INTERVIEW: Jessie Murph talks her career, touring and latest single 'Wild Ones': "I always want to make a point to be genreless...I love having that freedom."

2023 has been another year of tremendous growth for US superstar-in-the-making Jessie Murph. First releasing music in 2021, she has accumulated over 1 billion global streams in just two years, and earlier this year released her debut mixtape drowning.

drowning is a collection of raw, candid songs with a soundscape that ranges from stripped back ballads such as ‘Pray’ and ‘I Would’ve’ through to pop-rock songs ‘While You’re At It’ and the divine ‘If I Died Last Night’ that infuses a dash of country as well of strings into its pop rock foundation.

In May she opened a new era in her music with the single ‘Cowboys And Angels’, which was followed by a collaboration with Maren Morris ‘Texas’. It sees Murph move her music into a direction that was hinted at on drowning, amplifying a gorgeous country vibe mixed with hip-hop on top of a contemporary pop sound.

In July she teamed with up with Diplo and Polo G on the single ‘Heartbroken’, and in October she dropped the single ‘Wild Ones’ featuring Jelly Roll, which racked up 23 million streams in just two weeks and has become her biggest hit to date, peaking at 42 in the US and becoming her first charting single in Australia.

At only 19, Murph has built an impressive career in a short period of time and she is clearly an artist that has everything it takes to become an even bigger success in music in the coming years. She has a remarkable talent for creating music that is left of centre with little regard to formulas, yet still succeeds in being utterly beguiling. Her voice is rich and expressive and can just as easily belt out a hip-hop rap as it can deliver a tender lyric full of emotion. With such growth and beautiful music in just two years, Jessie Murph’s musical journey in 2024 and beyond is going to be incredibly exciting to experience. We recently caught up with her during her recent trip to Australia to chat all about her music career to date.

Hi Jessie, it’s so lovely to see you. How have you enjoyed your time in Australia?
I love it. I love it so much. It's similar to like California, I feel, but just cooler. And cleaner! I'm all about it. I love it here. Also, everybody here is beautiful. Like, why are you all so pretty? It's weird!

I want to talk about drowning, because that is one hell of a debut mixtape, I love it and so did everyone. Women In Pop. Talk to me about the creation of it.
Yeah, I was just writing about what I was going through, I was using it as an outlet for me. I wasn't even thinking about making it a project. It just kind of all came together and it was all about the same stuff and struggles and it ended up sounding pretty cohesive I think.

It sounds very cohesive, and it’s one thing to write about troubles that you are going through, but it’s another thing to throw weight behind it. And that's where this mixtape lands, you've got swagger, you’ve got introspection, it's very encompassing. Was there ever parts of that mixtape where you were like, ‘Oh, shit, I'm actually gonna go there and people are gonna hear it’?
Yeah. I feel like a lot of the sad songs I write, I definitely go through. It’s putting it out for the world, but it’s also putting it out for the people closest to me, because that's scary you know? You feel so seen, and it's a scary feeling. There were definitely tracks [like that] on drowning. a good amount of them!

How was the reception within your immediate group?
Everybody's super supportive, but it's also weird to talk about it. I hate talking about stuff like that, that's why I write. I kind of don't like to talk about it, so I just put it out.

Isn't that the interesting thing? Because quite often artists will use their art to express the feelings that they can't discuss. But then the flip side of suddenly becoming a successful artist is everyone's gonna hear it now.
I know, t really is so funny. It's definitely interesting.

But I imagine you couldn't write from any other space, that brutal honesty,
No. I can’t write if it's not about me. I can't do it. I just don't connect to it and it makes it impossible. I don't know if I'll ever write songs for other people because it feels like I genuinely use it as a way to get stuff out. I think that also makes it relatable because a lot of the stuff I'm going through is a lot of stuff other people are going through.

You grew up on, I want to call it this in the best possible way, some really filthy country. Not the traditional sound we all associate with country, but I'm talking stomping, gritty bar brawling country, and now you infused it with this hip hop sound and this very slick pop. Was that always just naturally where you progressed? Or did you feel like you had to push yourself to get through those boundaries of experimenting with style?
It was always just kind of naturally. It was just me expressing myself and however that comes out. I always want to make a point to be genreless. I never want to be in one genre because I might wake up in two weeks and be like, I want to put out a rap album, or I want to do a country album. I love having that freedom. It also comes from listening to a bunch of different stuff, and growing up listening to a bunch of different stuff, so in my brain when I'm singing it just comes out and in that kind of vibe.

Do you think that you the way you applied yourself to music is because of the way music was shared with you, when you were young? It was never this is country, this is hip hop, this is pop. It was all just music?
Yes, it’s just music, it’s just good music. Good music is good music.

You started writing songs around the age of nine, do you ever look back on those songs now and be like, ‘that's going to be on the next album!’
Absolutely not! But it's fun to go back and listen to those songs, it’s interesting to see how far you’ve come.

Oh, 100%. I remember reading that the first concert you ever attended was actually the first concert you ever performed. That’s amazing, what was that like?
Incredible. You hear about how some artists don't like performing live, it's just not everybody's thing. I didn't know how it was gonna be, so I did it and I was like, wow, it's truly the most incredible feeling on earth. Like ever. It feels like a drug, it's like adrenaline. It's crazy. And just to feel connected with everybody, you feel so connected. It's a beautiful feeling, truly.

I was looking on your Instagram and on YouTube, the comments people are making there's so much passion for you and your music, it's so beautiful. There's a genuine love and your music is touching people so well. That must be absolutely incredible to see.
It’s definitely so different in person. You can connect online and stuff but being in a room together, with the passion, that's everything. The energy people are exuding, it's just so crazy to feel, it's so surreal.

Gorgeous. Let's talk about latest single ‘Wild Ones’, because that's one hell of a collaboration, with Jelly Roll. How did that come together?
It was so last minute, ‘Wild Ones’ was not supposed to be a collab. I made that song and I had it for months and I wanted to put it out in the summer, it’s just a summer song. And then Jelly invited me to his show to sing a song with him. I drove to Indiana and we sang ‘Simple Man’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd together on stage in an arena. And it was so crazy, it was the first arena I'd ever sang in. I was like, ‘there's a lot of people out there!’ But that was incredible, and then he head wild ones was like, ‘I got a verse for this’. And I was like, ‘put it on there!’

Visually like when you go and see a show in an arena, you look around and go ‘wow’, from your perspective it must have been amazing.
Surreal. I've always dreamed of doing that. I remember, I went to Disney On Ice when I was little and I remember seeing all the phone lights. I sat there and my mouth was like on the floor. I was like, ‘oh my god, I have to do that one day’.

That's absolutely beautiful. You've got such a big voice, like exceptionally so. Have you always been aware of the power of that voice? Because it is a belter.
I don't think I'm aware of it even now. I truly just sing because I just need to get stuff out, you know? It's so crazy to see where I am now, I’m doing something I genuinely love. I love waking up every day and it's fun for me. It's crazy.

You said you always wanted to do it, do you just get those pinch me moments like, ‘Oh, I'm doing it, that thing I wanted to do. This is me now.’
Yeah, it's really hard to because stuff feel so normal, because you're in it. Lately I've been trying to zoom out and be like, ‘you’re living your dream right now’. And it's so surreal, it's really surreal. Sometimes at shows I'm just in the motion of doing it, and then I'll like snap out of it and I’m like ‘fuck, you’re here to sing songs, dude.’

In today’s music industry, there's this whole new way we find artists. TikTok, SoundCloud, YouTube, which is amazing. When you were younger wanting to be a singer, what did you imagine that looked like? Was it that old idea of I'm gonna have to form a band and I'm gonna have to tour and I'm gonna have to send my demo tapes everywhere.
That’s such a good question. I was just so deeply passionate about wanting to be a singer. I didn't know how, I didn't know why. I didn't know when, but I knew it was gonna happen. I think manifestation is so real, and I've been definitely manifesting this since I was little. I would stay up all night in my basement and just sing and record songs. I would stay up all night long. I was just like, ‘I gotta make this work’. I knew TikTok was a great platform to make that work and virality is such a possibility on there. So I just kept posting and posting, and then one day one of them blew up and that was so motivating. So I kept going and here I am.

With regards to the sounds that people most relate to you, it is this hip hop country and actually I'm even hearing amazing elements of grunge. Our brains, sadly, automatically go ‘those are dude genres.’ When we last spoke, you said you loved that because spitefully you leaned into it because you'd grown up with this notion of that's not ‘ladylike’, what you're doing. Now that you're just kicking so much ass, Is it even more satisfying as you are absolutely dominating right now? You’re a young woman killing it in this field, singing the way you sing. You’re doing it, and other women can do it as well.
Yeah, it feels good. I don't even think about it. Wow, we really talked aeons ago, I'm in such a different space now! At first, it was so motivating to be told, ‘No, you can't say that’, I was like, fuck yeah, I'm gonna say that shit, you know? I think that's why some of my earlier songs are more aggressive. I'm grateful for all of that. It definitely shaped my sound because if [the people around me] had been supportive, I would have been out here singing who knows?

Lastly, of course, you've been playing Australia and next you're going to Europe. What else is coming up for you?
A lot more music, so that's exciting. Probably more touring, I hope so. I'm really excited about the music that's coming out, it comes from the soul, so I'm really excited about that. It's very, purely, Jessie.

‘Wild Ones’ is out now via Sony Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.
Jessie Murph is touring through the UK and Europe in February. More info and tickets available here.
To keep up with all things Jessie Murph you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.