| Marit Larsen Fri. Jan 7th 2005. It was the summer of 2002, M2M was sent home from the tour in USA with Jewel, and a piece of a Norwegian pop adventure was abruptly over. Almost immediately a new one began: Marion Ravn bathed in attention and even a small demo recording at Ole "Idol" Evenrud outside Halden was covered by the press as if it was the great Norwegian music event of the summer. And it was she who took off with that fat *going solo* contract with Atlantic Records. What about 'that other one?', it got... very quiet. Marit Larsen got into the thinking-box. She sat at home with her mom in L�renskog and wondered if she shouldn't just let pop music be pop music, get her GED and start an education course, become a psychologist or something. When the time in the thinking-box was over she shut the hatch to the public life, got her drivers license and moved out. - It was a crossroad for me. I felt the feeling that I should give up on music. But it was a bad feeling. I had to take the chance to continue, says Marit Larsen (21), in her first big interview after the M2M break-up. - I got a very good feeling when I started writing songs again. It was like falling in love or find a religion. Now I look at it as a natural choice. But there is always another solution. I have friends who aren't in the music business, and they have nice lives too. we are of course going to come back to M2M, but in this introductive summary of her humble doings in the public spotlight since back then, the break-up will have to settle for being the starting point. Cause Marit isn't completely back yet. But the gates are ready to open. She will guaranteed be Bylarm's most popular artist in Stavanger in February. She doesn't have a record contract, no album has been recorded, but there is no lack of songs nor willing work-partners. Among other things Marit has been in the studio and played with BigBang-�ystein Greni. Other partners are kept secret with a smile. She makes 'thorough demos' and has 'enough songs for four albums'. - When the album is going to be recorded, it'll be like writing a school essay from rough drafts. It is going to be fast. If it will come out in 2005 at all I don't know, but it is a goal. No matter what, I will use 2005 to record, get an audience and make good albums that I'll be really proud of. No matter if it'll just be one album, I hope that it will at least say something about who I am and show gratitude to my idols. Marit has up until now held two public concerts in front of partly Jaw-dropped audiences, first at "Bl�" in March last year, then in October at NRK's Petre-sessions. On those occasions she spoke a little with the press, but first and foremost showed that what she will be doing now differs greatly from M2M. - It's not an agenda for me to be different, but what I do now will most likely be taken as seeking to the opposite of what I used to do. I've been so far into the other side. Says Marit Larsen. - Can you say something concrete about your music, how it sounds? - You can say that my music circles around three directions. One is the vulnerable, kind, comforting music, that at the same time is sharp, smart-assed and direct, like Joni Mitchell and Gillian Welch. Then you have the eccentric and exciting, like Bj�rk�s. And the third is piano-based music that is still fun and up, like Ben Folds Five and Ben Kweller. I want people to perceive me as a person that's happy to live. But a sad message wrapped in a positive melody often sticks deeper. - We're still talking pop-music, in other words? - Joni is pop music, but it's pop music that gives so much more. Standard pop only has three feelings: the static mourning of love when you can't have who you want, the devoted, unconditional love and the love where you say "I love you but do you love me?". You can sum it up as a no, yes and maybe. - And you're finished with that type of pop-music? - The music of M2M had lots of light in it. It was influenced by our age. The world is different now from back then. I live a real life now, as opposed to a life that spins around on the surface. - So now it's all about pop music that in a way is smarter? - As I see it, pop-music can be separated into different boxes. The simple and that which is a little more complex, a little more artistic. You can easily be in both boxes at once. Beatles are. I also have both inside of me. But I've been so far into the other side, now I want to give my voice to the other. - We have to talk about M2M now. Everyone is wondering what really happened that summer two and a half year ago? - I've put it behind me. There's also no one but Marion and me that have needed to put it behind us. What happened then is not relevant for my future career. But I know that M2M opened doors for me. I have the chance to reach a large audience immediately. - Are you and Marion no longer friends? - That's something for you to think about. People can think what they want. It's not something to dwell on. - Marion will also be launched in 2005. You will be compared; music, styling, record sales, everything. How do you relate to that? - It will be like that as long as we are in the same business. But it won't be a competition. Our albums will be so different that it won't be an issue. But I hope she'll do very well. I haven't her album, so I don't know how it sounds. It'll be exciting. - That you were different was very obvious in M2M as well? - We were a good compromise, it fit well with what we were. Now it's lovely to don't have to compromise. New era, new dream to chase. - Are there experiences from the M2M days that you'd rather be without? - No. I am a person that doesn't regret. Regret is a feeling it's bad to have too much of. I'm proud of everything I've done, but it's pride in varying sizes. Marit is almost at her goal of completing her GED: she finishes one high school class at a time in correspondence classes, three years of learning in one month, then the exam. Norwegian and History went as smooth as could be, the gruesome Mathmatics remains. - Now that I'm an adult, I can say it out loud: I'm proud of myself. I've built my career for as long as I can remember. It was quite a feeling to discover that this was something I could do as a job. - What was the best thing about M2M? - It was probably the tour with Jewel. We played for an audience where the music hit, straight into all those people. We played some very large venues, for enormously many people. The concert at Red Rocks in Denver was my greatest live experience. When I interviewed Jewel in Longon the summer of 2003, we came upon talking about the tour. "They gave a contract to one of them, but it's the other one that is the talented one, isn't it?", she summed up rhetorically. Marit Larsen, always confident in what she says, shows a youthful shyness for the first time during this interview. - She said that? To get a compliment like that... it's awesome. It's okay to say that, isn't it? - Did the break-up come sudden for you? - M2M kind of went upwards up until it was suddenly over. It wasn't an out of the blue shock that it ended. All involved were aware of it. What was unpleasant about it... If you'd been a friend, maybe I could have told you how it was, but I'm done with it. What eventually should be said, will be expressed on the album. - Will you be playing M2M songs in the future? - That will not happen. That's how done I am with it all. M2M is so far away from my expressions now that it's irrelevant. But hey, what I do now isn't completely the Ultima-festival either. I still write songs with verse and refrain. - But I'm sure you've started to tune your guitar differently, like Joni Mitchell? - Yeah. It's actually a challenge. You sit there and tune your guitar differently while you're writing a song, and right there and then it's not a problem. But I realised the other day that oh dear, I'm going to need many more guitars if I'm playing all these songs in concert. It's hard work to have different moods. It's an organisational challenge. - It's easier with a piano? - When you get pissed off at the guitar, it's good to have the piano. When the other goes behind your back and is a jerk, it's nice to have a different instrument to play on Article by: sven ove bakke Translated by: MarCus |