girl in red: "This album definitely feels like a risk"

As she returns for her second album, girl in red’s Marie Ulven is embracing joy and self-discovery.

Words: Ali Shutler.
Photos: Derek Bremner.

"Everyone should just be making jokes all the time," says girl in red's Marie Ulven. "Laughter is just so cool." That smirking desire to have a good time fuels her maximalist new album, 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!'.

It's a world away from the delicate but crushing heartache that drove girl in red's breakout hits 'I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend' and 'Summer Depression', but this new era is all about having the best time possible. That excitement is reflected in the giant hand-painted banner that screams 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!' and doubles up as the album's cover, while the music builds on the giddy, stadium-baiting pop of debut album 'If I Could Make It Go Quiet'. 

As huge as that record was, sounding perfectly at home in arenas and stadiums via tours with Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, it also desperately clung to whatever tiny moments of optimism that Marie could find. By contrast, 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!' embraces pure, unadulterated glee at every turn. "With that first album, I was searching for joy. I was hoping that I'd be fine," she explains. As 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!''s blossoming opening track 'I'm Back' says, 'I believe there's hope for me'.

"The past two years have actually been really joyous," Marie adds. "I've been figuring out how to deal with anxiety, I've been going to therapy, I've just been really happy. This album is all coming from a place of truth," she promises.

"Also, I'm easily bored and want to try new things that I think are fun. I want to do things that are interesting instead of trying to make something overly sad or seem smart," she continues. "Fun is the new rock'n'roll."

It's not as simple as that, though. One moment, Marie is telling us how "there are no skips on this album, every track is my favourite", but the next, she's admitting she never really knows how good an album actually is. "There have been so many second albums where an artist has clearly lost it after spending a couple of years on the road. That's been my biggest fear."

"There are so many feelings and thoughts behind this album, it's almost too much for me to explain," she adds. Ping-ponging between swaggering confidence and something more anxious is exactly how 'I'm Doing It Again Baby!' was made, though.