Jessie Murph‘s new album, Sex Hysteria, is out July 18. The first song she released from the album, “Gucci Mane,” was raw and vulnerable, as are the other songs on the album. While it makes her feel better to share her feelings, Jessie’s nervous about everyone else hearing it.
“I think like any time I’m creating music, I feel lighter the second I make it. But I think another step in that process is putting it out and giving it to the world,” she tells ABC Audio. “I think maybe once that happens, I’ll feel a little lighter, but … I’m also very scared.”
“I mean, some of the songs are very personal and vulnerable. … But it’s definitely cathartic to make them, for sure.”
Some of the new songs sound very retro, matching her current early ’60s fashion aesthetic: She’s wearing huge hair and makeup that recalls Elvis Presley‘s wife, Priscilla Presley. She says she’s always been “fascinated” by the couple.
“That time period I think is such a beautiful time period, and the way the hair was big and the glam — and everything was so glamorous and beautiful,” she explains. “I’ve just always been super drawn to that ever since I was a little girl. And I was just waiting … to be in the right phase of life to write the songs that would match with the era.”
But the title Sex Hysteria hints at a darker side of that time.
“The word hysteria, the root word, used to be used to describe women in the ’60s … for being overtly emotional or dealing with intense emotions, anxiety, depression and stuff. They would send them to mental institutions,” she says.
“I think this album represents a lot of intense highs and intense lows, and that word has just always felt right regarding this … so that’s what we went with.”
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