By Matt Holsapple
Staff Writer

It would be easy to cast M2M aside as the newest attempt to cash in on the popularity of bubble-gum music, but that would be an injustice to a band with much more to offer.

At first glance, M2M may appear to be simply trying to follow the well-worn path to the superficial, image-based success of such performers as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. However, further listenings will reveal a group that relies more on substance and talent than style and production.

The Norwegian group's first release, "Shades of Purple," shows an amount of potential that is not found in most of today's teen pop radio fodder. The album sounds as a listener might expect collaboration between Lisa Loeb and Ace of Base to sound, with Loeb's catchy but personal lyrics and Ace of Base's danceable pop flavor.

The members of M2M — 16-year-olds Marion Raven and Marit Larsen — at least co-wrote every song on "Shades of Purple," and the lyrics show the effects of a teen-age point of view. The group sings about topics that affect the average teen-ager such as nervousness from talking to a crush, to a boyfriend that is pushing a physical relationship too soon. Gone are the songs of overwhelming lust like Christina Aguilera's "Genie In A Bottle" and songs of losing your one true love, like Britney Spears' "From The Bottom of My Broken Heart." The songs of M2M seem to know that teen-agers don't actually spend all of their waking hours pining for true love or trying to get laid.

The album is pure, radio friendly pop. It is bouncy and not afraid to have a little fun with itself. Even songs like "Mirror Mirror" and "Dear Diary" that have lyrics approaching melancholy sound upbeat and cheery, following in the tradition of other Scandinavian artists such as Roxette and ABBA.

This is not to say that every aspect of "Shades of Purple" is deserving of high praise. Some of the songs, such as "Girl In Your Dreams," sound like hit-hungry producers pushed them across the line from folksy pop to overproduced cheesiness. Other songs such as "Pretty Boy" suffer from lame lyric syndrome. Instead of providing an insightful fresh look at teen-age life, they cycle the same over- dramatic sentiment that proliferates on popular radio.

M2M has room for improvement and, given the chance, it seems likely that the group will make those improvements. For the time being, though, it still offers a worthy pop alternative to the frothy boy pop and sugar-sweet sex kittens that spout much of today's pure pop music.