By Chiara Piacentini
Staff Writer
Girl in Red announced her return to the music world with a sequel to her 2021 smash hit debut album, “If I Could Make It Go Quiet.” The queer indie pop singer’s new record, “I’m Doing It Again Baby!,” made its premiere on April 12.
In this second album, Marie Ulven Ringheim, known as Girl in Red, continues where she left off in her debut record, but with a louder emphasis on baring her soul. Throughout the 10-track compilation, Girl in Red takes us on a journey through her mental health struggles spanning the past three years.
“I’m Back” is the first to point out her struggle with mental illness by explaining her reason for her break between album releases.“I was gone for a minute ‘cause I went to get help,” she sings.
Ringheim also touches on her battle with depression while countering the negative mood with a small win: “Living life in grey did something to my brain / But hey, I took a shower today.” In doing so, she brings attention to the fact that depression isn’t something you can snap out of, but even just tiny acts of resistance are significant steps on the road to recovery.
Besides her commentary on depression, Ringheim simultaneously chronicles the simple yet important life lessons she’s learned since the release of her first album, such as “Time doesn’t stop for a sad little girl,” in “I’m Back.”
She also included her lead single, “Too Much,” which is about a past lover’s scorn that has Taylor Swift written all over it. To give a taste of this parallel, Girl in Red throws shade at her ex from the start: “Don’t you just love to kill the light in my eyes? / To make me low when I’m high?” She continues to vent her resentment towards her former partner throughout the song by explaining that they would belittle her with their emotionally unavailable attitude towards her. To compliment her tone in the verses preceding the chorus, she adds an angry synthesizer into the mix as well.
On a similar line of discussion, “Phantom Pain” and “You Need Me Now” are also confessions to being taken advantage of by former love interests. However, there’s one difference that sets them apart. “Phantom Pain” explores her obsessive attachment to a past partner despite their emotional unavailability, while “You Need Me Now” demonstrates her courage to push away a past lover despite their manipulative attempts to rekindle the relationship.
Ringheim later moves on to talk about how her own flaws end up hurting the people she loves in “Ugly Side” with a catchy bassline to match. To end off the song, she takes a musical risk by announcing in a voice at odds with the theme that she will be releasing a new podcast that talks more about this experience.
Overall, “I’m Doing It Again Baby!” is an expression of Ringheim’s self-confidence after emerging from what she calls the “years of not feeling myself.” While the risks may have been a hit or miss, it does add a human quality to the album as a whole and lends credence to her “emotional honesty.”
