Kinsey Crowley
Kinsey Crowley covers the personalities, culture and music orbiting contemporary politics, with a particular focus on Donald Trump and his world, for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network. Her beat centers on music and performance around major political figures, illustrated by her coverage of Barack Obama’s playlist and the star-studded opening of the Obama Presidential Center. She works as a Trump Connect and trending news reporter, tying fast-moving political developments to the celebrity moments, visual spectacle and soundtracks that shape how audiences experience them.
Trump Connect, family and inner circle
Crowley’s defining strand of work is her Trump Connect coverage, where she follows Donald Trump, his family and his closest circle across political, ceremonial and everyday moments. She explains institutions and traditions through Trump-centric stories, such as her reporting on the arrival of the White House Christmas tree and the role Trump family members have played in that ritual. She tracks how Trump’s attacks on reporters and rivals evolve over time, documenting new phrases like “crooked or stupid” and situating them alongside earlier jabs such as “piggy” and “hatred in her eyes.”
She also focuses on Trump’s extended family and inner circle, unpacking relationships that often surface in political or legal news. In one piece she lays out how Vanessa Trump is related to Donald Trump, using straightforward questions and answers to clarify family ties that frequently appear in headlines about the broader Trump orbit. Her co-authored coverage of Barron Trump’s height uses the viral fascination with his stature as an entry point to explain how online search trends and celebrity-style curiosity intersect with the Trump brand.
Music and performance in presidential storytelling
Crowley gives particular attention to music and live performance as tools of political storytelling. In her feature on Barack Obama’s new museum, she highlights the curated playlist and the songs that play throughout the space, showing how music is used to evoke the former president’s legacy and connect visitors emotionally to the exhibits. She expands that lens in coverage that offers an inside look at the Obama Presidential Center’s star performances and emotional moments, describing how live sets and on-stage appearances turn an opening into a shared cultural event.
Her reporting on the Obama center’s debut also captures celebrity interactions, such as Tom Hanks hugging Nancy Pelosi, placing these moments within a broader narrative about how political institutions borrow the grammar of Hollywood premieres and concert stages. Across these stories, she treats music and performance not as background detail but as central elements that frame how audiences experience politics and history.
Celebrity, fashion and pop culture around Trump
Crowley devotes substantial coverage to the ways Trump-world figures move through celebrity culture, fashion and entertainment. She chronicles Donald Trump’s message to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce following their engagement, using the greeting to show how Trump engages with pop culture power couples and positions himself within the wider entertainment conversation. Her work on Melania Trump frequently foregrounds fashion and staging, including a piece on Melania’s choice of a leather blazer instead of her usual suit at a UFC event, which parses how wardrobe choices signal alignment with particular audiences.
She extends that approach into more thematic stories on Trump-branded products and memorabilia, surveying items such as Trump watches, vodka and wrapping paper to illustrate how merchandising contributes to the political persona and revenue streams around the former president. In coverage of the opening of the Obama center and related events, she continues to note celebrity appearances and visual moments, reinforcing a consistent interest in how political figures use pop culture language—clothing, product tie-ins, star cameos—to shape their image.
Breaking, trending and legacy political news
Beyond personality and culture pieces, Crowley files fast-turn stories on breaking and trending political news. She has reported on Project 2025, explaining the conservative policy blueprint and how Trump-aligned moves in Washington connect to its proposals to reshape federal agencies and expand executive power. Her coverage of Jeffrey Epstein’s email about Bill Clinton and the notorious island revisits an unresolved chapter in American political narrative, detailing Epstein’s insistence that Clinton never visited the island and placing that claim alongside flight records and public statements.
She also covers more formal diplomatic and multilateral moments, such as Melania Trump’s chairing of a United Nations Security Council meeting, focusing on the themes she emphasizes—like “conflict arises from ignorance”—and how they fit within the Trump administration’s messaging. Across these pieces, she maintains a concise, accessible style that prioritises clear timelines, direct quotations and simple explanations, aligning her breaking work with her broader interest in how political power, media spectacle and cultural language meet.
4 more music journalists.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling Murphy is the theatre reporter and critic at The Globe and Mail. She stands out for writing about theatre as both art and infrastructure, with coverage that links new Canadian stage work, awards culture, and pop-inflected criticism. She covers theatre, music, and pop culture in a detailed, conversational style, moving between reviews, reported features, and analysis of the systems that shape what gets produced. Her beat includes the Dora Awards, Toronto stages, new writing, intimate productions, and smaller venues, as well as controversy where artistic decisions meet politics and community response. Before The Globe, she was senior editor of Intermission Magazine, and her bylines include The New York Times, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, and the Baltimore Sun.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson is Editor-in-Chief of Exclaim! and leads coverage of music’s links to sports, literature, and technology, with a strong focus on Canadian artists. Hudson reports on how music intersects with other fields, not as a separate industry. Recent coverage has included Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer on how playing piano saved his career, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Canada-wide soccer watch party, Lakes of Canada’s Margaret Atwood-inspired album Transgressions, Hannah Mary McKinnon on The Beaches influencing her rock-themed novel, and Alexander Nilsson’s 1001 Albums Generator as a tool for broadening music discovery beyond algorithmic recommendations.
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz is a commerce writer whose distinct focus is the buying and streaming side of music, entertainment and lifestyle, helping readers decide how to watch major events and what to purchase around them. She is an e-commerce specialist at Rolling Stone, covering products, platforms and deals tied to award shows, festivals, sports and everyday culture. Her beat blends music streaming guides with shopping and product recommendations across fashion, beauty, tech, food, wellness and drinks. She reports through experience-focused service journalism, using lists, comparison roundups and step-by-step guides to answer concrete questions about how to stream major cultural moments, where to shop and which products to choose. Her background includes commerce and lifestyle writing for consumer publications such as Esquire, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Women’s Wear Daily and Billboard.
Allie Gregory
Allie Gregory maps how audiences encounter new music by tracking the practical pathways of releases, tours, festivals, platforms and projects. She is a managing editor and news writer at Exclaim!, where she is a primary editorial contact for forthcoming releases and news tips and helps shape the outlet’s daily agenda around new music and its broader entertainment context. Her reporting centres on timely album and tour announcements, live logistics and festival programming across indie, metal, country, pop and adjacent film and streaming news. She writes direct, information-heavy pieces that foreground calendars, support acts, set times and programming structures, while also producing longer-form interviews, cultural stories and staff-pick recommendations that connect artists’ work, controversy and creative campaigns to how audiences encounter music and entertainment on the road, at festivals and on screens.