GIRL IN RED GOING TO BIG RED

While much of the biz was focused on two high-profile signing contests, HITS has exclusively learned that Ron Perry’s Columbia was quietly locking down a deal with breakout girl in red, who now, we suppose, should be called girl on Big Red.

The 22-year-old Norwegian singer/songwriter (born Marie Ulven) is demonstrating that she has the makings of a true career artist, having racked up sales of more than 1 million albums worldwide. Her song “we fell in love in october” has earned close to 370m streams on Spotify alone, while “i wanna be your girlfriend” is at more than 260m streams on the platform.

In March girl in red will embark on a worldwide tour, including a performance at Coachella in April.

In an unrelated story, a HITS editor tried to be "in red" this week and was strongly urged to go back to wearing black.