When a podcast hosted by Kylie Kelce, a 32-year-old field hockey coach, dethroned The Joe Rogan Experience as the most listened to show in the United States this month, reactions were strong.
Published at 7:00 a.m.
There was ire and denial, particularly among Mr. Rogan’s most loyal listeners. There was joy and esteem among M’s fansme Kelce and Mr. Rogan’s detractors.
Of course, three of Kylie Kelce’s loved ones are celebrities. There’s her husband Jason Kelce, former center for the Philadelphia Eagles, soon-to-be late-night host at ESPN and one of the most charismatic stars in American sports. They are expecting their fourth daughter in April.
There is also his brother-in-law, Travis Kelce, wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, who is dating Taylor Swift, the biggest pop star in the world. The two brothers host their successful video podcast, New Heightswhose rights Wondery, an Amazon subsidiary, purchased in August for more than $100 million.
But there was also a question: Kylie Kelce? Who is it ?
“And that makes me smile: I don’t want people to know who I am,” said Mme Kelce during a rare interview at his studio in the family home near Philadelphia. In fact, she prefers not to be known.
PHOTO ANJUM NAVEED, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kylie and Jason Kelce were watching the field hockey match between the United States and Argentina women’s teams at the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes during the Paris Olympics in July.
Until now, Kylie Kelce had rather remained in the shadows, appearing only twice in New Heights (its first presence, in 2023, remains the most watched episode). For listeners of his show, Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelcethat’s part of its appeal: in this world where so many people jockey for fame, Mme Kelce had his ear pulled.
To bad average
Its success also reflects the changing tastes of listeners. With few exceptions, the Spotify and Apple charts are dominated by comedy or news shows and talk shows hosted by men.
Mme Kelce mostly talks about “mom stuff,” as she puts it, but often spiced with salacious swearing. She also talks about women in sport, as fans, athletes and athletes’ wives.
“It reaches a very wide audience,” notes Michaela Hammond, president and co-founder of OffBall, producer of sports and cultural content. “People who are interested in sport, but on a more conversational level, to be able to talk about it around the coffee machine. »
In an interview, his first since his first podcast on December 5, Mme Kelce attributed her success to her frankness: like saying – which caused a stir – that her husband doesn’t take care of the kids if she’s busy (she calls a babysitter). “Maybe it’s a promise that you won’t be lied to,” she said.
Mme Kelce is not the first to surpass Mr. Rogan on the list. New Heights reached #1 on Spotify in January, but only lasted two days and didn’t make headlines like M’s showme Kelce.
Two weeks after its launch, Not Gonna Lie was still, at the time this article was published, number 1 on Apple Podcasts. His show topped Spotify for ten days, and is still in the top spot. top 5 Today.
In addition to their propensity to be direct and to swear on the air, Mme Kelce and Mr. Rogan don’t have much in common. Episodes of Mme Kelce do not exceed 45 minutes, to respect, she says, “the schedule and priorities of busy women”. At Mr. Rogan’s, we talk for two or three hours, sometimes more; New Heights lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.
Talking about Joe Rogan doesn’t interest him at all. She avoids naming him. “I don’t care about the winners at all,” she said after arriving at the photo shoot munching on a piece of bagel.
But Joe Rogan’s fans, so upset that she beat him to it, even momentarily? Or the sports radio hosts who made fun of her or doubted her viewing figures? She seems to revel in their annoyance: “It stimulates me. »
SCREENSHOT OF JOE ROGAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Joe Rogan
“I’m focused on putting out content that people enjoy consuming,” she says, sitting on a couch stained with her children’s scribbles. “If it means we stay [au sommet] a week is good. If it means we stay longer, that’s cool. But I don’t need to fuel the conflicts it creates. »
Overall, Mr. Rogan still has a much greater reach. Spotify’s ranking, for example, is determined by a combination of recent unique listeners and total followers. However, Mr. Rogan has 16.3 million subscribers. Mme Kelce and a 172 000.
25 million listeners in the first week
However, during its first week, Not Gonna Lie has accumulated 25 million audio downloads and views, according to Wave Sports+Entertainment, the show’s producer, making it Wave’s most successful launch.
Wave is also behind the launch of podcast shows by basketball players Carmelo Anthony and Paul George, as well as New Heights.
M’s showme Kelce, for her part, is not driven by the popularity of a sport, underlines Tunde St. Matthew-Daniel, vice-president of original content at Wave. It is carried by what the host gives off and the fact that the audience recognizes themselves in her.
Which in itself is not obvious. After all, Mme Kelce is the kind of woman who’s been a guest of honor at Milan Fashion Week and WrestleMania (two events, however, that she said, “I had no business there.”).
Almost everything she says instantly goes viral on social media, especially if it has a connection – real or imagined – to her brother-in-law’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
(Mme Kelce says she started her podcast in part because she wanted a space to “set the record straight” about her family when it’s needed.)
PHOTO MARK J. REBILAS, USA TODAY ARCHIVES, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
Taylor Swift (second from left) and Kylie Kelce (right), during a playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in January 2024
But she has traits that we can identify with and that make her approachable: her house is messy, which she totally accepts; she dresses without pretension; she coaches a sports team at the public high school she attended; she plans for her daughters to also go to public school.
I start from the principle that our life [de célébrités] will not always be like today and I don’t want my daughters to come to think, in a twisted way, that this is normal.
Kylie Kelce
If her life had been normal, she would have been able, during the elections, to openly express her political opinions, which, she says, are decidedly left-wing.
Instead, on social media, some assumed her family was “MAGA,” others assumed she thought like Taylor Swift and supported Kamala Harris. One day, a procession of honking vehicles with Trump flags and signs “slowly drove past [sa] house,” says Mme Kelce. “In my opinion, it was a way of telling us: ‘We know where you live.’ »
(The Kelce do not live in a closed neighborhood. According to a relative of Mme Kelce, it’s not uncommon for drivers to idle by to take a look or for fans of her husband’s Eagles team to yell Go, Birds ! passing in front of the house.)
When asked if politicians would be welcome to Not Gonna Lie – as they were at The Joe Rogan Experience in October –, Mme Kelce didn’t hesitate.
“I would happily speak with Michelle Obama,” she said. I know she doesn’t want to run, but I would love for her to. »
She would also like to receive the governor of Pennsylvania, Democrat Josh Shapiro, whom she says she admires for his initiative to provide students with tampons and sanitary napkins free of charge in school toilets.
Mme Kelce knows that revealing her Democratic political views could cause a stir among her audience and the internet at large, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
“I say it in the most respectful way possible,” she said. And if we take her to task, she “doesn’t care what others say”.
This article was published in the New York Times.
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