Norwegian singer-songwriter Girl in Red is back (or should it really be Girl in Blue now, following her name change on socials?) with a new single, Blue. I was first introduced to Girl in Red through 2018’s We Fell in Love in October, which quickly became one of my favourite songs of that year. Since then, she has released two full-length albums and collaborated with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter.
Despite enjoying some of her more recent stuff, I do find Girl in Red to be quite inconsistent. Neither of her previous albums, If I Could Make It All Go Quiet and I’m Doing It Again Baby, would be on my regular rotation, although both contain a handful of great songs. That being said, as a 35-year-old millennial, I am fully aware that I am not part of Girl in Red’s usual target audience. Despite this, I am still somewhat holding out hope that she will someday create her equivalent to Lorde’s Melodrama.
Now, onto the track itself – if I’m being honest, this one doesn’t really do much for me. Blue starts with some atmospheric, gently strummed, Fleet Foxes-esque acoustic guitars, ghostly harmonies and a simple, pulsing beat. The vocals seem quite jarring and a bit overly processed; perhaps a gentler treatment might have been more suitable. From here, it’s a slow journey to nowhere.
The lyrics seem to follow someone reconnecting with an ex and considering giving things another go, fairly predictable subject matter for Girl in Red. Some of the lines in this song are real clangers. “Your words hit me like drugs” is one that comes to mind.
Around the three-minute mark, the track seems to gain some momentum, but it doesn’t really go anywhere interesting.
Overall, there isn’t much to excite me about this, although I can’t totally condemn it. The instrumentation is nice and atmospheric in places, especially the acoustic guitars at the beginning. Although this isn’t something I would personally choose to listen to again or add to any of my playlists, it’s inoffensive enough that I wouldn’t reach for the skip button if it came up on my Spotify.