Girl In Red Does It Again
Photos by Heather Hazzan.
Marie Ulven Ringheim, also known as Girl In Red, burst onto the music scene with her song ‘I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’ all the way back in 2016.
2016 to me feels like last year, but as it turns out, it was eight years ago. WTF. Since then, Girl In Red has released two EPs, and as of last week, two studio albums notably titled ‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!’. Oh and she’s the winner of three Norwegian Grammy awards and is only 25. No biggie. We had a chat to Marie about all things music, dogs and alkaline water.
How are you?
I’m good I just woke up like an hour ago and just got back from walking my dog. She just had surgery so she can only get in like ten steps a day.
Oh no, what sort of surgery?
On Monday she just started acting weird and didn’t want to go on her walk and something was up, so we went to the vet. Her spleen had twisted. So, we had to get that spleen out.
Is she okay now?
I hope so.
What’s her name?
Luna.
That’s a beautiful name for a dog.
It’s the most used name in Norway.
Is it?
Yeah. Anyway. Bye Luna I’m never going to talk about you again now. Sorry.
No, I could talk about dogs the whole time. I love dogs.
What about you do you have a dog? One of those Aussie Shepard’s?
Oh man, how cute are they? One of my favourites. I don’t have a dog at the moment but it’s taking every bit of restraint not to get one. I’m just travelling a lot and not really in a spot to get one right now you know.
Yeah, do the travel first and then get the dog.
Yeah, that was my thought too. What breed is Luna?
She’s a Bernese Mountain dog.
Oh lovely. Big cutie.
Very big. Very cute. Everyone kept telling me I couldn’t get a dog because of all the touring and the travelling but I wanted to be a dog mum and it worked out.
Yeah, how’s all the touring and stuff going? It’s been a big year for you so far.
I don’t really think about it. Since I still live in Norway I am still really far away from that sort of stuff. I don’t really feel it until I’m on tour.
True. I feel like even though Norway is obviously smaller than Australia, it would semi be the same in the sense that there are no paparazzi here on the level like it is in the United States or something. Famous people get away with being famous a lot easier down here.
Yeah, we don’t have that here either. People just stare at you here.
Do you think your ambitions have changed since you first started getting recognised?
When I first started, I was really young and had no idea of anything. But my ambitions have changed. They go up and down. My ambitions with this album were higher than before because I felt so in tune with everything.
And are you someone who has a plan making a record or do you prefer to wing it?
I think I’ve realised that plans don’t really work. You can have an amazing plan, but you don’t ever really know how it’s going to land. So, fuck the plans, I just want to make something really good and that I believe in. With this album, my manager and my team have always had a plan, but I don’t think plans ever fucking work.
When you write songs are you someone who prefers to finish a song completely before moving on to the next one or do you just switch between what feels good?
I am really bad at finishing songs. I’ll be thinking of a melody in my mind and then jump to something else and be like ‘oh I love this idea’ but have to consciously be like no I’m not going to work on the new idea. I think when I was younger, I could just work on something until it was finished but not so much anymore.
How important is it to you as an artist to take breaks away from music? Are you someone that does that does a lot of things outside of music?
I feel like I do a lot of different things, but I don’t even know what I do with my time anymore. I feel like I need to be more productive and sit in front of a computer with an excel spreadsheet mapping everything out. Right now, I finished the album in October, delivered the masters in December and haven’t made any new music as I’ve mostly just been doing other stuff, but I don’t even know what (laughs).
It's interesting because I think a lot of creative people don’t really give themselves enough rest, or time away from their thing and you’re just like ‘I need an excel spreadsheet let’s go!’
Yeah, I just feel like I need to work harder. I’d like to be more hands-on. I need to be more aware.
Yeah, proactive in the process – that can’t be a bad thing. Also, I just want to say ‘Midnight Love’ is the best song for anyone going through a situationship. I love that song so much. I think it’s such an incredible skill to articulate a feeling or an experience, particularly uncomfortable shitty ones and turn it into this beautiful thing we can sing along and relate to. Are you conscious, when you write a song like that, or any other song that maybe touches on mental health, the impact that you have on people?
I feel like I’ve had to remind myself of that. Like I mentioned being in Norway – being so far away from people and not being on tour – I kind of forget that when you look at monthly listeners or whatever it’s actually real people. I feel like the world is in a really bad place and sometimes I feel like what I do is so hopeless and meaningless but then I’m like wait this actually matters to people, real people. I think I undermine the importance of music, but it really does matter. I think it’s really cool that there are real people out there listening and resonating.
It is so cool! Alright last one - can you tell me something about Norway that no Australian would know?
I think the air here is really good. It’s so fresh and crisp, it just feels like you’re getting enough oxygen in every breath. It feels different to other countries. The water here is also amazing. All the fancy alkaline water is just tap water in Norway. I’m out here preaching the water gospel of Norway.