Learning Curve 03/05/2002 By Bryan Reesman One can never tell where a band's career will lead. When Norwegian teen-pop duo M2M emerged in 2000 with their classy Atlantic Records debut Shades Of Purple and the stylish video for "Mirror Mirror," they quickly cracked the Billboard Top 200 and found themselves supporting Hanson on a theater tour across the United States. Things were looking up in America, but they really blew up in Southeast Asia, where sales of Purple shattered the million-unit barrier. It's not hard to hear why M2M are catching ears of listeners worldwide with the alluring melodies and dulcet harmonies found in their self-described "organic pop." The group's two albums offer a sweet breath of fresh air amidst the current teen-pop craze. Whereas Purple transcended its glossy sound with sincere performances and an unadulterated sense of romanticism, the duo's new album The Big Room ups the musical ante by taking a live approach. For their sophomore release, the ladies of M2M--Marion Raven (vox/keyboards) and Marit Larsen (vox/guitars)--recruited three rock veterans to back them up: drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), bassist T-Bone Wolk (Saturday Night Live), and guitarist Jimmy Bones. The twosome co-wrote nearly all the songs on the album. Although the duo may have grown up a bit in the last two years, their lyrics have a universal appeal to fans their age or younger. "That's what we want!" exclaims Marit. "We want people to relate to it. We write all our own songs about what we're going through right now, because first of all, it's what we know enough about to write about. People who aren't our age yet can identify because they see things about it. They can relate to having a person at school who's really popular who treats everybody really badly. You can [also] listen to 'Miss Popular' and think, 'Yeah, this girl at work just totally pisses me off.'" If there is one word to sum up M2M's appeal, it is "genuine." This is not a prefab group set on chart domination at all costs. Nor are they attempting to sell themselves solely with sex appeal and coy lyrics. Marion and Marit simply express how they feel, and this carries through to their music. Take a listen to Purple's opening track, "Don't Say You Love Me," which for an older teen could be about feeling pressured into sex, whereas a younger listener might interpret it as being about feeling pressured to date before she is ready. There are no sexual double entendres or contradictory lyrics that one might find in some of the female baby-divas who preach self-respect and independence while pandering to men at the same time. Such irony and insincerity are not lost on M2M. "It feels weird when they're [nearly] naked in pictures and saying they want to wait till after they're married [to have sex], and they keep talking about sex all the time," muses Marion about this mixed-message muddle. "It bugs me a little. We can talk about our songs and stand up for them--this is what we experienced and what we wrote about." Marion and Marit's musical education has been very broad. While they are big fans of modern rockers like Travis ("The best band in the world," decrees Marion), Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, and Radiohead, they also listen to artists from past generations, including the Beatles and Cat Stevens. "It's very important to look back to [older] music," asserts Marit. "If you listen to Joni Mitchell's Blue, it sounds like it could have been released today and been a hit. It's acoustic, it's great, the songs are good. That's really what it should be about. It shouldn't be about what you're wearing or how many spins you get on MTV. That's why it's so much more inspiring to listen to records that are a little bit older." "It's weird when teen stars say they want to wait till marriage to have sex, but they're nearly naked in pictures and they keep talking about sex all the time." "But I was watching TRL yesterday, and I was so happy," beams Marion. "Number 10 was the Calling, number 9 was Michelle Branch, [plus there was] this new girl, Vanessa [Carlton], and Alicia Keys. It looks like the music business is getting people who write their own songs and play instruments." Writing, singing, and playing one's own music is always a challenge. Did the women of M2M feel any pressure when making their first record at the tender ages of 14 and 15? "There still is," replies Marion. "It's a lot of pressure," affirms Marit. "We're not going to lie. There are a lot of difficulties with getting your ideas through and getting to be who you are. Luckily, we have a record company that supports us and let us make the record that we wanted to make." An important catalyst for Marion and Marit's musical chemistry is their life-long friendship, which began when they were only 5 years old. They share a sisterly bond. "We're colleagues, too," observes Marion. "I really hate that sometimes. When you have to sit in meetings and decide about whatever. That's not fun. But you've got to do it." Like sisters, the girls of M2M need their space. "Sometimes it's good to lock your door and be in your own room," affirms Marion. "When we're home, we play with our friends and try not to call each other that much. So when we meet at the airport, we're like, 'Hey! It's so great to see you!' And we have so much to talk about." Marion and Marit may fully support each other, but surprisingly, many in their homeland have not. Despite the fact that they are one of Norway's hottest musical exports, envious critics do not want them to think they are special. Instead of rooting for them, they display disdain towards their success. "You know, all the reviewers in Norway are like, 50 or 60 years old and were in a rock band that never made it," giggles Marion. Adds Marit: "So they're all really bitter." Some criticism has been really unwarranted. "This one guy wrote that our record was too American," reports Marion. "We weren't Norwegian enough. And his 3-year-old said: 'Daddy, turn it off! I'd rather listen to Britney Spears!' That was the review." There's a big difference between M2M and many modern teenybopper divas. They're not Barbie dolls like Britney, they don't break into needless vocal histrionics like Christina, but they have memorable songs that reflect hurt and disappointment as much as love and longing. Their music comes from the heart. "Some of the teen groups get their songs from famous songwriters that know that now is the time for cool girls with attitude," quips Marion. "'Let's write a song about what a girl wants. ' It's not like that with us. I was with this sucky boyfriend who never called me, and I was so pissed off. And I kept telling Marit about it, and we wrote a song about it ["Everything"]." Ultimately M2M songs are like diary entries for its two songwriters. "We write about stuff we care about and things that bug us," says Marion. And some people do bug them, as expressed by their catty jealously towards "Jennifer" or their sneering ode to "Miss Popular." The song "Sometimes" expresses a more general frustration with the male gender. "I had a really bad day," explains Marion. "I think a lot of girls can identify with it. I was having this bad day, and I wrote the lyrics straight down from what happened, and my brother and dad were like, 'Hey, what are you writing about us for?' I never thought I would use it for anything. I showed it to Marit, and she laughed for two hours. Then we wrote a melody for fun." "The lyrics were so funny," adds Marit. "We thought, 'Let's make a melody that's really cheesy.' And the chorus is so cheerful." The duo then spontaneously break into harmony, singing the first line of the song's chorus: "Sometimes you just feel like sh-t!" (A perfect Mentos jingle!) "It's really ironic, and it's really funny," declares Marit. "Because if we made it too dark, people would get depressed." The women of M2M originally kept the song to themselves. "We just ended up playing it in the studio, and they loved the song, and we put in on the album," reveals Marion. "And you know what? They made us take out 'sh-t,' and that ruined my whole lyric." The last couple of years have certainly been a learning curve for M2M. "On the first record, we had eight different producers," explains Marion. "There were a lot of different songwriters, and they were all teaching us the business. It was school. The whole album was us finding who we are, while on The Big Room, we knew what people we liked. We had worked with them before, we knew that they were our friends, and we listened to them. So making The Big Room was just like [being with] family at this house up in Woodstock, just having fun." When they were making Shades Of Purple, M2M had to deal with their lack of experience and other people's input. "We needed people to teach us about things," confirms Marit. However, teaching could turn into preaching. "We met people who had the attitude, 'That's a good idea, but I've had 14 number-one hits in my life, and I know that I have right answer.'" And, of course, they were just 14 and 15 years old at the time. But the girls were not naive about the ultimate ramifications of their decisions and actions. "At the end of the day, we are going to be the ones that are going to be standing up there onstage, and people are going to be seeing our faces," declares Marit. "No matter how much you explain, they're going to think that it's you deciding what the songs are. And it should be, because you need to stand for what you're doing. You really do."