Marie Ulven AKA: girl in red, has shared a new video for “Rue.” Today, the Norwegian singer/songwriter/producer gives her fans a taste of her yet-to-be-named debut album, with a video for “rue,” a song about escapism that shows Marie in a completely different light, one much darker than ever before. Watch the exceptional video directed by Niels Windfeldt below.

“rue” began in an unlikely place — a Guitar Center in Times Square where she was trying out acoustic guitars and happened upon its chord progression. Taking further shape at the back of her tour bus, it’s inspired by the parallels she recognised between herself and the character of Rue in HBO’s Euphoria. “She is a drug addict, which I’m not,” says Marie. “But a lot of the stuff she’s felt and is trying to escape from is shit I’m dealing with all the time.” Returning to Norway, she began to construct a far bigger arrangement. The song sees Marie battle with mental health struggles. “That’s some heavy ass work,” says Marie. “It’s not physical work but it feels like it because it’s so hard.”

girl in red has a rare and sincere openness to her songwriting where she discusses both her queerness and mental health which has sparked feelings of hope, solidarity and togetherness among her fanbase. “A lot of people don’t know about mental health,” she says. “People lack knowledge and don’t understand that your mental health isn’t necessarily who you are. You can be depressed but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to go outside or you don’t have feelings. To me it’s not taboo at all to talk about mental health. Everyone has a mental health. I don’t see talking about sex as a taboo thing either.”