At the time, Raven was learning to play piano and Larsen was learning guitar. They also starred together in professional musical productions such as Annie and The Sound of Music. The album was nominated for a Spellemannprisen award. After the record's release, they started writing their own pop songs and sent demo recordings out; one of the demos ended up at Atlantic Records and they were signed to a worldwide contract in Instead, they held a competition for fans to come up with a name, and one girl suggested M2M.
It charted at No. Additionally, it was certified Gold in both Australia and America, and was nominated for the year's best song at the Spellemannprisen awards. The duo released their debut album, Shades of Purple , in early It was well received critically, and reached No. The second single from the album, " Mirror Mirror " , was certified gold in the United States.
A third single, " Everything You Do " , reached No. Following the Disney recording they were scheduled to perform a series of concerts at high-schools across America; in early April they had to cancel their performance at a high-school in Arlington Heights, Illinois , as they were obligated to return to Norway to meet high-schooling commitments.
In September that year, they toured the United States with Hanson , performing as the bands' opening act. Despite having sold over 1 million copies of Shades of Purple and over 1.
In early they were featured in Atlantic Records' "Teensation" TV concerts, which were designed to promote "rising stars". In they released their second album The Big Room , which was considered to have a more mature, less pop-oriented sound. The first single from the album was " Everything " , which reached No. Another track, "Don't", was made available as a promotional single in the United States. While giving a positive review of the single, Chuck Taylor said it was frustrating to see the lack of chart success of M2M's singles in America, considering the duo's talent "shine[s] like a beacon high in the sky".
The promotion for their second album included appearing on the th episode of Dawson's Creek. Following the appearance, they were being considered for regular roles on the then-upcoming Dawson's Creek spin off series Young Americans , and shortly thereafter they were selected as spokeswomen for the Pantene Pro-Voice concert series, a talent competition that promoted young, female songwriters in the United States.
Despite The Big Room being critically acclaimed, it was not as commercially successful as their first album, which Verdens Gang attributed to a lacklustre promotion campaign by Atlantic Records. Half way through their tour with Jewel in mid July, M2M were removed as the opening act by Atlantic who cited disappointing sales of The Big Room , which at that time had sold around , units in America. Shocked and disappointed by the decision, M2M returned to Norway, and ceased performing together.
Raven was immediately offered a solo record contract from Atlantic, though she later withdrew from the offer. Interviewed in , Larsen said that while the break-up was peaceful, "when [they] decided it had to end, it really had to end", adding "we started to pull each other in different directions, because I wanted to make really good pop music and Marion wanted to go rock".
Interviewed in , Raven said that she and Larsen had always agreed they would keep performing together as long as they were having a good time, and they ended because it was not fun anymore, also saying that while they had been inseparable as children, as year-olds they had become quite different.
Both Larsen and Raven went on to pursue solo careers. Raven released her debut solo album Here I Am in , an alternative rock album considered to be a major change from her musical style with M2M. Her debut single " Break You " remains her highest charting solo song, reaching No. Their lyrics and music videos were very PG-rated, which actually helped them in their success as their first single was featured in Pokemon: The Movie in M2M's popularity skyrocketed after the film's release, and they released their first album, Shades of Purple , in The critically acclaimed album sold 1.
This newfound fame pushed Marion and Marit to record and release a follow-up album in , but unfortunately, their novelty had started to wear off by then, and the album did not perform as well as their debut. The Big Room featured a more mature sound, and some of the singles even got played on Dawson's Creek , but that wasn't enough.
M2M were on tour with Jewel when their record label dropped them. They returned to Norway, and broke up shortly after. Marion was offered a solo recording deal by Atlantic, but it was later revoked. In a interview, Larsen explained that M2M's breakup was peaceful, but "when [they] decided it had to end, it really had to end", adding "we started to pull each other in different directions, because I wanted to make really good pop music and Marion wanted to go rock.
While M2M was no more, Marion and Marit were not ready to give up on music. They released a greatest hits album, The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M , in I know, they weren't around long enough to justify a greatest hits album, but it is what it is , before pursuing their individual solo careers. Both Marit and Marion have released solo albums in the years that followed, but the latter seems to have found better international success than her childhood friend and former band mate.
The year-old has released seven albums since M2M disbanded, and also wrote songs for other artists like Pixie Lott and Lindsay Lohan. She has also provided her vocals as Rapunzel in the Norwegian version of the animated Disney film Tangled.
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