‘Feels good that we inspired Taylor Swift’: Pop duo M2M’s reunion came about after chance meeting

SINGAPORE – After a 22-year split, it was a serendipitous meeting at a coffee shop that led Norwegian pop duo M2M to reunite and start making music together again.

The pair, who went their separate ways in 2002, announced their comeback in September 2024.

“We hadn’t seen each other in almost 20 years,” Marion Raven, 40, tells The Straits Times of her chance encounter with fellow singer-songwriter Marit Larsen, 41. “We’d been living in different cities in Norway and, suddenly, we were in this coffee shop, just the two of us. And it felt like it was just meant to be.”

Both were in a rush, but they made plans to have a proper catch-up. Larsen says in the same video interview from Oslo, Norway: “We met two days after, and we talked for four hours.”

When the pair looked up M2M listenership numbers on streaming services, they were surprised that their music was drawing more than one million listeners a month.

That revelation eventually led to a series of planned concerts in Norway and Asian countries that includes a stop in Singapore at The Star Theatre on May 12, as well as shows in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Better Endings Tour kicks off in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 26 and ends in Oslo on June 18.

Larsen says: “We just felt like this had to happen, we couldn’t not go out and play shows together.”

M2M are best known for global hits about young love and heartbreak such as Pretty Boy, The Day You Went Away and Don’t Say You Love Me from their debut album Shades Of Purple (2000).

Their relationship goes back even further as they were childhood friends. In 1996, when Larsen was 12 and Raven was 11, they released a children’s album, Synger Kjente Barnesanger (Sing Famous Children’s Songs), under the name Marit & Marion.

In 2002, M2M went their separate ways less than a year after they dropped their second album The Big Room (2001), which failed to be as commercially successful. Larsen and Raven went on to pursue solo music careers, putting out songs that went to No. 1 in Norway and other European countries.

While their original stint as M2M was fairly short, they left a lasting impact. American pop star Taylor Swift, for example, is a fan. In 2020, she included M2M as one of the female artistes who hold special meaning for her in a Spotify playlist to mark Women’s History Month.

Says Raven: “That makes us feel really good to imagine Taylor Swift being maybe eight years old, listening to M2M. And maybe we inspired her because we did write our own songs and play instruments like she does.”

The first full band rehearsal for the reunion tour in early February was an emotional affair.

Recounts Raven: “The first song we played, The Day You Went Away, I started crying because it was so nice, there were so many emotions.”

They agreed singing together again after so long felt like the most natural thing to do.

Larsen says: “The most powerful thing about music is that it reminds you of people, experiences, memories and childhood, and friends you’ve lost touch with. So, for us, playing these songs again becomes more powerful because we also wrote them. So much of our history is written in these lines.”

Some songs, written while they were teenagers, have since taken on a different meaning. Raven, whose son is 1½ years old, says: “We have a song called Pretty Boy, and now I feel like this song is about him. So, the lyrics have changed for me. When we sing Pretty Boy, I think about him.”

She adds that her son and boyfriend will be staying on in Singapore after M2M’s concert for a holiday.

Larsen, who is married and has a five-year-old daughter, is looking forward to returning to Singapore to play a full concert. The duo previously performed here in 1999, 2000 and 2002. “We never did a full concert as M2M in our four years as a big international band. We did only showcases and small little things.”

The Singapore gig will be a nostalgia fest, they promise, and the set list will include all the songs that fans have been asking them to play through comments and messages on social media. Larsen and Raven will also include tracks from their solo discographies.

Because of the reunion tour, they are putting their solo music careers on hold, and Larsen hints that they are also working on new music together.

“It’s been 25 years since our first record came out, so we see this as a celebratory year – 2025 is completely devoted to M2M. We’re in the studio planning something fun that’s coming soon.”

Book It/M2M The Better Endings Tour 2025 – Singapore

Where: The Star Theatre, 04-01 The Star Performing Arts Centre, 1 Vista Exchange Green
When: May 12, 7pm
Admission: $128 to $348 via Ticketmaster (go to ticketmaster.sg or call 800-321-1678)