9 podcasts to cure brain rot and reignite your creativity
Words by Alanya Smith
When the world is full of noise that makes you feel overwhelmed, tuning into what you really want to listen to can help you feel calmer and grounded. A great podcast can be your companion to tackling work, chores and commuting without the boredom.
With many of us sharing that we experience brain rot, feelings of creative burnout, low energy and exhaustion, having podcasts by our side can be a crutch to help us get through tough times. They make us laugh, teach us something new and inspire us in methods we never could’ve considered before.
If you need a starting point to motivate you, here are some of Gathered’s favourite podcasts to combat the creative burnout and teach you something in the process.
1. Dish, Cold Glass Productions
In every meal you eat, there’s a story to be told. In the Dish podcast, that story normally comes in the form of a surprising celebrity anecdote over meals handcrafted by Michelin-star chef Angela Hartnett and DJ Nick Grimshaw. This podcast won’t just get you thinking about what your next culinary adventure to tackle for dinner, but also just how exciting cooking can be, even when things don’t turn out as you expect. With each episode featuring a different celebrity arriving for dinner, there’s a host of celebrities to listen to, including Mark Ronson, Cynthia Erivo and Tom Holland.
2. Desert Island Discs, Radio 4
After featuring on the radio as a fan favourite since it first launched in 1942, Desert Island Discs was one of the first podcasts before podcasts boomed into their community today. Each episode, a notable person who has impacted a different part of culture, whether that be politics, religion, art or science, talks through the music that shaped their life and how they got to sit in the interview chair.
Every guest chooses eight tracks to take to a hypothetical desert island, where those records are their only companions, along with one book and one luxury item. With an expansive archive spanning multiple decades, your favourite celebrity will likely have found themselves on the show discussing their trip to the island at one time.
3. ill-advised with Bill Nighy, Eye Pod Studios
If you’ve ever marvelled at any Bill Nighy performance, it’s likely that at some point you wished you were friends with him to try and absorb some of his wisdom. With his latest podcast ill-advised, he’s now become just that: a hybrid agony aunt, best friend and oracle of wisdom. Listeners send in questions and concerns about everything, adding to the stress of their lives, and Bill Nighy talks us through how to resolve them. Has self-help ever sounded so cool, or looked so dapper?
4. Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud, Vox Media
Stop and look at the outfit you’re wearing. Is it comfy? Chic? Stained? How we style ourselves can reveal everything and nothing about our personality and what we’re experiencing in life, as a fashion designer and the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, Bella Freud, campaigns. Join her on her celebrity-filled sofa as she unpacks our relationship with our style, featuring the likes of Cate Blanchett, Nick Cave and Zadie Smith.
5. Newscast, Radio 4
With someone by your side summarising the news of the day in 25-minute slots, keeping up to date with what’s going on has never been so easy. Press play on the commute, while doing some cleaning or taking the kids to school and you’ll learn just the right amount of what’s going on in the world that day.
6. The Rest is History, Goalhanger
History is full of rewrites, multiple truths and silenced voices. On The Rest is History, every episode explores a part of history that may have been overlooked in the past, but makes it accessible and engaging to learn something new every day. It could be explaining conflicts from the past, turning points that got us to where we are today, or even correcting some facts that history may have got wrong.
7. The Great Woman Artists, Katy Hessel
In a digital world, why do we care about art, particularly when we may not see ourselves in the art or the artists? The reality of what the art scene is doesn’t have to be as exclusive or elitist as Katy’s podcast explains. Each episode explores the legacy of a different woman in the creative industries, working to celebrate the diversity of voices who have shaped art and culture throughout history and how their work contributes to our lives today.
8. Screenshot, Radio 4
Fancy yourself a cinephile? Always at the cinema? Can’t stop getting excited every time you see a new film trailer? This is the podcast for you, where film critics Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones tackle the greatest and latest films to hit the big screen, with the perfect blend of information, entertainment and sarcasm to keep you listening.
9. Wanging On with Graham and Maria
Self-titled ‘not experts’ Maria and Graham are the agony aunt, best friend, confidants who answer your questions that you’re too scared to ask your friends. It may be talking about household squabbles, book club bickering or asking, ‘Am I weird?’ – Graham and Maria are on hand to advise you in this new lifestyle podcast.
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