Episode 006: Girl in Red
Girl in Red, a music project by Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim.
As Marie is openly gay, and the Lesbian Visibility Day will be occuring on the 26th April, I wanted to spend some time looking at the work of a lesbian creator and we haven’t yet looked at the medium of music, so this felt like a good time to look at this music project.
Now unlike the usual set up where we go through an overview of the media and the plot before then diving into a spoiler filled section, this episode is going to be slightly different. Since music, specifically albums or songs, might have overlying themes and stories, it's a bit more difficult for us to talk about this media in the usual format. So, when I am covering audio based media like this the episode will be more overview of the creator and details on the released work, with specific discussion on a few of the songs under review.
You can either listen to the podcast with the ink below, or read the transcript on this page.
Girl in red is the indie pop project of Marie Ulven Ringheim, with the moniker coming from a time when Marie was attempting to identify herself in a crowd to a friend via text. The subject matter usually ranges from heartbreak and romance, to mental illness and the lived experience of being queer. And for those of you that may have been on the good side of TikTok in mid 2000, you might remember that she became a popular symbol of queer idenetification, with people asking Do you listen to girl in red? as a way of asking if you were a lesbian.
For a bit of background around Marie, she was born in 1999 and has said that her early life was “quiet and kinda boring” back in a 2019 interview. She does credit her grandfather for her interest in music, as he could play guitar and piano. She has studied music production and songwriting while also teaching herself piano, guitar, and music production from home.
Initially, Marie has released some of their early work on Soundcloud under the moniker of Lydia X. As well as the debut album we are going to look at today, she has also released two EPs (or extended plays), Chapter 1 in 2018 and then Chapter 2 in 2019, both of which were recorded from her bedroom. Marie was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2020 Norwegian Grammy Awards and I think most people may be very familiar with the popular debut single she released I wanna be your girlfriend.
What we are reviewing today is the debut album from girl in red called If I Could Make It Go Quiet. This was released through AWAL and Marie’s own World in Red label on the 30th April 2021, after having originally been delayed by that pesky coronavirus. It was produced by Marie Ulven Ringheim alongside Matis Tellez and additional production from Finneas O’Connell. As Marie has said, the album acts as an emotional recap of the year 2020 and a bit of an act of confronting herself, as she explored her personal mental health along with different sides of love through the tracks.
The album is made up of 11 songs (four of which having been released as singles), coming in at a listening time of just 33.09. The tracklisting is:
Serotonin
Did You Come?
Body and Mind
hornylovesickmess
midnight love
You Stupid Bitch
Rue
Apartment 402
.
I’ll Call You Mine
it would feel like this
The cover of the album was made by Fredrik Wiig Sørensen, a Norwegian painter, and is an oil painting titled The Antizero. Although it’s probably not a painting I fully appreciate due to my own personal tastes, I do think it actually works well in capturing the themes of the album since they can be quite heavy, and it's great when the artwork on the outside helps reflect what is inside the CD. So let’s go through these songs.
First up, Serotonin which focuses on mental health and medication for dealing with it, which is something so refreshing to hear within media as it’s always seen as such a taboo topic even though we all experience it to some degree. This is obviously coming from Marie’s own personal experiences of dealing with their mental health, so even if the song feels quicky catchy in a way it’s also being very vulnerable. This vulnerability is further shown with the outro of the song actually being a recording from when Marie was visiting her doctor. The way rap has been used in the song is also really effective, as it breaks into the melody of the song and delivers darker lyrics all around the intrusive thoughts the singer is having, much like how intrusive thoughts can also just come in from left field and completely change the rhythm that was going on in our heads. I think this is definitely in my top three favourite songs from the album, and I think it's fair to say it's appreciated by a lot of other listeners too!
Did You Come? has us listening to someone being angry after their partner has cheated, with the guitars and drums picking up in pace as the singer continues their questions and venting at their ex-partner. Its also nice to see within the song you have both forms of cheating being highlighted, with the obviousy question of did you come referring to the physical act of cheating sexually, but there is also questions of being intimate such as listening to her heartbeat. It’s nice to hear that not all cheating is solely physical, as it is something that’s individual to each relationship and is decided by those specific partners, but also mainstream media sometimes acts as if cheating can only ever be based on the physical acts of sex.
Body and Mind has a much slower beat than the first two songs, and the singer is attempting to comfort themselves after experiencing a lot of self hatred. It’s nice to see the different tempo being shown here compared to the first two songs, giving us a range of which to listen and understand the topics being covered as part of the album. We start to see here how cohesive the album is as the songs seem to build a journey on top of each other as we are listening, with us going through the journey that Marie felt they underwent during 2020. I will say that personally, this may be my least favourite song, so I don't know what that says about me and my ability to comfort myself when I am going through dark periods.
hornylovesickmess meanwhile is dealing with the way life has changed drastically with fame, being in locations you can’t keep a track off and seeing your face on billboards, but this also goes into leading the person to treating a partner badly. It’s an interesting look at how certain factors can play into our relationships and radically change them, with the rhythm of the song going from poppy piano piece wanting sex while stuck away from their partner to then becoming slower floating sounds as they have realised they haven’t been a good partner to them and admitting they shouldn’t take her back. Out of all the songs on the album, I think this is the one that I was definitely left wanting more, not because it was lacking anything but rather it was good and I didn’t want the song to finish when it did.
Midnight Love deals with realising that being the second choice for someone isn’t the healthiest of relationships, when they are treating you like the silver prize while they are seen as gold. Another important theme being looked at, around loving oneself enough to know when we need to cut relationships out of our lives as they may not be the healthiest for us in the long-run and something that I am sure a fair few people can relate to.
You Stupid Bitch is something I am sure a lot of us can relate to, where we have to comfort someone who is choosing people who then break their heart in the relationship, but we are there and love them and yet they don’t realise or see us as a choice. The track behind the vocals works really well to reflect the aggression we can feel as we internally scream “You Stupid Bitch” to the person we comfort. The way the lyrics are repeated again and again also really helps to reflect how we probably tell ourselves these things in our heads as well, so again Marie creates a repeatable and fun track to listen to.
One of the top tracks for me is Rue, where the singer is apologising to their loved ones for the burden and issues that come from their mental health problems, and their desire to get better and wanting to work to make it work. The song feels quite honest as it is something you feel when you are having mental health problems, where you know some of your actions could be a burden to people that you love and to yourself, and you have those thoughts of self-hatred at how you wish you were not broken as it were. It also highlights the realisation that nobody can come and fix the issue with a flick of the switch and that our mental health is something we each have to put a lot of effort into keeping on top of, but this struggle can be made easier with those that love and support us being there through the good times and the bad.
Apartment 402 has the singer discussing feelings of emptiness and hopelessness before coming to that realisation that something needs to change and making the decision to work towards implementing that change. As the song progresses the tempo slowly accelerates, again Marie using how we hear the song to compliment the lyrics of the track as we deal with further intrusive thoughts, before the final chorus where the tempo slows again as we focus almost solely on Marie’s vocals and their acceptance of the need for change, further using the music to work symbiotically with the lyrics.
. looks at dealing with the result of a breakup and the feelings of being lost and broken while the other person has moved on. Now unlike the usual songs you might hear around being hurt after a breakup, in this the singer does admit that they were not perfect and that their poor communication was a factor in them growing distant.
The final vocal track of I’ll Call You Mine shows us the struggle of being in a relationship and trying to be optimistic and jump into it, but also having those doubts that hang around. The mix of drums, guitar, and the vocals work so well that I feel it's definitely worthy of calling it a summer bop you would put on when driving in the summer sun. Again, this was another song that I was sad to see finished so quickly as the composition of the sound and lyrics worked so well, but as they say leave them wanting more!
it would feel like this is an instrumental track, which I actually think is a really nice way to finish the album. It carries over nicely from the last track with it carrying on that optimistic theme in the melody we hear, but it also gives us peace from the intrusive thoughts and dark feelings we have had in the various lyrics throughout the album. The title also acts as a nice cap to the album, with its stylisation of all lowercase working as a response to the album title, reading as “If I could make it go quiet, it would feel like this”. This gives us a sense that if the singer can get the intrusive thoughts and low mental health managed, they can have a more peaceful time within their own head, and acts as a very good close to the theme of the album.
Final Feelings and Recommendation
Keeping up with the theme of the show so far, I would indeed recommend this to people to listen to! Obviously it’s probably not for the death metal fans out there, or the gospel choir singers, but overall I think most people would enjoy listening to Girl in Red. I would also say that, at least for me as someone who has mental health issues, it's also comforting to have these things being openly displayed within the songs, so would also recommend it for anyone dealing with some of these issues to know you're not alone, and maybe there is some comfort in just that fact.
Also, as of recording this in March 2022, the Make It Go Quiet Tour is currently taking place, so I would definitely recommend going to support Marie if you are able to. I am actually gutted that they will be playing in Scotland on the 30th April, as I already have plans for that night and so am going to end up missing them while they are here! Typical eh? Well, clearly I will catch her next time she is in Scotland.
Rating wise, I would give the girl in red album of “If I could make it go quiet” a 7 out of 10 drum beats. It's a very cohesive album that flows well together in its themes and has a few songs there that I could definitely listen to on repeat due to the catchy beat and sharp lyrics.
NO SPOILERS AHEAD
As mentioned before, no spoilers this episode as we are discussing music and the musician.