Marit Larsen
Oslo, Oslo County, Norway
Music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
"If A Song Could Get Me You" Solo album (Sony Music Germany) 2009
"The Chase" Solo album (EMI) 2008
"Under the Surface" Solo album (EMI) 2006
"The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M" (Warner) 2004
"The Big Room" (Warner) 2002
"Shades of Purple" (Warner) 2001
Approx. 30 singles & compilation CDs; also appeared on "Pokemon" soundtrack CD
Photos
Bio
Marit Larsen
"Under the Surface"
When you first start listening to Marit Larsens CD "Under the Surface," you picture a shy young girl, peeking out from around a corner. You know that youre only seeing a bit of what she has to offer. The more you listen, the more you realize just how intriguing both Larsen and her music really are. And then you just cant wait to find out exactly what else she has up her sleeve.
"Under the Surface" is the aptly-titled debut solo CD from this extraordinary young Norwegian. At just 22 years old, Larsen has created an album that is both beautiful and playful and that also reveals a maturity far beyond her years. Not surprising, considering that she has already held her own in the rough-and-tumble world of the music business for a decade.
Larsen released her first album together with her childhood friend Marion Raven at the age of 12. That release (a childrens album) was nominated for Norways equivalent to the Grammy, and by the time she was 13 Larsen was inspired to turn her considerable talents to songwriting. I got ideas everywhere every conversation could become a song, she says. Those songs and her love of all things musical led to her and Raven to form the band M2M. When M2M was signed to Atlantic Records, Larsen found herself a worldwide star at the tender age of 16.
What followed can only be described as a whirlwind of activity. The two young girls spent several years touring the world, making appearances all over the globe. Quite the exciting life but also an exhausting one. With all that traveling the creativity just vanished. We were going from airport to hotel to studio mostly talking to journalists in country after country and hardly playing music at all, Larsen says. We would just take a couple of months before going into the studio to write each new record. While this kind of creative pressure has been known to crush even the most experienced artists, it seems to have tempered Larsens writing abilities into a finely-honed skill.
Now, she revels in the freedom that working on "Under the Surface" has allowed her. I've composed these songs just for the joy of writing, not to fit a particular project or trend, says Larsen. Fragments of them have been hiding and bubbling inside of me under the surface, if you like ever since I started writing music. Up until now they have been my little secret. And while Ive written a lot of songs over the last three years that didnt make it onto the album, that just means that the ones that did make it are special; they all serve a different purpose. It's beautiful to see the songs take on a life of their own, but it was also very important to me to make an album, not just a collection of songs, she explains.
And what an album it is. Under the Surface has just won Marit MTV Europes award for Best Norwegian Act. From the shamelessly catchy Dont Save Me to the heartbreakingly painful Solid Ground to the fun-filled "Only a Fool" (all three of which have gone Top 10), Larsen has created an incredibly cohesive album that reveals just how much she has learned from her unique experiences. Not only does she have an amazing sense of what kind of music people want to listen to, but she also proves that she has the ability to survive and thrive in the occasionally vicious world of the music industry.
And she has done so with tremendous grace, without losing herself the way that so many artists who achieve success at a young age have done. What comes across both in her songs and in person is Larsens remarkable honesty, her genuine warmth and the joy she takes in her music and her life. These also come across loud and clear to her audience each and every time she takes the stage and the crowd at every show knows that they are part of something special.
The shy, young girl with the great big talent has blossomed into a very rare flower, indeed.
In 2009 she was nominated for two Norwegian Grammys, Female of the year and Song of the year.
The single If A Song Could Get Me You was no.1 i Germany for 5 weeks, and sold to gold in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. So did the Album with the same name.
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