It’s been said, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” And there’s definitely a chilly edge to Jessie Murph’s latest hit, “Blue Strips,” as she gets over an ex who apparently dumped her.
The 20-year-old Alabama singer’s vibe merges pop, rap and country elements, so much that it’s hard to pin down exactly which of these quite different genres she calls home. What’s not so hard to pin down is her no-nonsense response to a guy who cheated on her with a stripper.
“Boy, I ain’t mad,” she repeatedly insists. But then she adds, “I had to get back at you.” The balance of this Top 20 track explains how she goes about doing that.
None.
So just how does Murph get back at the guy in question? Well for starters, she reminds him that she’s “got a new man” and “got a new d–n mansion in Malibu.”
As for how she’s spending her time, Murph splits it between paying dancers at a strip club and then going home to shed her own clothes for the new guy in her life. “Blue strips/Bare t-ts in a strip club/ … I’m going home, I’ma take it off for him/I’ma strip down all your wrongs.”
A plot twist seems to reveal the fact that the woman her ex cheated with is a stripper at this club. While Murph is throwing hundred-dollar bills (the “blue strips” she sings about) at some dancers, she’s only tossing singles at the dancer her ex has hooked up with (“Throwing ones/At your b–ch”).
And that’s about it, really. A young woman gets back at an ex by lobbing small bills at his new girl, a stripper. And she goes home with another guy herself—the kind of narrative that apparently passes as female empowerment in 2025.
The song’s video finds Murph perching in a skimpy outfit and heels in a posh bathroom as she pouts and primps for the camera.
Jessie Murph, I’ll point out again, is 20 years old. But she sings about hanging out in a strip club as if it’s the most natural thing in the world—which perhaps it is for artists in some genres. And she makes it sound like she’s been doing it for years, never mind that she’s barely out of her teens.
Not surprisingly, the world-weary attitude on display here makes Murph seem years, if not decades, older. But I think it’s worth considering what messages she’s sending, what worldview Murph is representing, especially for younger listeners who aren’t yet as hardened and jaded by life’s hurts as she seems to be.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
