US Embraces M2M By Carla Hay Contributed By Parish NEW YORK -- M2M is a rarity in the ongoing teen pop explosion. Not only do the members of M2M -- 15-year-old Marion Raven and 16-year-old Marit Larsen -- write their own music and play their own instruments, they make up one of the few Norwegian pop acts to break through in the U.S. That breakthrough has come with "Shades Of Purple," M2M's debut album on Atlantic Records. The singing duo -- whose name is derived from the members' first initials -- has recently been gaining momentum for the album due to valuable TV exposure on youth-oriented networks and radio support of M2M's current single, "Mirror Mirror." Released March 7 in the U.S., "Shades Of Purple" topped Billboard's Heatseekers chart in the April 29 issue. Currently, the album is at No. 102 on The Billboard 200. Meanwhile, "Mirror Mirror" has been ascending The Billboard Hot 100, where it currently stands at No. 65. Awareness for M2M in the U.S. began to take shape last year with the release of the duo's first single, "Don't Say You Love Me," which was featured on the "Pokemon: The First Movie" soundtrack and is also on "Shades Of Purple." The song was a No. 5 hit on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart and reached No. 21 on the Hot 100. The duo's pleasantly upbeat pop music was inspired by the Beatles, say Raven and Larsen. Adds guitarist Larsen, "It's really important that people know that we worked really hard on this record and that we wrote or co-wrote all the songs." The duo collaborated on "Shades Of Purple" with a slew of co-writers and producers, including Max Martin (Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears), Matt Rowe (Spice Girls), and Rodney Jerkins (Brandy, Whitney Houston). Even though they are young, the members of M2M are hardly newcomers to the music industry. For Raven (who started playing piano at 8 years old) and Larsen (who began playing and writing songs at 13 years old), their introduction into the music business came with another album before "Shades Of Purple." When Raven and Larsen -- who hail from Lorenskog, Norway -- were 8 years old, they recorded a children's album called "Synger Kjente Barnesanger" (Sings Famous Children's Songs). The album was nominated for a Spillemanspriset Award (the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy) for best children's album. The duo also wrote about 30 songs before settling on 13 tunes for "Shades Of Purple." Album track "Girl In Your Dreams" was "the first song I ever wrote," Raven says. Atlantic executive VP/GM Ron Shapiro says, "The most important fact about M2M is that they are real songwriters and musicians. What's a real blessing for us is to see girls this young who have an extraordinary awareness of who they are." Last summer, M2M went on a promotional tour that included performances at radio stations and shopping malls. In March, M2M completed a middle school tour organized by marketing company Earth Jam. Between now and mid-August, M2M will be going back and forth to the U.S. for select appearances. Shapiro adds, "We also had an early and strong commitment from Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and MTV to help break M2M. Every youth network and teen magazine has adopted this group." M2M -- whose videos for "Don't Say You Love Me" and "Mirror Mirror" have been given exposure on the youth networks -- also guested on MTV's "Hot Zone" and "Say What? Karaoke." M2M also co-stars with pop boy band BBMak in a Disney Channel "In Concert" episode, which premiered April 29 and is showing in repeat airings throughout May. Larsen says of M2M's exposure to different countries while promoting the current album, "The American pop music scene has more R&B than Norway's pop scene, but when we go to different countries, we've found that people aren't that different. More than anything, I've learned that the best thing any artist can do is to be yourself." As for M2M's immediate goals, Raven candidly says, "Right now, we'd like more people to like our record in America, and we want to do a world tour because we love performing so much."