Norwegian lo-fi artist girl in red started sharing her home-recorded songs as a teenager in 2017. Noted for her candid lyrics about the frustrations of everyday life and relationships, she emerged with catchy, guitar-based indie pop on early tracks including her viral debut, "I Wanna Be You Your Girlfriend."

Hailing from Horten, Norway, just south of Oslo, Marie Ulven began writing songs as a 16-year-old in 2015. She shared her first song as girl in red, "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend," in September of 2017. The following February, the track was featured on NRK Urørt, a website dedicated to emerging Norwegian artists, leading to a surge in streams and social media followers. In the meantime, girl in red had uploaded more tracks at the rate of about a song a month. February 2018's "Summer Depression" and that June's "Girls" joined her debut single in earning millions of streams before the end of the year. Mid-year, "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" was also included on Pride: A Compilation of LGBTQ Artists for GLSEN alongside artists such as MUNA, Cyn, and Pentatonix spin-off Superfruit. Around that time, Ulven relocated to Oslo for school while continuing to work on her music. "Eleanor and Park," a collaboration with fellow bedroom recordist beabadoobee (formerly Bea), followed in October of 2018.