When thinking of vacation essentials, I make sure to include sunscreen, sunglasses, a good book and a list of podcasts to keep myself entertained. With spring break around the corner, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best top-trending podcasts to listen to. Here is a list of four podcasts that will entertain and motivate you during your long road trip or while you’re at the beach.
From the New York Times and Boston’s WBUR, “Modern Love” is about love, loss and redemption and complements the popular New York Times column of the same name. Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, “Modern Love” is poetic, and although the episodes are either full of joy or full of pain, the show uses just the right amount of emotion to hook people interested in love stories. All stories told in the podcast are personal stories about people’s ups and downs, whether they lie in handling challenges about facing addiction or problems with loved ones, every experience shared is pure bliss. With more than 100 episodes available to stream, actors who have been featured on the show include Jake Gyllenhaal, Angela Bassett and Emmy Rossum, who all share the columns in their own voices. “Modern Love” takes storytelling to a whole new level with its beauty and heartwarming content, and most of the time, it will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions.
Some of us aren’t good with communication and perhaps have a long-distance best friend whom we don’t talk to often. “Call Your Girlfriend” is like talking to that best friend in person. The entire premise of this show is to make listeners feel as if they’re near their pals. It’s, overall, a podcast for “long-distance besties everywhere” but also more. The show is hosted by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman and is a conversation between two friends who discuss politics, pop culture and everything in between. From discussions about Hillary Clinton or Hollywood cheapskates, “Call Your Girlfriend” is like having a conversation with your best friend, and after a few glasses of wine, both hosts get real. Listening to the show should be part of your daily routine, and if you can’t decide what episode to listen to first, episode 111 is titled “Hillary” and features an interview with Hillary Clinton about the friends who helped her deal with the aftermath of her 2016 defeat in the presidential election.
Co-hosts Charles Bryant and Josh Clark are here to serve as your educators – sort of. Created to educate the public about how things work, “Stuff You Should Know” tackles questions that aren’t your typical podcast topics. The co-hosts dive deep into each episode’s topics, talking about things like what an invasive species is or whether or not zombies exist. The show’s delivery is another one of its strong points that instantly hooks listeners, and while many co-hosts go back and forth about things that aren’t related to the podcast, Bryant and Clark get straight to the point. The two are great teachers and condense information into a simple form. You’ll finish each episode amazed or spooked, but either way, it will leave you wanting more. Some great episodes to listen to are “How Impeachment Works,” “How the Flu Works” and “How Restaurant Health Inspections Work.”
Ezra Klein is here to give you the rundown on the latest information surrounding news-makers and the leading figures in politics, technology and business. Although its episodes are lengthy, ranging from an hour to an hour to a half, “The Ezra Klein Show” is stimulating and will inform you about working in evolving industries like Silicon Valley and often probes to reveal how the decisions made by lawmakers on the Hill affect us. Klein is one of the best interviewers in the podcast industry right now and engages his guests by getting more dialogue out of them and making each episode sound organic. The host also focuses on global issues and international relations, providing deep analysis and bringing in an interesting mix of technologists, politicians and entrepreneurs. Personal favorites on the show are “How Democracies Die,” “What life is like in North Korea” and “How the Republican Party created Donald Trump.”
