This week’s best podcasts – including hard truths, real-life chats, and unpicking romantic relationships

Our top podcast picks this week don’t really have much in common – apart from serving a specific purpose.

Whether you love learning about historical figures, the art of love, or just listening to black women talk amongst themselves, there’s something for everyone…

Podcast of the week

1. Closet Confessions

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: Personal stories

It’s rare to hear people holding themselves accountable in public, but that’s what co-hosts journalist and author Candice Brathwaite and actress and online personality Coco Sarel did in the latest episode of Closet Confessions, where they talk about an unnamed A-list celebrity in Hollywood who reached out to Brathwaite about a previous episode they had recorded.

Based off the lessons learnt, they talk about the importance of protecting Black women, the things influencers need to consider in this economy, and why it’s become almost imperative to diversify your income.

Each episode welcomes listeners into Brathwaite’s closet – which they’ve defined as a safe space (“What’s said in the closet, stays in the closet”) – where the pair share their unfiltered confessions, filled with incoherent laughs and introspection.

Since launching, listeners (known as “cousins”) are now in on the jokes and submit their own confessions and dilemmas for Brathwaite and Sarel to weigh in on. It’s not always what you’d like to hear, but hard truths is the glue that makes this podcast so real and refreshing.

In this episode, a “cousin” shares about her deep love for acting and asks if she should pursue another career. The ladies talk to her about the art of pivoting and knowing when it’s time to walk away from what no longer serves you.

2. How I Built This

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: Careers and business

But host Guy Raz does a great job at asking the right questions to uncover some of the most intimate moments that come with business ownership, and this week it’s with Priority Bicycles founder Dave Weiner.

3. Black Gals Livin’

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: Society

Who wants that Will and Jada type of love? It’s what hosts Vic and Jas of Black Gals Livin’ explore in their latest episode, alongside what it’s like being on the receiving end of trolls – Vic recently got engaged – and if we will ever know the truth about the recent Lori Harvey and Damson Idris break-up.

Each episode is another chance to hear two black British women talk about how they are navigating their day-to-day lives and standing by the decisions they make, whilst engaging in pop culture.

4. Love Letters

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: Relationships

If you love to hear stories and learn lessons about relationships, then The Boston Globe’s Love Letters podcast is for you.

In the latest episode, host and columnist Meredith Goldstein – who shares titbits about her own love life and deep-dives into the relationships of guests and listeners, who write her letters – speaks to comedians Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds, co-hosts of the popular new podcast We’re Here To Help, about their friendship, advice-giving, baldness, and who they go to for help.

Spotlight on…

5. Legacy

Streaming platform: Amazon Music, Wondery+ (ad free) and all other streaming platforms

Genre: History and culture

Writer, broadcaster and journalist Afua Hirsch and author and historian Peter Frankopan’s new Wondery podcast Legacy, launched on November 15.

The series puts a spotlight over some of the most notable men and women from the past, and looks into their lives from a contemporary point of view.

From Picasso and Nina Simone, to Cecil Rhodes and Napoleon Bonaparte – the focus of the first episode – Hirsch and Frankopan ask the question: do they have the reputation that they deserve?