BY: Alexis Eichelberger

Do you listen to girl in red? If not, now is the time, regardless of how much you understand that question’s dual meaning. The internet’s favorite queer indie rocker is finally releasing her debut album.

Marie Ulven, a.k.a. girl in red, is a Norweigian rising star discovered on SoundCloud. Her debut single “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” went viral after its release in 2016 and scored her a massive online following. Soon after, she released her music on official streaming platforms, won European awards for upcoming artists, and performed her first shows in the United States.

Ulven’s breakthrough in America came in mid-2020 when her music went viral once again, this time on the all-powerful TikTok. Ever since, we can’t get enough of the girl in red’s gritty indie rock style, despite having only a handful of singles and a few EPs to satisfy us.

Thankfully, the release of girl in red’s debut album If I Could Make It Go Quiet is on the horizon. The record was delayed in late 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is finally scheduled to drop on April 30, 2021.

Here’s everything we know about If I Could Make It Go Quiet so far.

 

THE TRACKLIST 

The full tracklist for If I Could Make It Go Quiet was announced in early March. The album includes 11 songs for a 33-minute total runtime. Here’s the complete list, which gives us hints that there will be lots of sex and romance-themed material. (We’re most interested in “hornylovesickmess.”)

1. Serotonin
2. Did You Come?
3. Body And Mind
4. Hornylovesickmess
5. midnight love
6. You Stupid Bitch
7. Rue
8. Apartment 402
9. .
10. I’ll Call You Mine
11. it would feel like this

 

FINNEAS PRODUCED AT LEAST ONE TRACK ON THE ALBUM

FINNEAS, one of the world’s hottest producers, lent his Grammy-winning skills to produce at least one track on girl in red’s debut record. “Serotonin,” the lead track of the album, was the third single released. The song has a significantly more electro-pop feel than much of what we’ve heard from girl in red so far. It’s precisely up FINNEAS’ musical alley, and we’re excited to see if he appears anywhere else on If I Could Make It Go Quiet.

Ulven herself is also credited as a producer on the album, as well as Matias Tellez. Tellez is a fellow Norweigan known for his pop, rock, and tropicalia, a tropical music style originating in Brazil.

 

ALL THREE SINGLES SHOW DIFFERENT ARTISTIC SIDES OF GIRL IN RED

As discussed, “Serotonin” shows off a more electronically-infused, high-production side of girl in red. But the album’s other singles show off her genre-spanning artistic abilities.

“Midnight Love,” the debut single from If I Could Make It Go Quiet, is standard girl in red indie rock. It’s the dynamic and gritty alternative style that made us fall in love with her the first time we heard “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend.”

Next came “Rue,” named after the main character from HBO’s dazzling series Euphoria. It’s still within Ulven’s rock wheelhouse but showcases how the production level used to create her music has changed. The song builds throughout each verse, crescendoing into a big, bold sound that crashes into us during the chorus.

Up third was “Serotonin,” and last but not least came “You Stupid Bitch.” This song is as angst as it sounds. It’s unapologetic and aggressive in a strangely loving way. Musically, it’s an alt-rock masterpiece.

 

THE ALBUM WILL SURPRISE US

In multiple interviews about If I Could Make It Go Quiet, Ulven has reaffirmed that this album will be different from her previous releases. It shows a more honest and artistically adventurous side.

“There’s some crazy shit going down on this album,” Ulven said in an interview with DIY. “I’m doing things I’ve never done before. It’s a very, very ambitious album.”

We can’t wait to hear the other seven songs from If I Could Make It Go Quiet on Friday, April 30.