M2M: Doing It For Themselves LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Proving that the teen-pop wave is truly an international phenomenon, two schoolgirls from Norway have launched their brand of breezy music into the world. M2M, made up of longtime friends Marit Larsen, 16, and Marion Raven, 15, has released its first album after priming the marketplace last year with a hit song on the Pokémon film soundtrack. But the two, far from trying to cash in on the success of teen stars such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, already are relative veterans. They have been singing together since they were 5 years old and released their first album — a Norwegian-language collection of children's music — in 1994. They also get songwriting credit on 11 of the 13 tracks on their current album, Shades of Purple, a feat that eludes some more manufactured acts. Blond Larsen plays guitar, dark-haired Raven keyboards, and they share vocal duties. Getting signed to Atlantic Records, which has not been part of the teen-pop wave, was relatively easy. After going to a Norwegian studio to record another kids' album, they got turned on to more adult sounds, started writing songs, and hooked up with a manager who got them their deal. They worked on the album with some of the industry's top talent, including producers Max Martin (Backstreet Boys) and Matt Rowe (Spice Girls). Their musical influences, though not evident on their current album, also are beyond their years. Larsen, who comes from a musical family, wants to collaborate with guitarist Eric Clapton. Raven worships '70s folkie Cat Stevens and says his 1971 tune "Wild World" is her favorite song of all time. Almost as anthemic is M2M's international radio hit "Don't Say You Love Me," the Pokémon track that doubled as the first single from Shades of Purple. Certified gold in the United States for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies, the song was inspired by Raven, who was fed up with smooth-talking guys. "Girls should know that they don't have to rush into anything if they don't want to," she said recently, basking in the sunlight between sets at a middle school in suburban Los Angeles. "If he loves you, he'll wait." Still, she insisted that the song was not an ode to virginity. "I'm not like, 'I'm a virgin … till I get married.' I'm not like that at all." Most of the songs deal with crises commonly faced by every teen, but they also appeal to all demographics, Larsen said in an earlier interview at her hotel. "Younger people can listen to it and maybe learn something from it, and people our age can relate to it totally, and I think even grown-ups can listen to it and go, 'I know that feeling, I know what that feels like.' As long as it moves something inside you, that's what we're trying to do." For example, "Don't Mess With My Love" is based on a messy love triangle, while Raven wrote "Girl in Your Dreams" several years ago after developing her first, unrequited crush. "We had this talent contest at school and I went up on stage and said, 'Well, I wrote this song to a boy that's in the audience, so I want all you guys to hear it.' And it was, like, the whole story, and he was so embarrassed!" But Larsen says they are not looking to follow in the footsteps of Madonna or TLC in trampling all over males. "The girls and the boys should have as much input as the other. I don't think one or the other should be, like, the boss or anything," she says. If their songs make them sound like big players on the dating scene, they point out that they are both unattached at present. "What you want to do with your boyfriend when you're 15 or 16 is show him off at parties and run around with him at school, and we don't really get to do that right now," Larsen says. Indeed, school days are on hold for the duo. Larsen, whose favorite academic subject is English, is taking the year off, and math whiz Raven gets instruction on tour from her father. They find themselves thrust into the very adult world of promoting their record: performing at schools and shopping malls, doing interviews, and meeting with managers and label executives. But there is still time for leisurely pursuits. Raven likes scary movies and has seen The Sixth Sense five times. Her favorite actress is Christina Ricci, whose 1995 Now and Then inspired the video for their second single, "Mirror, Mirror." Larsen is more into "sappy love stories" and says she would be working with troubled kids if she were not making music. "I don't really look at this as work," she says. "It can be tough at times [but] I get to do my hobby, like, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."