Downloaded Podcasts Play When App is Closed

[Maggieebrownies]

I'm on a Galaxy S8, running Oreo. 

I download podcasts regularly, and didn't have issues until about two months back. Since then, my podcast will keep playing despite me pausing it and then closing Spotify. It used to run through all of my podcasts, but turning off autoplay fixed that portion. 

I've tried:

- force stopping Spotify when I close it

- reinstalling Spotify

- keeping Spotify online

- keeping Spotify offline

None of it helps. I just want to be able to have my podcast start back up wherever I left it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.