Track Review: Girl in Red – “Midnight Love”
Posted: by The Editor
Photo by Fabian Fjeldvik
COVID-19 might be sweeping the globe, but it sure as hell isn’t stopping World in Red from unfolding. 21-year-old Norwegian bedroom-pop artist Marie Ulven Ringheim, mainly known in the scene by Girl in Red, has finally unveiled the lead-single off her desperately awaited debut record World in Red.
“Midnight Love” acts as the perfect appetizer for what’s to come. It busts out of the gate with a dreamy soundscape, discussing themes relevant to Girl in Red’s experiences— casual sex and feeling insignificant. When discussing the single along the wave of its release, she expressed that the tender track was inspired by a close friend’s hook-up dynamic with a guy that caused her to think about a similar experience she had in one of her own relationships. The song wades as a confession about her making someone feel small.
The fragile tune starts out soft with a driving piano melody and a delicate acoustic guitar that blossoms into a moody tone causing one to reminiscence on days past— memories of the good and bad flitting through your mind. It’s a place we’ve never seen Girl in Red orbit too often. Instead of expressing rawness through grit, she has opted to display it through a hushed, emotional framework that almost seems too personal to listen to.
The moment Ringheim ushers her voice in, one can hear the emotional upheaval she is carrying on her back throughout. “Midnight Love” takes us down the pages of an abandoned story of two people who gravitate towards one another, but neither are looking for a romantic bond. Living in the world of limbo, she croaks out heartbreaking lines like, “I know I don’t want to be the one that you run to, when you’ve got nowhere else to go” and “I can’t be your midnight love, when your silver is my gold.” By the song’s somber end, you’re already attached to the characters in the song and are wistful about their dynamic. Your heart aches for them in a melancholy way that doesn’t have to be experienced to be felt.
“Midnight Love” is a zinger of a lead single. After taking time to cook up a debut record over the past year, hearing the maturity and grip through this tune is enough to have one chomping at the bit for what’s to come with Girl in Red. And perhaps, it’s enough to say, this might potentially end up being a global domination of World in Red and we’re just on the cusp of it.
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Hope Ankley//@hope_ankleknee
