You know something’s up when the top comment on a YouTube video has more than double the likes of the actual video. This is exactly what has happened with Nashville singer Jessie Murph’s new music video “1965” – with a difference of 30,000, no less. The comment in question? “I didn’t think this video could be that bad but yall weren’t lying 😭 i don’t think ive ever seen someone put sumn like that in a video especially on youtube.”

This commenter is referring to widespread discourse surrounding Murph’s lyrics, which appear to romanticise domestic abuse and traditional gender roles, with lines like: “I might get a little slap-slap, but you wouldn’t hit me on Snapchat” and “I would give up a few rights [...] I want you to love me like it’s 1965”. In the music video, Murph is depicted tied up on a 60s chaise longue, performing oral sex on an older man under the dinner table, and watching her partner have sex with another woman.

Although many interpret Murph’s “1965” as leaning into edgelord satire (and, admittedly, later in the song she does acknowledge that gender roles back then were “Fucked up, I know”), she is clearly playing with fire, especially in a moment when the Trump administration is actively reviving kitsch 20th-century Americana to push misogynist, anti-immigrant and anti-trans agendas. Comparisons to Sabrina Carpenter are inevitable, but the outcomes do feel markedly different: while Carpenter might temper her provocative imagery with upbeat, heterofatalist lyrics that feel intentionally lighthearted in their subversion, Murph’s work, by contrast, just feels way more depressing – less a cheeky wink at the audience, more a dead-eyed stare into the void. 

Murph has also previously collaborated with country-rap artist Jelly Roll (who was recently pictured shaking hands with Trump and has called his decision to host a UFC fight on the White House lawn “awesome”) and herself inhabits the country hip-hop space that often uncritically romanticises the very same traditional American aesthetics that she is supposedly satirising. Suffice to say, even if Murph did intend this video as a critique of nostalgia for the ‘good old days’, it’s not hard to see how this meaning would be lost on many of her listeners (especially as the lyrics themselves only seem to glorify it).

What this controversy has got us thinking, however, is what other music videos have sparked this sort of controversy? Below, we break down five of the most divisive music videos to date.

“BLURRED LINES” – ROBIN THICKE FEAT. T.I. AND PHARRELL

“Blurred Lines” was inescapable in 2013. Featuring the lyrics “I know you want it, I hate these blurred lines”, and appearing to describe a male protagonist ignoring rejections of sexual advances, the track received widespread criticism for appearing to reinforce rape myths and the blaming of victims of sexual assault. 

What makes this video particularly problematic, however, is that model Emily Ratajkowski, who appears fully nude in the video, has since alleged that she was sexually harassed by Thicke during the “Blurred Lines” shoot. Recalling the experience in her Sunday Times-published memoir My Body, Ratajkowski wrote: “Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind, [...] I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke. He smiled a goofy grin and stumbled backward, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. My head turned to the darkness beyond the set. [Director, Diane Martel’s] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, ‘Are you OK?’”

Meanwhile, despite initially defending the track as not misogynistic, singer Pharrell since admitted in a 2019 GQ interview: “[‘Blurred Lines’ made me realise] that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. Hadn’t realised that. Didn’t realise that some of my songs catered to that.” Not good enough, really. 

“LIKE A PRAYER” – MADONNA 

The Queen of Pop has never shied away from controversy, railing against the repression of female sexuality, the stigma surrounding the Aids/HIV crisis, racism and misogyny throughout her career. The music video for her 1989 single “Like A Prayer” is a prime example, confronting racism in the American South through the depiction of an interracial love affair. Despite these intentions, none other than Pope John Paul II called for a global boycott of Madonna, citing the video’s use of burning Ku Klux Klan-style crosses and a scene in which Madonna kisses a Black saint, portrayed by actor Leon Robinson.

Following the backlash, most mainstream TV stations refused to air the video, and a Pepsi commercial incorporating visuals from “Like A Prayer” was promptly cancelled. Still, the track and accompanying video received widespread acclaim from critics, and was ultimately allowed to air over 30 years later during the 2023 MTV Music Video Awards. In the words of Madonna herself: “Art should be controversial, and that’s all there is to it.”

“HAPPY ENDING” – HOPSIN 

A Portuguese-subtitled reupload is about all that remains of Hopsin’s “Happy Ending” music video, and for good reason. The song is awful and racist, and the video is an extreme combination of both. In the track, the LA rapper describes going to a massage parlour to receive sexual favours, impersonating the masseuse’s voice with an offensive Asian accent. Responding to the immediate backlash on Twitter/X, Hopsin wrote: “the Asian people, of course a lot of them don’t feel too happy about it, but it’s my reality; it’s something that I’ve done’; later telling XXL that he “wanted to be the first rapper to come out and openly admit that”. How brave of you, Hopsin. 

“LIFESTYLE” – JORDAN MCANN

Some rappers brag about committing crime, some have even had their lyrics (wrongly) used as evidence in court, but Mancunian rapper Jordan is the only rapper I can think of that has actually included newspaper clippings in his music video to substantiate their bars. In the bassline-tinged UK rap track, Jordan describes selling drugs and warring with rival gangs, as headlines and mugshots appear on-screen to add credibility to his claims. At one point, the rapper even pulls down his hood, stares into the camera lens and announces: “We’re the baitest, please know our faces”. Now, Jordan is a UK rap legend, and subsequent single “Little Hulton” has notably shed light on the homewreck and heartbreak that follows in the wake of these brazen exploits, but I think even he would agree that “Lifestyle” was a bold move.

“FAMOUS” – KANYE WEST

These days, Kanye West sits firmly in the ‘bad controversy’ pile, thanks to his recent statements endorsing antisemitism, fascism, and misogyny (need I go on?). But his 2016 single “Famous” hails from a time when his moral standing was still, arguably, up for discussion. The video, which depicts various nude celebrity lookalikes lying in bed with the Grammy-winning rapper and producer, drew intense scrutiny for its references to Taylor Swift. “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous,” Kanye raps in the track’s opening lines, referencing his infamous interruption of Swift’s 2009 VMA acceptance speech, as a naked figure resembling her appears on screen.

“Famous” sparked a long-running feud between Swift and Kanye. Despite Kanye claiming that he had cleared the line with the pop star in an “hour-long phone call” before the track’s release, Swift vehemently denied this, instead posting on Twitter/X that she had warned him not to release a track “with such a misogynistic message” and described the video as “revenge porn”. The pair frequently sent jabs at each other over the following years, with Kanye and then-wife Kim Kardashian apparently using the snake emoji to refer to Swift on social media, and Swift dedicating her 2016 Album of the Year Grammy Award to “those people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” 

See more controversial music videos, including The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”, Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box”, and Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”, in our previous list here.