Country star sparks outrage after singing for women to 'take a slap'

Metro

3 days ago

Rising country singer Jessie Murph has been heavily criticised after debuting her nostalgic ballad about 'loving like it's 1965'.
The 20-year-old singer's yearning for a bygone era included 'handwriting letters' and 'showing up at the door with flowers', while also 'giving up rights'.
In another shocking lyric, she sings: 'I might get a little slap-slap, but you wouldn't hit me on Snapchat.'
The song, titled 1965, also romanticises her partner potentially being 40 years old while she is still 20 and that she would have 'nine daughters'.
Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jessie danced around dressed in a short silk and lace pink dress, with her hair mimicking the iconic beehive look of the era.
Her performance on the late-night talk show sparked backlash over Jessie's 'glamorising of misogyny and abuse'.
On X, australbird said: 'Jessie Murph is 100 percent a right wing propaganda plant lmao I know that sounds crazy but this girl no one has ever heard of shows up and starts talking about how she'd give up her rights and BE OKAY with being abused and cheated on by a man with a 20 year age gap? C'mon.'
Libraavenuus posted: 'Jessie Murph new song '1965' has a lyric that says 'I might get a little slap slap but you wouldn't hit me on snapchat' referring to how she would rather be subject to domestic violence in 1965 than modern day dating and I cannot stop thinking about it. That's so insane.'
'I thought this was an SNL [Saturday Night Live] skit, what…' added Ioudeluxe as MeghanMcCarthy_ shared: 'What is this sad attempt at Amy Winehouse garbage.'
Many said Jessie was leaning into the 'tradwife' aesthetic, a movement in which some women are choosing to remain at home and adhere to traditional gender values.
im convinced jessie murph is a social experiment like there's just no way — mara (@idleavealone) July 20, 2025
Tradwives stay at home and raise the children (as well as being influencers for this niche) while their husbands go out to work, with many also promoting conservative and right-wing views.
'Alright so she's always rubbed me the wrong way bc I feel like she's a far right industry plant,' added bittergoodbye. 'People saw the success of Sabrina Carpenter and said 'what if she was conservative?' and that's Jessie Murph. She's pushing the tradwife agenda while also trying to get mainstream-'
The comparisons to the Espresso hitmaker were flying after the recent backlash she faced over her album cover for Man's Best Friend.
Sabrina, 25, controversially posed kneeling on the floor in a short black dress and heels while a man roughly gripped a fistful of her iconic blonde hair.
Sharpestpoet wrote: 'I think it's funny that people tried to cancel Sabrina Carpenter for her album cover 'setting back feminism' but Jessie Murph (the same artist people say they're raising their kids on instead of Taylor Swift) can glamorise the misogyny and abuse of 1965?? right…'
At the time, Sabrina took matters into her own hands and hit back at the criticism on social media, after an X user questioned whether she has 'a personality outside of sex'.
Without skipping a beat, she quoted the post to add: 'Girl yes and it is goooooood.'
Knowing Sabrina's innuendo-filled humour and intentional aesthetic, many claimed the whole thing was satire — something that Jessie's fans are also stating.
In response to a fan on TikTok asking if she was 'joking', Jessie shot back: 'That is quite literally the point.'
However, satire only works if it's understood as such. As ship_psychosis wrote: 'After listening to that Jessie Murph song and watching the video, I do think it's satire but I don't know if it's satire done well.'
One accusation hurled at Jessie is that she is an 'industry plant', who has come out of nowhere with her controversial song.
While she hasn't hit the dizzying heights of a number one track, she has other popular songs climbing the charts.
She was discovered in 2021, releasing debut single Upgrade before Pray, which was her first breakthrough into UK charts and peaked at number 66.
Jessie has since released two albums, That Ain't No Man That's the Devil and Sex Hysteria, with the latter coming out earlier this month and landing her first top 10 album in the US. More Trending
On Spotify, she has just under 18,000,000 monthly listeners with her biggest hit, Blue Strips, at over 100million streams.
Lana Del Rey shared the track on her Instagram story, to which Jessie said: 'She's my icon. I love her so much.'
Jessie has also collaborated with artists like Diplo, Gucci Mane, Jelly Roll,Sexxy Red, and Teddy Swims.
Metro has reached out to Jessie's reps for comment.
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