girl in red

Marie Ulven Ringheim (born 16 February 1999), known professionally as Girl in Red (stylised in all lowercase), is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and producer. Her first EPs Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 (2019) were recorded in her bedroom and feature songs about romance and mental health. Released through AWAL, her debut studio album If I Could Make It Go Quiet (2021) was a critical and commercial success, and won three Spellemann Awards, including Spellemann of the Year. She then signed to Columbia Records and released her second album, I'm Doing It Again Baby!, to moderate success in 2024.

Girl in Red has been cited as a queer icon by Paper, and "one of the most astute and exciting singer-songwriters working in the world of guitar music" by The New York Times.

Early life Marie Ulven Ringheim was born in the town of Horten, Norway, on 16 February 1999. She grew up with her sisters and her divorced parents, and described Horten as "quiet and kinda boring" in an interview with Triple J in October 2019. Her mother worked with technology and her father worked as a policeman. Her grandfather could play the guitar and piano; however, she grew up without instruments in the house. While in high school, Ulven was curious about becoming a teacher before she was introduced to the guitar and songwriting at the age of 14. She began by writing and releasing Norwegian music and planned to study music, but never concluded that she was going to become a musician. She stopped attending guitar lessons after six months once her teacher refused to acknowledge her interest in songwriting and producing. Using the new moniker, she published her debut single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" on SoundCloud in November 2016, where it amassed 5 thousand streams within five months. Following the single's feature on the Norwegian music website NRK Urørt, "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" amassed thousands of streams and gained Ulven a large online following.

Ulven's 2018 singles "Summer Depression" and "Girls" gained millions of views and streams online. In early 2019, she won her first award when she was presented with Norwegian Newcomer of the Year at the 2018 GAFFA Awards. "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" was listed at number 9 on The New York Times list of "The 68 Best Songs of 2018" and won Untouched of the Year at the 2018 P3 Gull Awards.

Ulven embarked on her first North American tour supporting Conan Gray in March 2019. She released Chapter 2, her second EP, as well as Beginnings, a compilation of her entire single catalogue into one exclusively vinyl album, on 6 September 2019 through the music company AWAL. She embarked on her first international headlining "World in Red" tour in September 2019, performing in cities such as Dublin and San Francisco.

2020–2023: If I Could Make It Go Quiet In December 2019, Ulven signed a worldwide recording contract with British music company AWAL. In a rare phenomenon for most new label signees, her entire existing discography, which had all originally been self-released, was subsequently registered under this label on all digital music platforms. Ulven appeared on the front cover of both Gay Times and Dork in December 2019, as well as the cover of NME in January 2020. Ulven was nominated for the Newcomer of the Year award and, as a result, the Gramo scholarship at the 2020 Spellemannprisen.

In mid 2020, girl in red became a popular symbol of queer identification on the online platform TikTok, where users would adopt the common phrase, "Do you listen to girl in red?" as a way of discreetly asking if someone is a lesbian. In November, she released the standalone holiday single "Two Queens in a King Sized Bed", shortly before she was awarded "Artist of the Year" at the 2020 P3 Gull Awards. The album has thus far been supported by four singles: "Midnight Love", in April 2020, "Rue" in August 2020, "Serotonin" in March 2021, and "You Stupid Bitch" in April 2021. The cover artwork for the album, made by Norwegian painter and artist Fredrik Wiig Sørensen, was originally an oil painting on a 80x80 cm canvas titled The Antizero. The artist was not credited in the physical release.

In 2022, Ulven signed to Irving Azoff's PRO, Global Music Rights (GMR). In February 2022, Ulven signed a record deal with Columbia Records, following the success of If I Could Make It Go Quiet. The label confirmed the signing to American media company Variety. At the 2022 Spellemannprisen, girl in red was named Spellemann of the Year, while If I Could Make It Go Quiet won Release of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. On 14 October, she released her single, "October Passed Me By", which is a sequel to "We Fell in Love in October". Ulven was an opening act on multiple shows of the U.S. leg of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour (2023).

2024–present: I'm Doing It Again Baby! Ulven released her second studio album, I'm Doing It Again Baby!, on 12 April 2024. The album was supported by three singles: "Too Much" in February 2024, "Doing It Again Baby" in March 2024, and "You Need Me Now?" with Sabrina Carpenter, also in March. To support the album, Ulven performed on the Doing It Again Tour between April and October of 2024.

On 28 February 2025, Ulven released the song "Confession", a stripped-back guitar ballad that was described by NME as "reminiscent of her lo-fi earlier work". In June, she performed as an opener for the first night of BST Hyde Park 2025.

Ulven stars as the lead character, Maja, in the film Low Expectations. Produced by Maipo Film and directed by Eivind Landsvik,

Artistry and influences The subject matters of Ulven's music range from romance and heartbreak to mental illness and the experience of being queer. She named Taylor Swift as one of her biggest musical influences. She studied music production and songwriting at Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology.

Discography Studio albums Title Details Peak chart positionsCertifications NOR AUS BEL(FL) FIN GER NL NZ SWE UK US If I Could Make It Go Quiet Released: 30 April 2021 Label: World in Red, AWAL Format: Digital download, streaming, cassette, LP, CD 2 10 11 30 19 7 31 31 7 67 BPI: Silver I'm Doing It Again Baby! Released: 12 April 2024 Label: Columbia Format: Digital download, streaming 14 — 34 37 — — — — 37 183 "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Compilation albums Title Details Peak chart positions NORVinyl AUSHit. Beginnings Chapter 2 Released: 6 September 2019 Label: World in Red, AWAL Format: Digital download, streaming Spotify Singles Released: 8 September 2021 Label: World in Red, AWAL Format: Streaming

Singles As lead artist + Title Year Peak chart positionsCertifications Album NOR CZR GRE LTU NZHot POL SVK UKSales USRock WW "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" — — "Serotonin" 2021 — — — — 32 — — — 20 — MC: Gold — — — — 29 — — — 36 — "I'll Call You Mine" — — — — — — — — — — "October Passed Me By" 2022 — — — — 28 — — — 45 — "Too Much" 2024 — — I'm Doing It Again Baby! "Doing It Again Baby" — — — — — — — — — — "You Need Me Now?" — — — — 23 — — — 40 — "Girlfriend Is Better" — — — — — — — — — — Everyone's Getting Involved "Hemingway" 2025 — — — — 14 — — — — — "Rødt hvitt blått" 2026 2 — — — — — — — — — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

As featured artist TitleYearAlbum"Malibu"2018 Can We All Go to Bed

Videography

Other appearances TitleYearAlbum "Kate's Not Here"2020The Turning (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) "Something New" Moominvalley 2 (Official Soundtrack)

Television YearTelevision programRoleNetworkNotes 2021 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Herself NBC Musical guest (episode 1454) 2022 Venner fra før Vilje NRK Episode: "Den jævla festen"

Awards and nominations Following the success of her debut studio album If I Could Make It Go Quiet, the singer was nominated for seven awards at the 2022 Spellemannprisen, winning three of them: Spellemann of the Year, Release of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. In this year, she also broke the record for the largest number of nominations an artist has received in the same Spellemannprisen edition. She is the most-awarded female artist in Spellemann history.

Tours Headlining The World in Red Tour (2019) Make It Go Quiet Tour (2022) Doing It Again Tour (2024) The Sunset Shows (2018–19) (Conan Gray) Happier Than Ever, The World Tour (2022) (Billie Eilish) The Eras Tour (2023) (Taylor Swift)