| M2M | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Lørenskog, Norway |
| Genres | Pop, Folk, Teen pop, Pop rock, Alternative rock |
| Instruments | Acoustic guitar, piano and vocals |
| Years active | 1999–2002 |
| Labels | Atlantic Records, Warner Music Norway |
| Past members | |
| Marit Larsen Marion Raven |
|
M2M was a pop music duo formed by two Norwegians, Marion Elise Raven and Marit Elisabeth Larsen. They released three albums under Warner Music Norway: Shades of Purple, The Big Room, and The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M, a greatest hits album released by their record label after they disbanded.
Contents |
Raven and Larsen came from Lørenskog in the district east of Oslo. They had known each other since they were five. After starting to make their own songs, they were signed in 1998 to Atlantic Records. Their name "M2M" was chosen from a contest they held for fans to give a name for their band, as they had previously always been known as Marion & Marit. The group's first single, "Don't Say You Love Me", appeared in 1999, and was featured on the soundtrack of Pokémon: The First Movie[1] (albeit with a small edit to the lyrics). The film helped the song to reach success worldwide, including peaking at No. 16 in the UK Singles Chart, their only hit in the UK.[2] The duo released their first album, Shades of Purple, in 2000, which debuted at number one in Norway and several Asian countries and in the Top 40 in most other countries. In September that year, they toured with Hanson,[3] performing as the boys' opening act. Earlier in the year, they performed a concert special at Epcot in Walt Disney World, broadcast on April 29, 2000, under the name "M2M and BBMak in Concert", performing six songs with breaks in between of them walking around the park and seeing the sites.
Four more singles were released from the album: "Mirror Mirror", "The Day You Went Away", "Pretty Boy" and "Everything You Do". They were made popular in Asia; as well as they released a song sung in Mandarin, "Pretty Boy". However, they did not record a Mandarin version of their hit "The Day You Went Away", and Taiwanese singer Cyndi Wang recorded her own version.
In 2002, the duo returned with a more mature, less pop-oriented sound with their second album, The Big Room. In two years, their voices had changed, especially Raven's. The first single from the album was "Everything" followed by "What You Do About Me". They did not release a third single, even though "Don't" was released to U.S. and Latin America's radio stations and "Wanna Be Where You Are" was released in the Philippines. The promotion for their second record included TV appearances that year, such as a spot on the WB's Dawson's Creek, appearing in the 100th episode of the show towards the end of its fifth year. That year, they also took part in the Pantene Pro-Voice concert series that aired on the now defunct MuchMusic USA.[4] While on tour with Jewel,[5] M2M was dropped by Atlantic Records, who cited a lack of record sales, although the album did do well in Norway, Asia and Australia.
Despite The Big Room being critically acclaimed, it was not as commercially successful as their first album. M2M saw its record company support wane. As the result of disappointing record sales, M2M was pulled in the middle of Jewel's This Way tour. Shortly after the Jewel tour, M2M disbanded. Marion Raven was immediately signed to a solo record contract. Marit Larsen went to finish high school.
In October 2004, Larsen performed live on NRK radio. Her debut solo album, Under the Surface went platinum in Norway.
In 2005, Raven debuted three songs on NRK. In support of her new solo record, she later toured Japan, South America, and Europe. The album was only released in Asia, Scandinavia and Mexico.
The two singers are currently performing as solo artists, going by their own names.
| Year | Album details | Chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR [6] |
AUS [7] |
US [8] |
|||
| 2000 | Shades of Purple
|
7 | 63 | 89 | |
| 2002 | The Big Room
|
16 | 61 | — | |
| Year | Album details | Chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
||
| NOR | AUS | US | |||
| 2003 | The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M
|
— | — | — | |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR [9] |
AUS [10] |
FRA [11] |
IRE [12] |
NL [13] |
NZ [14] |
SWE [15] |
SWI [16] |
UK [17] |
US [18] |
||||
| 1999 | "Don't Say You Love Me" | 2 | 4 | 21 | 12 | 16 | 4 | 17 | 76 | 16 | 21 | Shades of Purple | |
| 2000 | "Mirror Mirror" | — | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 62 |
|
|
| "Pretty Boy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Everything You Do" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "The Day You Went Away" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Girl in Your Dreams" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2002 | "Everything" | 6 | 27 | — | — | — | 44 | — | — | — | — | The Big Room | |
| "What You Do About Me" | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Don't" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Wanna Be Where You Are" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
|
||||||||||||||