M2M

Marion Raven (left) and Marit Larsen (right) in The Better Endings Tour in the Philippines in 2025.

M2M are a Norwegian pop duo comprising of Marit Larsen and Marion Raven. Larsen and Raven first met at a playground and had been good friends since childhood, forming a musical duo since then. In 1996 they released a children's album in Norway, Synger Kjente Barnesanger (Sing Famous Children's Songs), under the name "Marit & Marion". The two started writing pop songs and sent demos to various record companies; Atlantic Records took a shine to the duo and signed them up to a worldwide contract in 1998. They considered shortening their band name to M&M, but decided against it as it would conflict with an established chocolate candy brand of the same name, instead holding a contest for fans to come up with a new name, and the rest is history.

Their breakthrough single "Don't Say You Love Me" was featured in the soundtrack for the western release of Pokémon: The First Movie where it was played during the closing credits; a lyric in the Pokémon version of the song was altered from "you start kissing me, what's that about?" to "you said you love me, what's that about?" at the behest of the film's producers over age appropriateness concerns. Their next single, "Mirror Mirror", was similarly acclaimed, but ultimately failed to reach the same level of chart success as their signature song. The Big Room also failed to reach Atlantic's expectations, and M2M disbanded not long after. They ended because it was not fun anymore, also saying that while they had been inseparable as children, as 18-year-olds they had become quite different. A Greatest Hits Album, The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M, was released in 2003. Larsen and Raven went on to pursue solo careers, though they have since reunited and released an EP re-recording their greatest hits, titled Still in My Dreams on May 2025, coinciding with a concert tour in Asia and their native Norway.

Discography:

Synger Kjente Barnesanger (1996; as Marit & Marion)
Shades of Purple (2000)
The Big Room (2001)
The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M (2003; compilation)
The Acoustic EP (2019; EP)
Still in My Dreams (2025; EP)

M2M provides examples of the following tropes:

Bowdlerise: The version of "Don't Say You Love Me" as used in Pokémon: The First Movie had some of the lyrics changed due to concerns about the age-appropriateness of kissing being mentioned in a children's movie. Larsen and Raven were displeased with the enforced censorship, stating "We think [the lyric change] was stupid. The original version is on [Shades of Purple], and that's the one we wanted to go with."
Idol Singer: Subverted. M2M deviated from the fare most pop groups became associated with such as over-produced melodies, and instead of typical teen subjects like true love or candy, M2M's songs were about "taking things slow or not betraying your friends." They also wrote their own songs and played instruments even when performing live.
Fade Out: "Don't Say You Love Me" fades out in the refrain.
Silly Love Songs: M2M's body of work leaned toward this, though some commentators and reviewers noted how it's more of a "thinking person's teen pop" than a generic, namby-pamby bubblegum fare.