Marie Ulven Ringheim, also known as Marie Ulven or professionally as girl in red, is a Norwegian indie pop singer-songwriter. She is known for appealing to people with her "bedroom pop anthems about romance and mental health." Her single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" has gained over 150 million streams online, and was listed at No. 9 on The New York Times list of "The 68 Best Songs of 2018". Since 2018, Ulven has released two extended plays from her bedroom studio and has amassed over 5 million monthly streamers on Spotify. Ulven has been named a "queer icon" by Paper, and a "phenomenon" that is "one of the most astute and exciting singer-songwriters working in the world of guitar music" by New York Times. Her music, which is made from the comfort of her bedroom, has amassed over 150 million streams as of October 2019. Since 2019, Ulven has been on two North American tours and two European tours, and has performed at festivals such as Lowlands, Rock en Seine and Øyafestivalen. She was named by NME as "one of the most hyped acts at The Great Escape" in 2019.
Early life
Marie Ulven Ringheim was born in the town of Horten, Norway on 16 February 1999. She grew up in the town with her sisters and her divorced parents, and described it 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. 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. Whilst 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 had taught herself piano, guitar and music production from the comfort of her bedroom. Ulven began by writing and releasing Norwegian music and planned to study music, but never concluded that she was going to become a musician.
Career
2015–2017: SoundCloud and "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend"
After getting a Blue Yeti microphone by 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, where 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.
2018–2019: ''Chapter 1'' and ''Chapter 2''
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. Ulven released "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" on Apple Music in March 2018. After the release of Ulven's debut EP, Chapter 1, on 14 September 2018. "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" was listed at number 9 on The New York Times list of "The 68 Best Songs of 2018". The song currently has over 70 million streams on Spotify. Ulven opened for Clairo in Dublin and Paris in September 2018 and released "We Fell in Love in October" in November 2018 which peaked at 14 on the US Rock Charts in October 2019. In October 2018, the song "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" won "Årets Urørt" at the P3 Gull awards. She performed the song as an interval act at the award ceremony in 2018, alongside names like Astrid S, Dagny, and Emilie Nicolas. Ulven embarked on her first North American tour supporting Conan Gray in March 2019. She released her second EP, Chapter 2, as well as Beginnings, a compilation of her entire single catalogue into one exclusively vinyl album on September 6, 2019 under AWAL in September 2019. She embarked on her first international headlining "World in Red" tour in October 2019, performing in cities such as Dublin and San Francisco. In November 2019, announced that girl in red would be leading their Hype List of 2020, meaning that she will be making her first ever front cover appearance in December 2019. Ulven was nominated for "Newcomer of the Year" at the 2019 P3 Gull awards.
2020–present: ''World in Red''
Ulven made the front cover of both Gay Times and Dork in December 2019, as well as the cover of NME in January 2020. She also provided the single "Kate's Not Here" for the original soundtrack of the 2020 supernatural horror filmThe Turning. She told Billboard and NME that she aims to be releasing her debut album, World in Red around October 2020. The lead single for the album, "Midnight Love" was released in April 2020, when Ulven told NME, " ain’t gonna stop World In Red, baby!" In May 2020, Ulven was included in the annual Dazed 100 list after her single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" clocked 150 million streams. In mid 2020, she became a popular symbol of queer identification on the online platform TikTok, where users would adopt the common euphemistic phrase, "Do you listen to Girl in Red?".
