If you like girl in red, try these 6 artists

Marie Ulven, the Norwegian songwriter from Horten who records as girl in red, turned a bedroom into a global singalong. "we fell in love in october" came out in 2018, and the albums if i could make it go quiet (2021) and I'M DOING IT AGAIN BABY! (2024) kept the same trick going: a small, blunt crush song that somehow fits a whole room of people.

Everyone already has Clairo and Beabadoobee in the queue. These six go a step or two sideways, from Michigan and Chicago to Atlanta, plus one debut from Mumbai. Our picks, built on the voice, the guitar tone and how exposed the lyrics are.

1. Chloe Moriondo

A Michigan songwriter who started on YouTube and turned a goofy, lo-fi pop voice into something sharper on the 2021 album Blood Bunny. If girl in red's crush songs feel like a voice note, Moriondo's feel like one sent at 2am with the ukulele still out. Start with "Manta Rays".

2. Beach Bunny

Lili Trifilio's Chicago band take the same unfiltered honesty and run it through loud, bouncy power-pop guitars. The songs are about feeling not quite enough, and they hit like a group chat that finally says the quiet part. Start with "Prom Queen".

3. Wallice

A Los Angeles writer with a dry, funny delivery and a taste for jangly guitar and bruised love songs. Her "Punching Bag" has the sulky pop hook girl in red fans usually come for, with a bit more bite in the verses. Start there.

4. Faye Webster

The calmest pick here. The Atlanta songwriter makes slow, deadpan love songs with pedal steel and R&B-leaning drums, and she is already a favourite with our readers: find her at /artist/faye-webster. It is the same shy, whispered intimacy, just slowed to half speed. Start with "Kingston", from Atlanta Millionaires Club.

5. Soccer Mommy

Sophie Allison's 2018 debut Clean is the older record this sound grew up next to: plain-spoken, a little sad, guitars turned just low enough to hear every word. Start with "Your Dog", a song about not wanting to be someone's second thought.

6. pb

Our home-scene pick. Paridhhi Bajoria, who records as pb, is a Mumbai-bred singer-songwriter who taught herself guitar and ukulele, wrote her five-track debut EP head + heart in two months and produced, mixed and mastered it in her bedroom, tracking vocals on the earphone mic that came with her phone. She released it in October 2020 after moving to the UK for university. It is soft, unpolished and exactly as honest as it sounds. Start with "call u anyway".

Where to go from here

Press play on the first two and see which one sticks. If you want the other side of the Indian indie scene, try Artist Spotlight: Mary Ann Alexander for R&B, or see our girl in red page.