Like legions of men before them, Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are joining forces for a podcast. Years after Obama met Springsteen on the 2008 campaign trail — and included his music on many a playlist — the two have launched the eight-episode series Renegades: Born in the U.S.A. on Spotify. The second offering from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground studio, Renegades will focus on “intimate conversations on topics of race, fatherhood, marriage and their own personal and professional journeys,” according to a release. More specifically, as President Obama explains at the outset of the first episode, the show focuses on finding “a more unifying American story.” “In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much,” Obama says in the episode. “Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.” Listen to the first two episodes on Spotify now, or just enjoy this photo of Obama and Springsteen kicking back like the old friends they are.
The news comes as part of Spotify’s larger Stream On event, which also features a few other podcast announcements. Higher Ground will also be producing Misha Euceph’s podcast on the Muslim experience, Tell Them, I Am. Director Ava DuVernay, meanwhile, is set to enter podcasting with the LEAP Files, or Law Enforcement Accountability Project, focusing on police brutality. Spotify also announced a partnership with Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo and their studio AGBO, while giving an update on an ongoing partnership with Warner Bros. and D.C. Comics. That partnership will include Dark Knight Rises writer David S. Goyer’s podcast Batman Unburied. “We’re going to be doing a deep dive into Batman’s unconscious mind, into his dream state,” Goyer said in a video. D.C. Comics chief creative officer Jim Lee also teased other podcasts from Spotify’s partnership with Warner Bros. and D.C. that could focus on Catwoman and Kitana, Superman and Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, the Riddler, and Batgirl.
