girl in red

Biography

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 (2018) 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×if i could make it go quiet30 April 2021 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Serotonin3:022Did You Come?3:113Body and Mind3:074hornylovesickmess2:565midnight love3:146You Stupid Bitch3:167Rue3:378Apartment 4023:259.2:4610I’ll Call You Mine3:2211it would feel like this1:20 (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×DOING IT AGAIN BABY7 March 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1DOING IT AGAIN BABY2:252Too Much3:03!, 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. She has sold over five million certified digital units in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She was awarded the Telenor Culture Prize in 2022 for her "artistic distinctiveness and explicit messages of boundless love".

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. Ulven received her first guitar as a Christmas gift from her grandfather in 2012, but didn't start playing it until 2013 after losing interest in fingerboarding. She credits her grandfather for sparking her interest in music. Ulven taught herself piano, guitar and music production in her bedroom. She began by writing and releasing Norwegian music and planned to study music, but never concluded that she was going to become a musician.

2015–2019: SoundCloud and EPs

After getting a Blue Yeti microphone from her father in 2015, Ulven began writing and releasing Norwegian music to SoundCloud under the moniker of "Lydia X". She stopped attending guitar lessons after six months once her teacher refused to acknowledge her interest in songwriting and producing. Ulven coined the stagename "Girl in Red" after attempting to identify herself in a crowd to a friend via text. Using the new moniker, she published her debut single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend×i wanna be your girlfriend16 September 2017 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1i wanna be your girlfriend3:25" on SoundCloud in November 2016, where it amassed 5,000 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×summer depression15 February 2018 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1summer depression2:31" and "Girls×girls7 June 2018 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1girls3:18" 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.
Ulven released "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" on Apple Music in March 2018. "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 opened for Clairo in Dublin and Paris in September 2018. Ulven released her debut EP, Chapter 1×chapter 114 September 2018 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1i wanna be your girlfriend3:252say anything2:233summer depression2:3244am1:515girls3:18, on 14 September 2018. Ulven released the standalone single "We Fell in Love in October×we fell in love in october21 November 2018 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1we fell in love in october3:042forget her2:23" in November 2018, which would peak at number 14 on the US Rock Charts in October 2019.
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×Beginnings20 June 2019 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1i wanna be your girlfriend3:24A2say anything2:22A3summer depression2:31A44am1:50A5girls3:18B1watch you sleep.3:00B2i need to be alone.2:57B3dead girl in the pool.3:07B4i'll die anyway.3:13B5bad idea!3:40, 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. Ulven was nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the 2019 P3 Gull Awards.

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. She provided the single "Kate's Not Here×kate's not here28 January 2020 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1kate's not here0:30" for the original soundtrack of the 2020 supernatural horror film The Turning. Ulven was nominated for the Newcomer of the Year award and, as a result, the Gramo scholarship at the 2020 Spellemannprisen. In May 2020, Ulven was included in the annual Dazed 100 list after her single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend×i wanna be your girlfriend16 September 2017 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1i wanna be your girlfriend3:25" passed 150 million streams.
In mid-2020, awareness of Ulven's artist persona became a way to identify as queer, as users of the online platform TikTok adopted the phrase, "Do you listen to girl in red?" to serve as a way of discreetly asking if someone is a lesbian, much in the same way a gay man could be identified as a "Friend of Dorothy".
In November, she released the standalone holiday single "Two Queens in a King Sized Bed×two queens in a king sized bed18 November 2020 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1two queens in a king sized bed3:10", shortly before she was awarded "Artist of the Year" at the 2020 P3 Gull Awards. Ulven released her debut studio album, titled If I Could Make It Go Quiet×if i could make it go quiet30 April 2021 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Serotonin3:022Did You Come?3:113Body and Mind3:074hornylovesickmess2:565midnight love3:146You Stupid Bitch3:167Rue3:378Apartment 4023:259.2:4610I’ll Call You Mine3:2211it would feel like this1:20, on 30 April 2021. The album has thus far been supported by four singles: "Midnight Love×midnight love14 April 2020 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1midnight love3:14", in April 2020, "Rue" in August 2020, "Serotonin×Serotonin3 March 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Serotonin3:02" in March 2021, and "You Stupid Bitch×You Stupid Bitch14 April 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1You Stupid Bitch3:16" 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×October Passed Me By14 October 2022 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1October Passed Me By2:45", which is a sequel to "We Fell in Love in October×we fell in love in october21 November 2018 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1we fell in love in october3:042forget her2:23". 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×DOING IT AGAIN BABY7 March 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1DOING IT AGAIN BABY2:252Too Much3:03!, on 12 April 2024. The album was supported by three singles: "Too Much×Too Much9 February 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Too Much3:03" 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×confession28 February 2025 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1confession1:25", 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, the film had its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.

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.

Personal life

Ulven now resides in the Grünerløkka district of Oslo. She is a lesbian. She studied music production and songwriting at Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology. Ulven revealed in 2021 that she has been diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.