What’s the next question after ‘Do you listen to Girl In Red?’ Obviously, it’s ‘What is your favourite song by her?’, which is almost impossible to answer because every single song that she creates is an experience. Her songs have the power to transport you to memories of old loves, and make you yearn for the heady romance of new ones. Whether you’re going on a drive to watch the city lights, taking a walk next to a lake, or even sitting in your bedroom after a tiring day, there’s definitely a Girl In Red song to match the vibe. While all of them need to be on your playlist, here are five classics you’re guaranteed to keep listening to on loop:
two queens in a king sized bed: Girl In Red knew what we needed even before we did. In the chaotic year that was 2020, she released this gorgeous single – the equivalent of staring at the night sky while holding your beloved’s hand. A soft, Christmas love song, its video is surreal because of how it depicts the transformative power of love when it manages to transcend the mundane. There are two girls (queens) in a king sized bed – at home, just like the rest of us in 2020 – but being wrapped up in each other’s arms means that they are constantly going in and out of a feeling that is best described by the visual metaphor of their bed floating in the middle of the endless sea. There is enough magic in their eye contact to create literal waves. The lyrics draw you into their moment from the first verse itself:
Two queens in a king-sized bed
There’s no mistletoe above our heads
But I’ll kiss you anyway on Christmas day
Yeah, I’ll kiss you anyway on Christmas day
I don’t have a lot to give
But I would give you everything
You can watch the song here:
we fell in love in october: We’ve all seen the beautiful reels on Instagram that the community has gotten a chance to create – with this song in the background – celebrating uninhibited love with their partners. The lyrics and video both drip with nostalgia, bringing back the memory of the exact moment you knew you were in love. The hazy video along with the imagery of the woods adds to this reminiscent mood, and you can’t help but fall in love with the song too. Perhaps one of her most well-known singles, we fell in love in october is extremely popular because of the sheer romance with which Girl In Red repeats ‘my girl’ over and over again:
We fell in love in October
That’s why I love fall
Looking at the stars
Admiring from afar
My girl, my girl, my girl
You will be my girl
You can watch the song here:
girls: Released during Pride month, this song is equal parts a revolt against heteronormativity and an ode to queer love. Written like a declaration made not only to the world but also to Girl In Red herself, girls celebrates the feeling of finding girls pretty, and noticing tiny things about them. It also reaffirms, over and over again, that to reduce what she experiences when she is in the company of a woman she likes to a ‘phase’ is not okay or correct even. Entirely filmed and edited by Girl In Red herself, the video feels like a montage of home movies featuring girls in their comfort zones where they’re just being who they are. The lyrics are affirmative and proud, ensuring that her feelings are made loud and clear:
No, this is not a phase
Or a coming of age
This will never change
They’re so pretty, it hurts
I’m not talking about boys,
I’m talking about girls
They’re so pretty with their button-up shirts
You can watch the song here:
bad idea!: Which one of us hasn’t fallen too fast and too much for that one person? Written like an internal monologue, bad idea! is almost a cautionary tale about how a phone call is never just a phone call. If you are longing and yearning for someone’s company to the point where you absolutely cannot resist calling them, why do you expect yourself to stop with just the one call? The video is a huge part of the storytelling aspect of this particular song, because the internal monologue is not taking place in the distant future when the protagonist is reflecting on what happened, but literally in cuts between the night that the two characters make love and the morning after. The usage of lights in this video is also phenomenal: a passionate red glow envelops them at night to reflect how they are overwhelmed by their want for each other, and an ordinary, everyday lighting palette takes over in the morning to show the return of reality. The lyrics emphasise what we can already see:
It was a bad idea
Calling you up
Was such a bad idea
I’m totally fucked
It was a bad idea
To think I could stop
Was such a bad idea
I can’t get enough
Watch it here:
i wanna be your girlfriend: Ranked no. 9 in the New York Times’ ‘68 Best Songs of 2018’ list, i wanna be your girlfriend captures the yearning and desire of a queer woman as she navigates the implications of heteronormativity. Written as an address to a friend ‘Hannah’, the song is about how she wants to be more than just friends. However, the tone and set-up make it more of an internal expression of desire than a direct conversation with Hannah. Since there is no official accompanying music video, you can almost imagine Hannah sitting next to Girl In Red, perhaps slightly unaware of or in denial about the singer’s feelings, as the lyrics tell us what is going on in the latter’s mind:
Oh Hannah
Don’t look away
Oh Hannah
Just look at me the same
I don’t wanna be your friend
I wanna kiss your lips
I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath
Listen to the song here:
