In what has been a big lead up to this moment, girl in red will finally release her debut album ‘if i could make it go quiet’ on April 30 and torture our emotions with these very honest and vulnerable unravellings. Leading the way, ‘Serotonin’ is the first glimpse of the sonical experimentation and lyrical transparency that this record will explore.
Giving listeners the boldest and most diverse soundscape we’ve heard from her yet, this track is an exciting listen from the moment you press play. Beginning with a guitar baseline, she strips it back to give this moody moment of minimalism before adding in a dirty trap-pop beat that is then elevated by the guitar baseline that create this big anthemic moment. Produced by FINNEAS and Matias Tellez, they’ve really honed that freshness into her already established sound and vision. It’s all about layering, which is what makes it so anthemic and exciting to listen to, not only on the first listen, but every listen after that too.
While the production is gritty and in-your-face, there is a heavy contrasting of emotions and storytelling that reels it into the classic girl in red you were first introduced to in 2018. Exploring her struggle with mental health, this song details a depressive episode and all the thoughts that run through her mind at a rapid pace. It’s a very vulnerable topic that is thankfully getting talked about more through music. With how explicit this song is, she will have so many people instantly relating to it and not feeling so alone with their thoughts, which is the absolute power of music.
Opening with “I’m running low on serotonin. Chemical imbalance got me twisting things” she immediately normalises the feelings and emotions that are explored through this song as depression is just brought on but a chemical imbalance. She then goes into some of the vivid thoughts and feelings she has which highlights the level of transparency she wants to have through her music. “I get intrusive thoughts like cutting my hands off. Like jumping in front of a bus. Like how do I make this stop when it feels like my therapist hates me? Please don’t let me go crazy”.
‘Serotonin’ is an immediately exciting and empowering listen that normalises the feelings that so many of us have. For so long we’ve been told that we are different, or that there is something wrong with us for feeling this way, when in reality it is normal, and it is okay. This song encourages transparency, and it will quickly become an anthem in her future live shows.