Three New Ear-Worthy Podcasts: Music Person: You Vs You: runboyrun

These three new podcasts each occupy a valuable space in our culture and our adaptations to life. Music Person is more than a music review show. The podcast hopes to uncover the heart of nurturing musical creativity and vision.

 

 You vs. You confronts the invisible battles we all face, such as fear, self-doubt, and limiting beliefs, and explores how to transform them. 

runboyrun is a powerful drama about a Nigerian couple haunted by their memories of the Biafran war.  

These three new podcasts expand the thematic scope of their respective genres and offer listeners a more engaging audio experience.

 

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Music Person Podcast debuts on June 18th

 Many musicheads know the meme, “how do you know so-and-so? Oh, we all went to music together.” That’s the spirit from which Music Person arises. Esteemed Los Angeles-based music writer, producer, documentarian, and podcaster Dylan Tupper Rupert has announced Music Person, a new music interview show launching June 18 on the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Likened to the “Fresh Air of indie rock,” listeners will come away from Dylan’s long form conversations feeling more connected to each guest and herself by creating a place of discovery and a respite from the algorithm for curious listeners.

Most interviews will be conducted in-person in LA, but from time to time, she will go on some adventures and do scene reports, a la her popular SXSW scene report that soft-launched this iteration of the show.

Music Person podcast strikes the casual, curious & critical middle ground between NPR and college radio. In a podcast landscape full of chatter, Dylan delves deep with guests to uncover the heart of nurturing creativity and vision. “This is an exhilarating time – there is a gorgeous wind beneath the wings of rock music right now, and I’m not taking that for granted! At the same time, it’s a uniquely complex and challenging moment to be a person trying to live the music life. I think about how David Lynch talked about the art life and how much more rich, encompassing, and true that framing is around what it is that we do. It’s not just the album, the film, the work; it’s the whole life around it. That’s the lens I’m taking to my interviews.” 

She continues, “When Ian Wheeler approached me asking if I’d like to work with Talkhouse, it just seemed so obvious: a unique media company that platforms independent artists is the ideal home for an ongoing project like this.”

"A few months ago after listening to Dylan on a couple of different podcasts, I called her up to see if she had anything she really wanted to make," says Talkhouse president Ian Wheeler. "She unsurprisingly had a million ideas. Dylan's voice and perspective feels perfect for this moment in music and we're ecstatic to have her join Talkhouse Network."

The Music Person podcast will be a safe harbor for those who miss music blogs, a welcoming hangout for reliably interesting people, a window into Dylan Tupper Rupert’s world as a music person... a podcast about music and the people who live it. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays, starting June 18.

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You vs You 

You vs You, a new podcast from NEON16 co-founder and cultural force Lex Borrero, just launched in partnership with My Cultura, iHeartMedia’s podcast network dedicated to elevating Latinx voices and stories. Far from a highlight reel of success stories, You vs You reveals the often-hidden mental and emotional battles faced by even the most accomplished artists and industry leaders. The series invites listeners into honest conversations about fear, impostor syndrome, self-doubt, trauma, and how confronting those battles can lead to true transformation. 

Hosted by Borrero, a first-generation Colombian-American who rose from outsider to industry powerhouse, You vs You blends raw storytelling with emotional clarity, drawing from Borrero’s own journey navigating the U.S. entertainment industry and co-founding the award-winning creative collective NEON16. The weekly podcast will offer a candid, intimate exchange between Borrero and his notable guests, exploring the inner struggle between who we are and who we’re meant to become, rooted in the same personal conflict between self-doubt and self-determination that Borrero has faced himself.

“‘You vs You’ is about confronting the invisible battles we all face, such as fear, self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and learning how to transform them,” says Borrero, host and co-founder of NEON16. “These are the conversations most people aren’t having, but need to. We’re excited to partner with iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Podcast Network to bring these powerful stories to listeners everywhere and help spark personal growth through honest, unfiltered dialogue.”

“We are very excited to welcome ‘You vs You’ to the My Cultura Podcast Network,” said Leo Gomez, Head of My Cultura. “There are very few shows available that talk so open and honestly about mental health from a male Latino perspective, let alone one that produces content for both English and Spanish language listeners. Lex has been a part of the entertainment industry for a long time and has worked with musical powerhouses and pop culture icons – his perspective and experiences are invaluable to our community.”

Named a Billboard Latin Power Player three years in a row and recognized by Fast Company in 2025 as one of the music industry’s most innovative leaders, Borrero has built a career working with some of the world’s biggest artists, including Will Smith, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Justin Bieber, contributing to over 500 million records sold globally. Yet despite these milestones, external success alone didn’t bring lasting fulfillment. The constant demands, pressure to perform, and high expectations led Borrero to reflect more deeply on his purpose. That reflection sparked a personal and spiritual journey that reshaped his definition of success. You vs You is the result — a platform where Borrero explores the emotional and psychological challenges behind ambition and achievement, creating space for real growth, healing, and self-discovery.

Future guests include will.i.am, Ricky Montaner, Lecrae, Joy Taylor, Marko, Oliver Trevena, and more. 

“This show isn’t about success; it’s about the inner work behind it. It’s about what people have had to overcome within themselves to move forward,” says Borrero. “You vs You is where we face our inner critics and begin to rewrite the story.”

 The show’s mission is clear: to equip listeners with the tools, language, and perspective to confront their own inner critics and move forward. 
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runboyrun 

Next Chapter Podcasts, GBH, the Boston Public Library, and The Huntington have announced the release of runboyrun, the powerful drama written by playwright Mfoniso Udofia, which premiered on June 16, 2025. The third play in Boston’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle, runboyrun tells the story of a married couple grappling with the lingering trauma of surviving the Nigerian Civil War. The play was recorded and made available as a podcast in partnership with Boston Public Library, GBH, The Huntington, and Next Chapter Podcasts. 

Jumping between chilly 2012 Worcester, MA, and hot 1968 Biafra, Mfoniso Udofia’s runboyrun asks what happens when a long-ago war continues inside the body of a survivor. Every day, Disciple lives in the echoes of the Biafran War, fracturing his connection to his wife Abasiama. The survival of their 30-year marriage depends on building new vocabularies, breaking traditions built on trauma — and daring, once again, to live moment by moment.

The cast is led by playwright Mfoniso Udofia as the family matriarch, Abasiama Ufot, and acclaimed actor Chiké Johnson as the family patriarch, with persistent ghosts, Disciple Ufot. This production marks the first time Udofia is taking on a role in her own Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle. Johnson’s casting marks his return to the role of Disciple after his previous performance in runboyrun at New York Theatre Workshop. 

The audio drama was recorded in GBH’s state-of-the-art recording space. runboyrun is the third play in the Ufot Family Cycle, a cycle of nine plays about three generations of a Nigerian American family by Massachusetts-raised, visionary playwright Udofia.

runboyrun is the only podcast adaptation in Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle and, as such, has the exciting ability to transcend borders and reach listeners well beyond the Greater Boston audiences that have so far gotten to know the Ufot family through Mfoniso’s extraordinary nine-part story so far. Every installment stands alone, but together they make up a multifaceted tapestry. The Cycle is marked by radical collaboration on an unprecedented scale and scope across Boston. After two years of planning and leadership from The Huntington, all nine of the Ufot Family Cycle plays by Mfoniso Udofia are being produced in their intended order in Greater Boston by 35+ partners over two seasons. 

The Boston Globe has lauded Udofia’s Cycle, saying, “In terms of concept, scope, and execution, Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play cycle about three generations of a Nigerian American family has proven to be one of the most exciting things to happen in Boston theatre in a long time.”

“Mfoniso Udofia’s storytelling genius should be experienced by as many people as possible and in as many mediums as possible,” says Chief Content Officer at Next Chapter Podcasts, Michael Goodfriend. “It’s a privilege for Next Chapter to be working with Mfoniso on runboyrun, building on the fruitful collaboration we shared in the award-winning podcast adaptation of her Othello translation for Play On Shakespeare. Mfoniso challenges us to perceive our reality in new ways and reminds us of what it is to be human, in all our complexity, promise, and fallibility. We are honored to help realize runboyrun as an audio production alongside all of the incredible producing and organizational partners who are helping to bring Mfoniso’s groundbreaking Ufot Family Cycle to life.”