Jessie Murph etches raw emotion into strikingly sincere songs laced with country-style storytelling, hip hop-infused production, alternative experimentation, and unassuming pop appeal. Holding nothing back, she’s so honest about issues such as mental health, depression, and addiction that she practically leaves blood and tears on the recordings. The 19-year-old Alabama vocalist and songwriter has quietly emerged as a phenomenon on her own terms. As the story goes, she channeled the pain of dysfunction at home, school bullying, and an archaic climate of misogyny into music as a teen. She took the reins and built an audience on social media in 2020.
Her breakout single “Always Been You” picked up a gold plaque and affirmed her as a buzzing powerhouse, bulldozing the way for her 2023 debut mixtape, drowning [Columbia Records]. The project spawned fan favorites such as “Pray,” “How Could You,” and “Where Do You Go” as she gathered over 1 billion total streams and counting. Genius, Pandora, and Amazon Music pegged her as a 2023 “Artist to Watch.” Simultaneously, she incited the applause of Billboard, Spin, Stereogum, Consequence, and Flaunt who proclaimed, “she injects passion, emotion, and storytelling in her lyrics, inspired by real-life occurrences we can all confide in and relate to.”
With her latest releases “Wild Ones” featuring Jelly Roll, “Heartbroken” [Diplo & Polo G], and “Texas” featuring Maren Morris, you could say Jessie Murph didn’t go country, but country went Jessie Murph…
“I’ve been wanting to incorporate country into what I do for a while because I grew up on it. Now that I’m connecting with my inner child and starting to heal a lot of the painful aspects of my life during that time, I’ve stepped into it more. It’s part of me and where I’m from, so I chose to be in touch with it. I just went back to my roots, while keeping it me,” she declares.
While creating a buzz online ahead of release, “Wild Ones” received some love from Drake on Instagram in September marking a major cosign for the young Alabama artist. The track gained even more traction as the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist performed it live for fans on tour. Immediately upon release in October, “Wild Ones” topped the iTunes song chart and reached #1 on Apple Music’s Pop chart. The track debuted in the top 50 of Billboard’s Hot 100 and has amassed over 83.5M streams worldwide.
After taking the summer festival circuit by storm, Jessie spent most of the fall on her global headline tour, which has sold over 85,000 tickets worldwide. She kicked off her ‘Cowboys and Angels’ tour with the North American leg in September, marking Jessie’s largest run in the US and Canada to date that saw her upgrade from club venues such as Baby’s All Right in NY and The Roxy in LA to Terminal 5 and The Novo, respectively. Following her recent live debut in Australia and New Zealand, Jessie returned to the US for a run of holiday radio shows before she continues the ‘Cowboys and Angels’ tour in Europe next year.
Whether she’s writing and recording in the studio or performing live on stage, in the end, Jessie continues to simply be herself—and do whatever the f*ck she wants.