Girl in Red has dropped her new single ‘Serotonin’ shortly after the announcement of her upcoming debut album If I could make it go quiet.
New album announcement
The Norwegian Singer-songwriter, Marie Ulven, revealed at the start of March that the album will be released on 30 April, while her track ‘Serotonin’ came out on 3 March. The album follows a string of the artist’s singles and EPs, with the new track due to appear on the album together with previously released tracks ‘Rue’ and ‘Midnight Love’. ‘Serotonin’ has certainly left fans patiently waiting in anticipation for the album’s release.
Never mind ‘Girl in Red,’ Ulven is the ‘Girl on Fire’, taking the music industry into her own hands and running with it. All the tracks on her forthcoming album are written and produced by her, with the album being co-produced by Matias Tellez. Her single ‘Serotonin’ was also co-produced by Tellez, alongside Billie Eilish’s brother and singer-songwriter, FINNEAS.
A genre-defying artist
Ulven’s previous releases lend themselves to the indie-pop genre and while her latest release follows suit, it’s a great eclectic mix and could place itself into multiple genres of music. An assortment of sounds effectively blended together to make a glorious cocktail. With a slight punk edge and indie-pop energy, it brings a sound your ears will prick up to and immediately want to listen. It begins with the striking sounds of a guitar and distorted synths; layered sounds that spring you into a place of rising mixed emotions. As Ulven’s voice comes in its breathy and slight husky edge sets you afloat as if melting into quicksand or gravitating above clouds.
“her tone is mesmerising, hypnotising…the rhythmic melody allows you to give her complete trust to take you on a journey”
Her tone is mesmerising, hypnotising – its beauty and a sound redolent of Lana Del Ray or Ellie Rowsell from the band Wolf Alice. A voice that you confide in from the offset, the rhythmic melody allows you to give her complete trust to take you on a journey through song, coasting along with her slow and melancholic sound like you’re walking on water. As the song progresses a shift occurs, dropping a heavy beat alongside the continued guitar, which pushes the track into a slight alternative rock feel.
Beautiful and chaotic
As you reach the chorus, the perfectly executed transitions leave you feeling like you’ve reached the peak of a mountain. It’s almost as if the verses leading up to it are painting a picture and the chorus is the reveal of a beautiful image – colours and detail with a tinge of chaos. This song is equally a sound evolution and explosion.
“deeply layered and incredibly raw”
It’s no wonder the sound brings a slight chaos when you listen to the lyrics of the song. Matching the concoction of sound is Ulven’s mixture of emotions and conflicting voices inside her head. Deeply layered and incredibly raw, she follows in her own footsteps of previously released singles with her honest lyricism, pushing boundaries and unafraid to use to her music to speak her mind. She rose to prominence with her homemade bedroom songs about queer romance and mental health, with this track tackling the latter like no other before.
Deeply personal
The track was written while she was in therapy last year and in the song she opens up about her intrusive thoughts, giving insight into her personal experiences and thought processes.
“it’s not only a beautiful track but an important one too; a release and relatable source of support for those going through a similar journey”
As the chorus comes, she sings, “I’m running low on serotonin / chemical imbalance got me twisting things,” and in the verses she breaks down what she is going through, addressing her thoughts directly and sharing her story. It’s incredibly uncensored and intimate, heart-breaking to listen to, yet equally cathartic as she voices the shared experience of many battling with their mental health, ending the song with the line “I’m terrified of what’s inside.” For that reason, it’s not only a beautiful track but an important one too; a release and relatable source of support for those going through a similar journey. It’s a song that will resonate with many.
Ulven states that her music is “an attempt to learn what it’s like to be human; to deal with the scariest parts of myself; to live with the pain of knowing I’m only flesh and bones. I’m shedding light on the darkest parts of my mind and I’m letting everyone in.” She adds, “I’ve had intrusive thoughts for quite some time. I learned that these are not things that I want. A thought is just a thought. The minute I realised that, then I was okay with talking about it because I have a much more relaxed relationship to it. I can sort of acknowledge that I’m okay.”
Making mental health a priority
“conveys her bravery and efforts to end the stigma that still seems to surround mental health”
She effectively conveys that conflict in her music provides both a hand to hold and a message of holding on through difficult times for those that resonate with it. It’s an extremely powerful and moving track and while it showcases her talent, it also conveys her bravery and efforts to end the stigma that still seems to surround mental health. A taboo-breaking, emotion-evoking, and reassuring release that helps to make intrusive thoughts a little less terrifying and isolating.
Girl in Red’s ‘Serotonin’ is out now via world in red under exclusive license to AWAL Recordings Ltd.
Danielle Saunders
Featured image courtesy of Grant McCurdy via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.