Maria Mena: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Katy Rose
• Rachael Yamagata
• Fefe Dobson
• Missy Higgins

• Alanis Morissette
• Shakira

Genres:

Rock Music, Adult Alternative

Decades Active:

2000's

In 2001, native Norwegian Maria Mena became a teen signing sensation when her single "My Lullaby" blew up in that country on ringtone and radio. More singles followed, as did the hotselling album Another Phase, and Mena's cred spread throughout Europe. By 2004 Mena was 18, and ready to take her darkeyed glamour and smooth, faintlyalternative pop (aided in craft by Norwegian songwriter/producer Arvid Solvang) onto the international stage. First, her Mellow LP saw Scandinavian and European issue in January of that year. It was supported by the single "You're the Only One", a sonic sister to Alanis Morissett's "Hands Clean" and similarly first person confessional ("You're the only one who holds my hair back when I'm drunk and get sick"). Then, in spring, the single appeared on US shores, with eager adds at tastemaking Top 40 outlets. By May, the video clip for "Only One" which might as well have been a Noxema ad with its shots of squeakycleen teens horsing around and generally looking vibrant and great was entrenched at MTV's TRL. Something called the Teen People Rock 'n' Shop Mall Tour was next for Mena. As crazy as the gig sounded, directtoaudience marketing of this type had been successfully introducing teenpop stars from the hair spray days of Tiffany to the neckties and scowl of Avril Lavigne. White Turns Blue, Mena's fulllength domestic debut, dropped in July 2004. It featured slightly tweaked tracks from Mena's European output, and put a point on her welltimed US pop takeover.

- Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide