Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
Combs had been convicted in July on two counts of transportation for prostitution. During his sentencing hearing he spoke at length for the first time in the trial, addressing the judge at length.
Swift's 12th studio album returns to her pop roots, with lots of love-struck lyrics and upbeat melodies. But it's also a warning about the darker side of an industry she has battled — and bested.
One of the most listened-to genres in the Americas, photographers and storytellers Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky document cumbia in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and the United States.
On her 12th album, the most dominant pop star of our era makes a spectacle of herself in full flower, in love and holding the music industry in the palm of her hand.