Kurt Erik Nilsen is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian version of the reality television show Pop Idol, which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of Pop Idol, called World Idol on 1 January 2004, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows.
Speak is the debut studio album by American actress and singer Lindsay Lohan, released on December 7, 2004, by Casablanca Records. Speak was the first high-seller from Casablanca in several years, selling 1,000,000 copies in the United States.
Marion Elise Ravn, better known abroad as Marion Raven, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Raven formed the pop duo M2M with Marit Larsen, though they ceased performing together in 2002. Raven was later signed as a solo artist by Atlantic Records with the release of her solo debut album, Here I Am in 2005. In 2006, Raven was signed to the indie record label, Eleven Seven, and in 2007 re-released the songs on her debut album along with a few new songs on an album titled Set Me Free. In 2012, Raven began production of her second album, Songs from a Blackbird, which was released in Norway on 8 April 2013.
Crystal Kay Williams is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host.
Marit Elisabeth Larsen is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. She began playing violin at age of 5 and played it until the age of 8. She gained international fame during her teenage years as a member of the pop duo M2M with childhood friend Marion Raven. She then pursued her own music career, releasing her debut solo album Under the Surface in 2006. Her second album, The Chase, was released in Norway in October 2008. Her third album, titled Spark was released in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland on 18 November 2011, and in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 16 December 2011. Her fourth studio album When the Morning Comes was released on 20 October 2014. Larsen toured in its support within Norway with her own concerts, played songs from the album in Germany and Switzerland at public festivals and was the opening act at two of Johannes Oerding's concerts in November 2015.
M2M were a Norwegian pop duo comprising Marit Larsen and Marion Raven. Larsen and Raven had been friends since the age of five, and formed a music duo when they were eight. They released a children's album in 1996 when Larsen was 12 and Raven was 11, under the name "Marit & Marion". The album was nominated for a Spellemannprisen award and the band changed their name to M2M after signing a record deal with Atlantic Records in 1998. M2M were frequently praised for writing most of their songs and performing their own instruments, something which was considered to set them aside from the majority of teen pop music artists.
"Come Clean" is a song recorded by American singer Hilary Duff for her second studio album, Metamorphosis (2003). It was written by Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, while production was handled by Shanks. The song contains influences of electronica, with the lyrics chronicling the protagonist wanting to "come clean" with her love interest, from a strained relationship. "Come Clean" was received by critics with mixed reviews. The song was released on January 13, 2004 as the album's second single.
I Am Me is the second studio album by American recording artist Ashlee Simpson. It was released in the United States on October 18, 2005 and debuted at number one in sales. The album produced two top 25 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, "Boyfriend" and "L.O.V.E." Simpson worked with John Shanks and Kara DioGuardi on this album, as she did on her first album, 2004's Autobiography. Shanks produced the album, and Simpson co-wrote all the songs with Shanks and DioGuardi. On December 15, I Am Me was certified Platinum by the RIAA for its shipments of over one million copies in the U.S.. A new single from Simpson, "Invisible", was reportedly going to be included on a re-release of I Am Me in mid-2006, but was canceled. The song was later included as an international bonus track on Simpson's next album, Bittersweet World.
"Boyfriend" is a single by American singer Ashlee Simpson, the first from her second studio album, I Am Me (2005). It has rock-guitar music produced by John Shanks, who collaborated with Simpson on her 2004 debut album, Autobiography, and as with all the songs on I Am Me, it was written by Simpson, Shanks and Kara DioGuardi. "Boyfriend" reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Here I Am is the debut solo album by M2M member, Marion Raven, released in mid-2005. Raven co-wrote all of the songs, with several well-known musicians. She played both acoustic and electric guitars as well as the piano and provided background vocals on a number of songs. The album showed her transition from her past M2M pop sound to a dark hard-rock sound. Her musical transition was well received by critics internationally.
"Irreplaceable" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for her second studio album, B'Day (2006). The song was written by Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel, S. Eriksen, Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund, Beyoncé and produced by Stargate and Beyoncé. "Irreplaceable" was originally a country record; it was re-arranged as a mid-tempo ballad with pop and R&B influences by modifying the vocal arrangements and instrumentation. During the production and recording sessions, Beyoncé and Ne-Yo wanted to create a record which people of either gender could relate to. The song's lyrics are about the breakdown of a relationship with an unfaithful man and the song contains a message about female empowerment.
"Naughty Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé from her debut solo studio album Dangerously in Love (2003). It was written by Beyoncé, Scott Storch, Robert Waller and Angela Beyincé, and produced by Storch and Beyoncé. The song was released by Columbia Records as the fourth and final single from the album on March 14, 2004. An official remix featuring American rapper Marquis Bryant was released in May 2004, as well. Musically, "Naughty Girl" is an R&B song that interpolates from Donna Summer's 1975 song "Love to Love You Baby". Influenced by Arabic music, dancehall, funk and reggae, the song contains lyrics that reference to a celebration of sexual lust and conquest, leading up to a desire for a one-night stand.
Set Me Free is Marion Raven's North American and European debut album released under indie label Eleven Seven Music. The album incorporates a mixture of fresh tracks and previously released tracks, with some revised versions, from her Asian and Scandinavian debut album, Here I Am. She also played the piano, acoustic and electric guitars on the record. Set Me Free headlines Raven's inclination to harder rocking songs and a darker lyrical scope. The album has been released in Germany and the U.K. with a digital release on the Dutch and US versions of iTunes. Interscope released the album in Canada, where Raven performed in ten Canadian cities as the opening act on Meat Loaf's March 2007 Arena tour.
Heads Will Roll EP is Marion Raven's first EP that was released on October 31, 2006. All of the songs were written by Raven in collaboration with numerous artists including Nikki Sixx, Scott Stevens and Freddy Herrera, Keith Nelson and Xavier Muriel (Buckcherry), and Raine Maida. The EP was made available for downloading from iTunes while the hard copy was exclusively released in the US. In Raven's own words, the tracks on the EP are fun rock songs that are meant for jumping around to.
"End Of Me" is a pop rock song written by Marion Raven, Max Martin and Rami for Raven's internationally released album Here I Am (2005). It was released as the album's lead single in Southeast Asia in 2005 and was very successful in the region, reaching the top ten in many countries that include Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
"Falling Away" is the lead single from Marion Raven's album, 'Set Me Free', digitally released on April 11, 2007 to Canada and European iTunes by Eleven Seven Music. The song was released in the digital format to U.S. iTunes on June 12, 2007. The single has two covers, one for European countries and the alternative cover for its U.S. release. The single was released on radio in most Asian countries despite the album being exclusively released in the U.S and Europe; it had reached number 2 in Indonesia by the end of 2007.
"Forever" is a song by American recording artist Chris Brown. Brown co-wrote the song with Andre Merritt, Rob Allen, Brian Kennedy, and Jamal "Polow da Don" Jones; the latter two are also the producers. Initially created to be used for a Doublemint commercial, "Forever" was selected to be released as the lead single from the reissue version of Brown's second studio album Exclusive, titled the Forever Edition, and the fifth single overall from the album. It was first released for digital download on November 2, 2007.
Boyfriend (Korean: 보이프렌드) was a South Korean boy group formed by Starship Entertainment in 2011. They are the first boy group to have twin members. The group consists of Kim Donghyun, Shim Hyunseong, Lee Jeongmin, Jo Youngmin, Jo Kwangmin, and No Minwoo. They debuted on Mnet's M!Countdown on May 26, 2011 with "Boyfriend". Starship Entertainment announced that Boyfriend disbanded on May 17, 2019.
Songs from a Blackbird is the second studio album by Norwegian singer-songwriter Marion Raven, first released in Norway on April 5, 2013. This album marks her first release in six years since 2007's Set Me Free and her first studio album in eight years composed entirely of brand new songs since 2005's Here I Am. Songs from a Blackbird also showcased Marion's musical transition from her past hard rock style into a softer folk-rock music.
"Everything" is a single by Norwegian pop duo M2M, composed of singers Marion Raven and Marit Larsen. It was the first single from the duo's second album, The Big Room. The single was released worldwide between October 2001 and March 2002. It was well received critically, and reached No. 6 in Norway in addition to being a minor hit in Australia, Italy and New Zealand. A music video directed by Chris Applebaum was released for the single. M2M performed the song on the 100th episode of Dawson's Creek and live at the 2002 Spellemannprisen awards. The song earned M2M a nomination for "Best International Artist" at the 2001 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
