From supporting Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour, to recording a duet with Sabrina Carpenter, and a headline show at the 3Arena - Norwegian singer Girl in Red is on the rise
"Da da da dum, da da dum, la la . . . hey! Da da da dum, da da dum, la la . . . hey!" Norwegian pop star Girl in Red is singing her pre-gig chant to me on the Zoom machine.
That night, she and her band will do it for real just before they take the stage at the 3Arena in Dublin for her biggest ever headline show in Ireland - quite a leap from her first ever gig here at The Academy in 2018 when she supported Clairo.
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"That was my first ever show abroad so I feel very connected to Dublin," she says. "We went to Temple Bar and found the corniest bar and that's where we came up with our pre-gig ritual after we got s***faced and started jumping around like leprechauns.
"Ever since that night, I do that song with all the boys in the band every night before a show."
Girl in Red is Marie Ulven, the 25-year-old from the town of Horten, Norway, who has made quite a breakthrough over the past few years with her debut album, 2021’s If I Could Make It Go Quiet, and this year’s I’m Doing it Again Baby.
She is talkative, funny, self-effacing, outspoken and very good company.
Her candy floss vocals and alt-pop bristles with F bombs and confrontational lyrics that often dissect her struggles with mental health. Ulven revealed in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder.
Writing about it all has become a form of therapy. The spoken word passage on album track Ugly Side is as soul-baring as it gets while on early song, Serotonin (which was produced by Finneas O’Connell), she sings about being "stabilised by medication" and battling intrusive thoughts.
On I’m Back, the opening of her latest album, she sings, "I know I have a tendency, melancholic tragedy always seems to follow me 'round". It’s a cliché but Girl in Red is in a long lineage of melancholic Scandi-pop, from Abba to A-ha, and The Cardigans to Robyn, acts who wrap their inner turmoil in the most gorgeous melodies.
Ulven began venturing into music at the age of 14 when she uploaded her songs onto SoundCloud under the name LydiaX. The name change to Girl in Red was inspired by a text she sent to a friend to identify herself in a crowd.
She really has shaken the "bedroom pop" tag on the playful and direct Baby I’m Doing It Again and, more importantly, the album comes from a place of personal happiness.
"I had two years of not being depressed when I made the album and I think it definitely has a change of tone because it’s happier, more energetic and hopeful," she says.
"My first album was sadder and angsty whereas this new album is more `let’s f***ing go!' but the stuff I’m working on now has changed again. That’s why I hate labels. I don’t want anyone to think that my third album is going to be like the first one or the second one."
So, has success made her happier? "I’m definitely living my dream in many ways and it is incredibly fulfilling to play shows and to go into the studio and make music. That makes me extremely happy.
"It’s not a constant thing. Sometimes I’m very happy, sometimes I’m not but overall, I’m much happier with my life because of the success I’ve had but I still have a personal life and that bleeds into how I feel. Success has made my life very meaningful but it’s not like success means happiness."
You might say female-powered pop is having quite a moment this year. Just last week, nine of the top ten acts in the Irish singles chart were by female artists, eight out of the twelve albums nominated for this year's Mercury Prize are by solo female acts or female-fronted bands, Taylor Swift has taken over the world, and the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan are following in her wake.
"I think it’s really cool to see," says Ulven. "As much as I’m also down to see a man make great music and be a success, it’s sick that it’s very heavily women right now, the last couple of years it’s been Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and I’m here for it.
"I think the music is great and the artistry is really fun, especially Sabrina’s new album, but I’m curious to see who is going to be the next young male pop star who’s going to get all the girls f***ing crazy!"
In fact, Girl in Red likes Sabrina Carpenter so much that she recorded a duet with her called You Need Me Now, which appears on Baby I’m Doing it Again.
Ulven had her biggest experience of superstardom last year when she supported Taylor Swift on eight dates in front of half a million fans on the Eras Tour.
"It was cool. I’ve never seen anything like it," she says. "I’d never been to a stadium tour so to see how big the Eras Tour was amazing, to see how big things can get . . . I thought, `oh my god, I need to work harder!’ Even saying that out loud to you makes me feel vulnerable. It was incredibly cool, so many people, so many trucks , the rig is insane . . . it’s big!
"I met Taylor a couple of times and she was very sweet and a lovely person to talk to. I felt very welcome. The moment I walked into the room, she hugged me immediately and said, `oh my god, thank you so much for being a part of this, I love your album!’ She was so sweet.
"She is not the woman certain people want her to be - this evil puppet master. She is a very sweet person who is also an incredibly good businesswoman."
Almost as soon as she started releasing music herself, Ulven had to contend with misogyny and she has a lot to say about how Swift faces online trolls. "We all know there is misogyny against her," she says.
"But having said that, I think a lot of men have become fans during the Eras Tour but we can pretty much say there is misogyny against any woman who is out there earning more money and doing better and there will be men out there who will be jealous of women having more success than they do.
"However, I have seen more people acknowledge that Taylor is a great songwriter or to say they don’t like her music but can do acknowledge what she’s achieved.
However, Ulven’s girlfriend of three years is not a fan. "She doesn’t like Taylor’s music and it’s a really hard thing for us but she acknowledges that she is a great artist."
Has it created any friction? "It has, of course! I say, `listen to this song’ and she says, `it all sounds the same, Marie. I don’t like it!’ I say `but listen to the ten-minute version . . . ‘ and she’s `no, I don’t want to!’ But she does agree she is a great artist."
Having seen the Swift machine up close and personal, Ulven isn’t sure if she’d like that level of success. "It’s even hard for me to imagine being in that kind of position," she says. "I think Taylor has a lot of people around her to support her so I would deal with it by having a lot of friends and support from people who know who I really am, have a good support system and really believe in yourself and not give a single f***.
"I can be hard because I have people saying things about me online that aren’t true. There is the Taylor Swift brand and The Girl in Red brand but we are still just Taylor and just Marie.
"People will say things about you that are untrue but you have to learn to live with it."
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