Examining her own struggles with mental health, “Serotonin” is Marie Ulven’s (a.k.a. girl in red) unabashed story around her continued experience. The latest single off the Norwegian artist’s upcoming debut, if i could make it go quiet (AWAL), out April 30, Ulven co-produced “Serotonin” with Finneas, a raw track solidifies girl in red’s deeper connection with listeners across all ages and spectrums.
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Wrapped in anthemic, pop beats, Ulven’s exposed reveal the brutally honest thoughts of hopelessness, anxiety, and depression that are so often masked by man through, There’s no depth to these feelings / Dig deep, can’t hide / From the corners of my mind / I’m terrified of what’s inside.
Since debuting with “I wanna be your girlfriend” in 2018, the 22-year-old alt bedroom pop star has gained billions of streams and continues to be a force beyond the bedroom pop scene, and released “rue” and “midnight love,” also off if i could make it go quiet, in 2020.
Written entirely by Ulven, if i could make it go quiet, co-produced by Tellez, was a result of being locked at home in Oslo as Covid-19 hit and revisiting a space of songs and more personal stories she needed to tell.
“’If i could make it go quiet’ 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, to be angry, broken and unforgiving, yet still able to wear my heart on my sleeve,” shares Ulven. “I’m shedding light on the darkest parts of my mind and I’m letting everyone in. ‘If i could make it go quiet is me simply trying to understand what the fuck is going on.”
Ulven wrote and demoed if i could make it go quiet‘s 11 tracks at home, borrowing her father’s car to make an eight-hour trek to the Norwegian capital city of Bergen, nestled between fjords in an inlet off the North Sea, to record. “I really poured my heart into a lot of these lyrics, fully,” says Ulven. “I just feel like I emptied myself in this album.”
During her cross-country drive through the Norwegian wilderness to record, Ulven says she was able to think, refine, and find ways of making her songs better.
“Driving is a cathartic thing,” says Ulven. “It gives this amazing feeling of freedom. I love to talk to myself, so most of the time, if I didn’t listen to my songs, I would just reflect in the car. I read that talking out loud to yourself is healthy, so I’m going to keep doing that.”
