Here I Am (Marion Raven album)

Raven rose to prominence as half of the musical duo M2M, alongside Marit Larsen. In 2002, M2M disbanded after the release of two albums and some international success. Following the break-up, M2M's American record label, Atlantic Records, approached Raven with an offer for a solo record contract. In later interviews, she explained that she would otherwise not have been able to work with others until at least 2005, as she had a pre-existing contract with the label. Her debut album was reported to have a budget of NOK 7.3 million, or approximately one million US dollars at the time. In the autumn of 2002, Raven began recording songs for her solo project with Norwegian producer Ole Evenrud at his studio in Halden; these songs were ultimately never released. In an interview to BON, Raven stated that they "had no fixed date by which we had to be finished. We could hold on as long as we felt necessary." ==Singles==

• "End of Me" was the first single from the album to be released exclusively in Southeast Asia. It peaked at No. 4 on MTV Asia's video hitlist and was a top 10 song in Malaysia, Taiwan, China, and Singapore. • "Break You" was released in Mexico, Japan, Sweden and Norway. It went No. 1 in Japan and Indonesia and claimed the No. 9 spot in Norway. • "Here I Am" was the album's title track, and third single, that was only officially released in Norway, around the same time "Break You" was released. It peaked at No. 20 on the official Norwegian charts and reached No. 3 on the TV2 Music Chart. Raven performed the song live in the Nordic Music Awards. The music video of "Here I Am" featured pictures of Raven's grandfather when he was a young man. Though the single only release as singles in Norway, the music video still to be played in other countries where the album was release. • "Little by Little", the fifth track of the album, was released as a radio-only single in Asia. ==Track listing==

'''Japan and Scandinavia release track listing''' The Japanese release also has a bonus DVD with 'Break You' and 'Here I Am' music videos. '''Southeast Asia and Taiwan releases track listing''' • The Here I Am DVD Limited Edition for Taiwan was released in 2006 only. It featured the making of "End Of Me" and the "End Of Me" music video. Bonus tracks and B-Sides: • "Surfing the Sun" (Marion Raven, Nikki Sixx, James Michael) 3:53 *Japanese Bonus Track • "There I Said It" (Marion Raven, Max Martin, Rami) 3:48 *Single B-Side for Swedish "Break You" and Norwegian "Here I Am" singles Tracks that did not make it into the final cut of the album were,"Forgot His Name", "Brand New Me", "Disconnected", "Have Mercy", "Bittersweet" and "Gutter". Little is known about these songs, but a track called 'Get Over Me' leaked to the web in 2006. ==Reception==

• The album sold over 135,000 copies in Asia in its first three months. • On the online version of the Singapore newspaper, The New Paper, music reviewer Seto Nu-Wen wrote, "Her (Raven's) music is more heartfelt than contrived, thus avoiding the commercial trappings of your average teenage punk-rock debut." • On her "Here I Am" tour across Asia, Japan and Scandinavia, MTV Asia praised Raven on shedding the cuteness of M2M and sporting an assertive voice of vengeful yet positive tunes backed with a strong radio-friendly pop-rock vibe. • At the end of 2005, Raven's singles "End Of Me" and "Break You" were at No. 54 and No. 69 respectively on MTV Asia's year end top 100 countdown, with "End Of Me" beating songs like "Ghost Of You" (No. 57) and "Misunderstood" (No. 58), by My Chemical Romance and Robbie Williams respectively. ==Chart performance==

• Marion Raven — Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Writer, Piano, Vocals, Vocals (background) • Allen Kovac — Management • Max Martin — Guitar, Writer, Producer, Programming, Vocals (background), Engineer, Instrumentation • Steve Thompson — Arranger, Producer, String Arrangements, Mixing • Lukasz "Doctor Luke" - Gottwald Instrumentation • Hans Akeson, Ulrika Frankmar, Elisabeth Arnberg Ranmo, Håkan Roos — Viola • Art Alexakis — Guitar, Vocals • Andreas Andersson, Mikael Sjogren, Bo Soderstrom, Martin Stensson, Torbjorn Bernhardsson, Hanna Göran, Svein H. Martinsen — Violin • Monica Jönsson, Astrid Lindell, Kati Raitinen — Cello • Tomas Andersson — Guitar, Violin • Kenny Aronoff — Percussion, Drums • Richard Nettermalm, Johan Reivén — Drums • John Degrazio — Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) • John Deley — Piano, Strings, Keyboards, Programming • Peter Svensson — Guitar • Liz Barrett — Art Direction • P.R. Brown — Design, Photography • Dana Marasca — Stylist • Andrew Feigenbaum, Craig Kallman, Craig Rosen — A&R • Janne Hansson — String Engineer • Michael Ilbert — Engineer, Digital Editing, Mixing • Henrik, Ulf — Janson String Arrangements • Jesse Levy — String Arrangements • George Marino — Mastering • Mike Plotnikoff — Engineer, Mixing • Bryan Russell — Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant • Jamie Siegel — Programming, Engineer, Pre-Production ==References==