'Meaningful conversations': Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen team up for Spotify podcast

Former US president Barack Obama and American rockstar Bruce Springsteen Monday launched a podcast series on Spotify titled Renegades: Born in the USA wherein the longtime friend duo discussed critical topics related to marriage, race, fatherhood, and the state of America. Comprising of a total of 8 episodes, 2 of which went LIVE on February 22, the podcast is produced by Michelle Obama and Barack Obama’s jointly owned production company, Higher Ground. In the first widely anticipated episode of his podcast, the 44th president of the US talked about the ‘unifying American story’ and ‘shared sensibilities, a topic that he described immensely dominated with his wife Michelle, with daughters and with friends, which happens to be Bruce Springsteen.

“How did we get here? On the surface, Bruce and I don’t have a lot in common. But over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility,” Obama said in his episode’s live stream. 

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Two friends' 'parallel journeys'

Speaking about Obama’s and Springsteen’s "deep friendship," Spotify released a statement, saying that the podcast features the former president and ‘The Boss’ “who have been friends for over a decade in deep and revealing conversation.” The Higher Ground’s hub on Spotify shared the link of the first two episodes, titled Outsiders: An Unlikely Friendship and American Skin: Race in the United States, both of which are now available for paid users and for free on Spotify.  “In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. 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,” former President Obama can be heard saying in the live streaming of episode 1. 

Spotify also released a video announcement on its platform about the launch featuring an extraordinary bond between the two prominent figures, who happen to have met on Obama’s campaign trail in 2008. In the intro, Obama notes that he and Springsteen have been "trying to chronicle the stories of people, and to connect individuals searching for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America."

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