Bonnaroo 2023 Artist Spotlight: girl in red

Like we’ve been doing for many years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorite acts from Bonnaroo‘s 2023 lineup. After roaring back to life last summer, after two years off due to Covid and weather, this year marks Bonnaroo’s 20th installment (and 22nd anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also more changes and improvements then we’ve seen in years, with more flexibility in ticketing and camping, a reimagined “Outeroo” campground area, new activations, and further new ways to Roo. Back once again in its usual June 15-18 timeframe, we’re counting down the days until another great weekend on the farm.

As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages, big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, and most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. And as our time at ‘Roo approaches, we’ll also be bringing you some special features and full list-style daily lineup guides, to help you plan your weekend ahead of the fest. While these previews won’t span every artist, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend at the fest!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

LEARN

Marie Ulven Ringheim, better known by her musical alias girl in red, was still in her teens when her debut single, “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend,” helped propel her to viral fame online, and eventually to international recognition, kicking off a career which has seen her become one of the most beloved fixtures in indie pop over the last several years. Hailing from Norway, Marie took an interest to guitar and songwriting at age 14, and began recoding her own songs after receiving a microphone as a gift at 16, soon self-releasing her work on SoundCloud, which, early on, was in her native Norwegian. After coining the moniker girl in red and beginning to make music in English, Ulven began attracting the attention of critics at home and abroad, and amassing an impressive number of streams, with her debut EP, Chapter 1, arriving in 2018, and viral early single “We Fell in Love in October” landing not long after. Like her debut, 2019 followup EP Chapter 2 was an intimate, home recorded work about romance, heartbreak, and mental health, and with the aforementioned singles as well as tracks like “Girls,” girl in red quickly became a queer music icon, with the phrase “Do you listen to girl in red?” even becoming a trend on TikTok to discreetly ask if someone is a lesbian. After signing a worldwide distribution deal, touring internationally, and amassing tons of positive press, particularly for her impact in LGBTQ+ spaces, girl in red released her debut full-length, if i could make it go quiet, in 2021, inking new publishing and major label record deals the following year. Most recently, Marie embarked on the biggest shows of her career in support of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and the fact that her first time at Bonnaroo will be a prime Sunday evening slot on one of the festival’s largest stages is a testament to just how impressive the now 24-year-old’s rise has been over the last five years. Bonnaroo is, as much as anything, an exciting showcase of the best of what’s next, and no one fits more squarely into that category this year than girl in red.

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