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The Big Room

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The Big Room is the second and final studio album by Norwegian pop music duo M2M. It was released in Asia in November 2001 and in the rest of the world in early 2002. It reached No. 16 in Norway and No. 61 in Australia. Two singles were released worldwide from the album, Everything, which peaked at No. 6 in Norway and No. 27 in Australia, and What You Do About Me, which reached No. 46 in Australia.

To promote the album M2M appeared on an episode of the series Dawson's Creek and were selected as the opening act for Jewel's This Way US tour. Despite critical acclaim, sales of The Big Room were considerably lower than their previous album, Shades of Purple, which Verdens Gang attributed to a lacklustre marketing effort by Atlantic Records. Citing disappointing sales Atlantic chose to replace M2M as Jewel's opening act halfway through the tour, after which they returned to Norway and disbanded.

Background and composition

Interviewed in April 2000 following the success of their debut album Shades of Purple, M2M said that while they were already writing songs for a new album, they had no plans to start recording yet.[1] M2M either wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the The Big Room.[2] It was recorded over six days[3] at the Bearsville Studios in New York City. The album takes its title from the main space at the recording facility. M2M dubbed their style "organic pop", as the album featured all real instruments, as opposed to most pop albums which use computerised instruments.[4] Kenny Aronoff was among the artists who performed the live backing instruments.[5] The Big Room took a different musical direction compared to their first album, replacing their bubblegum pop image with a more mature sound.[6]

The song Everything is aimed at Zac Hanson, who Marion Raven dated briefly while M2M were on tour with Hanson. According to Raven, once the tour ended he never contacted her, effectively ending the relationship.[7] The song Miss Popular is about "that one popular girl in school who goes around bad-mouthing everyone and treating everybody like crap. In the end it all comes back to her", while Jennifer is about "the girl your boyfriend is constantly comparing you to. You really want to dislike her, but you can’t, because she’s actually really nice although the situation bothers you." Raven wrote the song Leave Me Alone about a guy who dumped her then wanted her back, and wrote the song Sometimes when she was having a really bad day and wanted to just "get it out".[8]

In an interview Marion Raven said "The songs are always about things we experience and think about. This album is mostly about love, but there's also songs about jealousy, about how we see the world."[9] She also spoke about how they approached the album, saying "On the first album we were all about finding who we were. Everything was new to us, songwriting, traveling, and the producers. Everything! On this album we knew exactly what we wanted. We wanted to make a 'real' album. With a live band in the studio, with our songs and a producer we knew would listen to our ideas. It's a lot different then the first record. You change a lot from 14 to 17."[8]

Release and promotion

The album was released in Asia in November 2001 and M2M toured the Philippines in December to promote it.[2] It was released in the US on 26 February 2002. M2M arrived in the US on March 3 to promote the album and its lead single, Everything, however they were told by Atlantic Records that promotion of the album had been put on hold until their filmed appearance on the episode "100 Light Years from Home" on the TV show Dawson's Creek had aired. Frustrated, M2M returned to Norway after only one week in the US. They spent three days promoting the album in Norway, four days in Spain, one day in the UK, three days in Italy, two days in Germany, two days in Sweden, one day in Denmark and one a day in Finland. M2M were disappointed with the amount of time they were given to promote the album in Europe, as ideally they would have liked to spend two weeks promoting the album in the UK alone.[7] Verdens Gang attributed the lacklustre promotion of the album to Atlantic Records decision to save money following the drop in record sales in the wake of the September 11 attacks. While M2M did survived a large cull of artists by Atlantic Records in an attempt to save money, the company put little money into promoting the album.[10]

"100 Light Years from Home" aired on April 17 in the US, and M2M were scheduled to recommence promoting the single and album in the US in May, before moving onto Mexico, Australia and Japan.[11] The album was released in Australia on 29 April;[12] M2M arrived in Australia in mid May.[3] They were selected as the opening act for Jewel's US "This Way" tour, which commenced on 14 June.[13] In mid July, M2M were removed as the opening act by Atlantic Records, who cited disappointing sales of The Big Room, which at that time had only sold around 100,000 units in the US. Shocked and disappointed by the decision, M2M returned to Norway.[14] The duo broke up later that year,[7] with both Raven and Larsen pursuing solo careers.[15]

Singles

Everything was the first single from the album. It was released in Asia in October 2001 and the US on 26 February 2002. It reached No. 6 in Norway,[16] No. 27 in Australia[17] and No. 44 in New Zealand.[18] The second single was What You Do About Me. It reached No. 46 in Australia.[17] The track Don't was released in the US as a promo single.[19]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic
Entertainment WeeklyB-
Groove.no
USA Today
Herald SunFavourable
The Village VoiceFavourable
Chuck TaylorFavourable
The Philippine StarFavourable
Daily CollegianFavourable

The album received positive critical response. James Hunter of The Village Voice called the album a "pop masterpiece," praising the singing, songwriting and decision to use live backing instruments.[5] Chuck Taylor from Billboard said the album featured "a decidedly mature acoustic pop/rock signature, belying the tender age of the act's two singers",[20] and also gave favourable reviews of both the singles Everything[21] and Don't.[19] Groove.no gave the album five out of seven stars.[22] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B-, favourable comparing the uptempo tracks to Hanson though stating M2M's vocal range could not handle the album's ballads.[23]

Elysa Gardner from USA Today gave the album two and a half stars out of four. Saying the duo deserved an "A for effort", she praised their strong vocals and instruments though labelled some of the lyrics as cliched teenage melodrama.[24] The Philippine Star said the album "retain[ed] the same young, sparkling kind of effervescene that made the group such a huge success".[2] The Massachusetts Daily Collegian gave a favorable review, calling the album "a crystalline example of the heights that teen pop can accomplish".[25]

Karen Tye spoke favourable of the album, saying they had "ditched the cutesy voices and effervescent ditties" and replaced it with acoustic pop and rock which occasionally bordered on country. She praised M2M for using "down-to-earhtunes and thoughtful lyrics" instead of revealing outfits to propel them into the limelight, unlike many of their pop counterparts.[26] Conversely, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic was critical of M2M's new image in the album artwork. Erlewine said they had ditched their sweet and innocent look from Shades of Purple, for "lots of makeup, crimped hair [and] fairly low-cut tops". He gave the album four and a half stars out of five, concluding "If M2M needs to play up their good looks to sell an album this pleasing, so be it. This is an album that deserves to find its audience, even through tactics as blatant as that."[27]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Everything"Marit Larsen, Marion Raven, Jimmy Bralower, Peter Zizzo4:11
2."Jennifer"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen3:08
3."Don't"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen3:27
4."Payphone"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen3:16
5."What You Do About Me"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen, Jimmy Bralower, Peter Zizzo3:05
6."Love Left for Me"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen4:15
7."Miss Popular"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen, Peter Zizzo3:06
8."Wanna Be Where You Are"Marion Raven3:26
9."Leave Me Alone"Marion Raven3:08
10."Sometimes"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen2:53
11."Eventually"Marion Raven, Marit Larsen3:01
Total length:36:56

Charts

Chart (2002) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[28] 61
Norway (VG-lista)[29] 16

References

  1. ^ "M2M chats with fans on AllPop". Canoe.com. 3 April 2000. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c Gil, Baby A (8 December 2001). "M2M back with The Big Room". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b "Singles for M2M pair". Herald Sun. Melbourne. 16 May 2002. p. 36.
  4. ^ "M2M makes real music". Herald Sun. 9 June 2002. p. F03.
  5. ^ a b Hunter, James (16 April 2002). "Everyone Hates Miss Popular". The Village Voice. New York City.
  6. ^ "Fremdeles uforløst". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). 6 March 2002. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b c "Her bryter Marion sammen i tårer over M2M-dagboken". Verdens Gang. 9 February 2013. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b Craine, Charlie (22 April 2002). "M2M – Interview". HipOnline. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "M2M - The Big Room". Girl.com.au. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Går det mot oppløsning?". Verdens Gang. 23 July 2002. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "M2M frustrert over manglende USA-satsing". Verdens Gang. 17 April 2002. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "ARIA New Releases Albums - Week Commencing 29th April 2002" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  13. ^ Barry A. Jeckell (1 March 2002). "Jewel Takes Labelmate M2M On The Road". Billboard. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Sendt hjem fra USA". Verdens Gang. 21 July 2002. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Nelson, Michael (26 March 2016). "30 Essential Max Martin Songs". Stereogum. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "M2M". norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ a b "M2M". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  18. ^ "M2M". charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ a b Taylor, Chuck (8 June 2002). "M2M Everyday". Billboard: 36. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  20. ^ Taylor, Chuck (4 May 2002). "M2M Resuscitation". Billboard: 70. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  21. ^ Taylor, Chuck (23 February 2002). "M2M Everyday". Billboard: 22. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  22. ^ Berge, John (12 May 2002). "The Big Room". Groove.no. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "The Big Room". Entertainment Weekly. 15 March 2002. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Jones, Steve; Gardner, Elysa; Mansfield, Brian (12 March 2002). "'Full Moon' puts Brandy into orbit ; Bobby McFerrin, M2M, Killa Beez also blast off". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ "M2M – Refreshingly Different Teen Pop". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. 2 April 2002. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Tye, Karen (28 April 2002). "Pop". Herald Sun. Melbourne.
  27. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums - Week Commencing 20th May 2002" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd. 15 April 2002. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  29. ^ "M2M - The Big Room (Album)". Norwegiancharts.com. IFPI Norway. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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