M vs. M: War, what is it good for

I probably shouldn't do this. There is no real reason for comparing the two, but I'm doing it anyway.

It's M vs. M:

M2M is probably Norway's best pop-export ever. For my money, A-HA never wrote a tune as catchy, let alone true, as "Don't Say You Love Me". Teenage love? I don't know. People seem to throw around "Love You"'s like pennies in order to, well, get their way, if you know what I mean.

And now, after a lengthy hiatus, Marit Larsen released Under the Surface just over a week ago. Stylus magazine are impressed, awarding the album an A-, and even going as far as calling it "the best sort of pop music being made outside of the US/UK". This comes just a week or so after Kelefa Sanneh praised Marion Raven's debut (released late last year in Norway).

Contrary to what I always thought (I never did bother to read the album credits), Marion seems to have been the main architect behind many of M2M's best songs. And although I think Larsen's "Don't Save Me" is a lovely tune, it doesn't grab me the way "Break You" did. Marion is more engaged in (most of) her songs, more willing to act out the words than Marit is.

That said, both albums have their strong and weak points, and I'm not sure either of them are as good as the articles above claim. But good luck to them anyway.