“Girl in Red” is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. She is best known for her indie pop project and as a queer icon.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about her life and career.
- Her full name is Marie Ulven Ringheim
- She was born on February 16, 1999
- She is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer
- She is best known for her indie pop project Girl in Red
- The name is stylized as girl in red
- Her early EPs Chapter 1 (2018) and Chapter 2 (2019) were recorded in her bedroom
- They 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
- It won three Norwegian Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year
- 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
- In January 2021, her singles “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” (2017) and “We Fell in Love in October” (2018) were certified gold in the US
- 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
- She has 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 home
- 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 had taught herself piano, guitar and music production from the comfort of her bedroom
- She began by writing and releasing Norwegian music and planned to study music
- She never concluded that she was going to become a musician
- 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” on SoundCloud in November 2016
- There it got about 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
- 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
- Ulven now resides in the Grünerløkka district of Oslo
- She identifies as gay and queer
- 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
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