Totally Music

The Norwegian pop duo Marion and Marit want you to love them, they just don't want you to say it.

Spotlight on... M2M

When Marion Raven, 15 and Marit Larsen, 16, met at the age of five, M2M wasn't even an idea. Now, 11 years later, it's obvious that the magic of this Norwegian pop duo is largely due 
to their longtime friendship. Growing together both as girls and as musicians, Marion and Marit made their first official foray into music with a Norwegian children's album recorded when they were pre-teens.
Its success urged a follow-up, but the girls had already begun to grow into a more mature place in their lives. They wanted t orecord music for their peers. 
Their path led to the door of Atlantic Records, where they were signed last summer. Now, with their debut album due out in January, and their first single, "Don't Say You Love Me", 
set for an October release, Marion and Marit are ready to make their mark.
And they don't plan to storm the pop scene in the conventional way.
"Don't Say You Love Me", co-written by the headstrong and independent M2M, is not your typical song and it doesn't send a typical message. "The song's about boys our age, who, 
when maybe you get a boyfriend, he thinks that you need him to say I love you, that that's what a girl wants", says Marion. "But if he doesn't mean it he shouldn't day it. The song's about a boy, 
you've only known him for a month or something and he says, you know, 'I love you'. The song's about boys pushing too hard".
Marion and Marit, however, have been pushing themselves to produce the best album possible. "We're real, we write our own songs, we play, we've been friends since we were five", stresses Marion, 
who plays piano. "And people know that's real. It's like we're not just two kids picked off the streets -- 'Here's the songs, here's the CD, dance like this, have your like this' -- it's not like that at all".
To further their point, the girls treated the gang at Tiger Beat to some impromptu ear-candy when Marit picked up her guitar and they sang their single, a pleasantly refreshing message to girls 
that it's okay to want to take it slow. M2M sure did, and the results couldn't be better!

>> by Karen Gordon