Hostage-taking nymph in topical song (7)
I believe the answer is:
calypso
'song' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for calypso that I've seen before include "sarcastic air" , "WI song" , "W. Indian ballad" , "island song" , "character from Odyssey" .)