travels back to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming to dig into the 1985 murder of a young woman named Shelli Wiley. Barker relates the story of Wiley’s death–which gained new relevance in 2021 when the person arrested for her murder, a former Laramie police officer, had the charges against him dropped–in a way that’s gripping without leaning into sensationalized, exploitative territory. (Note: this podcast is best started at the beginning of a long drive, when you have time to get through all of it in one sitting.) — Emma Specter
I’m a sucker for Hollywood-centric podcasts, whether they deal in old-school history (see: You Must Remember This) or more modern industry gossip (Who Weekly, I love you!). Thus, I’m probably the target audience for The Town, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt, but Puck founding partner Matthew Belloni has an uncanny knack for using his reporting background to take apart the biggest stories coming out of Hollywood–from the race for streaming-service domination to the viability of the franchise model–in a way that actually makes me feel like I vaguely understand the TV and film industry. (This year’s exploration of the Disney vs. Ron DeSantis debacle is particularly helpful in making sense of the upcoming 2024 election.) — E.S.
Karina Longworth is one of the O.G. podcasting heroes, transforming her seemingly esoteric obsessions into deeply nuanced and impressively researched cultural investigations on You Must Remember This. This year she follows up her 12-episode Erotic 80s multi-part chapter with a series that is almost twice as long—21 installments. A prologue focuses on the effect of the NC-17 rating—on adult films and more mainstream ones, and on feminism more broadly. It’s just one example of her skill at turning this kind of oft-forgotten moment into a cultural touchstone. — C.S.
On the eve of her own seventh wedding anniversary, Author and journalist Jo Piazza dives into the prickly, lesser-explored topic of female infidelity, with rich, juicy episode titles like “is everyone having an affair these days?” and “can one partner give you everything?” Counterintuitive though it may seem, Piazza recommends listening with your partner—it just might spark some very interesting conversations. It’s like Three Women turned into a conversion. — Michelle Ruiz
Celebrity memoirs have reached saturation point and now regularly dominate the bestseller list, and I continue to be sucked into a great many of them, particularly on Audible. For practically every starry title, there’s also an episode of this podcast from comedians and BFFs Steven Phillips-Horst and Lily Marotta to digest and dissect its confessions. This year, they took on the ur celebrity book: Almost as dishy and wild as inhaling Prince Harry’s Spare was listening to CBC’s hysterical two-part recap, complete with awesomely bad British accents. — M.R.
Technology columnist Kevin Roose’s first podcast for The New York Times, Rabbit Hole, was an engrossing, dystopian ride: an examination of how YouTube’s insidious recommendation algorithm can make addicts and conspiracy theorists out of seemingly anyone. His new weekly New York Times series Hard Fork with journalist Casey Newton, offers a brighter, chattier, more optimistic take on the latest doings in tech. But it hits hard too—Roose and Casey are unsparing on the foibles of Elon Musk at Twitter, the downfall of crypto, and they carefully picked apart the debacle of Sydney, Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot that memorably tried to break up Roose’s marriage during an hours long chat session (an encounter that went viral when Roose wrote about it in the Times). I listen to Hard Fork every week and come away informed, amused, and a bit unsettled by the future we’re barreling toward. —Taylor Antrim
Forgive us for casting a little admiration toward our colleagues, but Vogue’s podcast, hosted by Chioma Nnadi and Chloe Malle, has become essential listening for anyone who wants a cheery, conversational explainer on the events of the day—especially those that that touch upon the world of fashion. If you need someone to explain just why everyone was reading (and caring so deeply) about the Kerby-Jean Raymond profile in New York or what the Balenciaga controversy was all about or just what it is that a stylist actually does, this is the place for you. If goings-on within the office used to be the stuff of lore (or fictionalized box office films), now you can get them in your ear, every week. — C.S.
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