The Best New Podcasts to Listen to in 2022

If you watched WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn on Hulu and are looking for more details on the real estate company and its dramatic ins and outs, we suggest “WeCrashed,” an Apple Original series starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway and hosted by NPR Marketplace’s David Brown.

Former Vibe editor in chief Danyel Smith’s excellent music and talk show is back, telling the stories of Black women artists while playing the songs that shaped them. For season two, Smith will examine Beyoncé’s best work, do a deep dive into Aaliyah’s legacy, “and there will be a lot of Rihanna talk,” she promises.

Although this podcast was first released in 2019, the trial against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is still ongoing—in fact, lawyers made their closing statements just eight days ago. The best of this podcast has yet to be released; what will surely be a thrilling outcome arrives in the New Year.

What do Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, and Rosalía have in common (besides massive superstardom)? They’ve all worked with the vocal coach Eric Vetro. Now, Vetro is the host of his very own podcast in which he invites these musical artists and more to discuss their processes and views on the industry. The intimate interviews are windows into the minds of some of the biggest pop stars today, and well worth a listen (we suggest the Juanes episode).

There are countless movies, television shows, documentaries, books, and magazine articles that go inside the life of Princess Diana, feeding a constant machine of obsession with the late Princess of Wales. But “When Diana Met...” a new podcast released late 2021 with host Aminatou Sow, presents a particularly intriguing way in to understanding Princess Di’s life: through the public figures and notable celebrities she met during her time as a Royal.

We don’t have many details on the writer Roxane Gay’s upcoming new podcast, but if it’s anything like her current show, “Hear to Slay,” we will absolutely be tuning in. This new series from the New York Times best-selling author, professor, and social commentator, will be released in early 2022 on Apple Podcast’s Luminary channel.

Here’s one for the true crime heads: a young Canadian woman who was adopted as a child goes on a journey to find her birth parents—and in the process, learns that a woman who has been missing for over a decade is her mother. The new season of this series will be hosted by investigative journalist Habiba Nosheen—the reporter the Canadian young woman enlists to help her uncover the truth of what really happened to her mother, Nuseiba Hasan.

Cole Cuchna’s soothing voice returns in 2022 for part two of “Dissect,” season nine. In upcoming episodes, Cuchna will take apart the other half of Mac Miller’s sixth and final studio album, Circles. (That means you still have time to catch up on the first part of the season, in which the host does a deep analysis on Swimming).

Former Grantland journalist and Twitter enthusiast Alex Pappademas will host a new podcast from Higher Ground and Spotify called “The Big Hit Show” in 2022. Each five-episode chapter of the documentary series unpacks the birth and impact of new classics in film, music, writing, and television through interviews with the visionaries who created them—and the fans responsible for their legacy.

Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist who served as a senior advisor to President Barack Obama—and is now the host and executive producer of her new podcast, “A Slight Change of Plans.” In 2022, the show will feature intimate interviews with Kacey Musgraves, Tiffany Haddish, Riz Ahmed, and more.