Here I Am

I remember when I heard M2M was done making music and it bothered me alot because they were one of the truly talented groups around at the time. They wrote most of their music and played some of the instruments, unlike every other teen group or soloist at the time who had a huge team behind them creating their success. When I found out Marion Raven was going solo, I was pretty bummed and wasn't expecting too much. That said, this album completely blew me away. Marion is no longer a teenager and that shows in her music, but that doesn't mean her music isn't clean. It just deals with more mature relationship problems. She wrote/co-wrote every song on the album except "Break You." Even if her solo career doesn't take off, she can at least be successful writing for other artists.1.) "Get Me Out Of Here": A great way to start the album. It's an upbeat rock song that has been stuck in my head for the past few days.2.) "Break You": The first single off the album written by Max Martin, who wrote "Baby One More Time" and launched Britney Spears into super stardom. This deffinatley isn't the best song on the album and seems like it tries to be a Kelly Clarkson song a little too much, but still a really good song in it's own right.3.) "Crawl": Great tune and great lyrics. I like how it starts off slow and builds to the chorus.4.) "Here I Am": The third single off the album and title track. Something about this song reminds me of something Britney Spears would have done, but I think it's just the way they mixed it or something. This is my second favorite song on the album.5.) "Little By Little": The fourth single, but deffinatley not the fourth best song on the album. It's decent, but gets very repetitive. By the end of the song, you don't want to hear the words "Little By Little" again. And it seems like something Hilary Duff would do. Marion doesn't use her big voice hardly at all on this song.6.) "End Of Me": The second single and my favorite song. It's edgy and mixes rock with lots of digital effects, but in a good way. The chorus is amazing and this is the song that you can't get out of your head after hearing it. I love the end when she mixes the first verse with the chorus. This song shows off Marion's great voice and writing ability. I would buy this album after hearing this song alone. Furthermore, it has a unique sound and doesn't sound like it's done in the style of any current artists.7.) "13 Days": This song took me two listens to start to warm up to it, but I like it now. It's not one of the best, it's not one of the worst.8.) "For You I'll Die": Marion slows things down alot with this great ballad. Very haunting. This song showcases her unique sound, unlike many songs on the album that sound like imitations of artists in this genre.9.) "Let Me Introduce Myself": This song would be good if they would take away the weird sound effects and the distortion on Marion's voice when she says the line "Let Me Introduce Myself." However, even that couldn't save this song from being the worst one on the album. The songs that were cut from the album were better than this.10.) "Heads Will Roll": This song incorporates rock and grunge. The verse sucks, but the chorus rocks, so this song ends up decent when you balance it out.11.) "At The End Of The Day (Feat. Art Alexakis)": I'm not familiar at all with Everclear's music, but this is an ok duet. It just doesn't sound anything like the other songs on the album and doesn't fit in with the rest of the songs. However, it is a good song.12.) "Six Feet Under": Great Song all around. I would like to see this become a single. It's haunting and has a great melody.13.) "Gotta Be Kidding": Very reminiscent of an Avril Lavign song. It's a really good song, but I wish Marion would do more in her own style. Also, there are some weird instruments used in the background that I could do without.14.) "In Spite Of Me": A great way to close the album. It's a slow ballad and goes the opposite direction of most of the songs on the album. Marion has obviously been cheated on because a great number of songs on this album deal with that topic, but this song is about her cheating on someone and how they were able to overlook it.15.) "Surfin' The Sun (Bonus Track)": I love the versus and the bridge on this song is incredible. Very reminiscent of the old M2M style. The chorus goes the opposite direction of the haunting verse and makes it more of a light hearted pop song. This bonus track is alot better than some of the songs on the album and I'm baffeled as to why it got cut from the album.This is a very good album on it's own, but when I compare it to "The Big Room" and "Shades of Purple," it doesn't hold a candle. Some of the songs on the album aren't as good as some of the cut songs. "There I Said It" is a cut song that is awesome and "Surfin' The Sun" should be on every copy, not just the Japaneese version. Marit Larsen, the other half of M2M, has a solo album coming out as well and I've heard some of her new stuff. You can hear traces of M2M in both of their music, but neither is as good without the other by their side. I Atlantic should just hire M2M back. "The Big Room" had little, if any form of marketing in the U.S. I didn't even know it was out way back when, which is probably why it bommed sales wise.I would reccomend this album to all M2M fans, and if you've never heard of M2M, but like Kelly Clarkson or Avril Lavign, this album is right up your alley. Go to Marion Raven's website where you can see her music videos and listen to snippets of some of the songs on the album. That's what convinced me to buy it.

For the record, there appear to be several versions of this disc out there, so I'm reviewing the Japanese version with the one bonus track. (I have no idea if there is a difference between the "special edition" and "limited edition," so if anyone has info on that, feel free to share.)First of all, is it necessary to pay the extra $12 to get the bonus track (which is included only on the Japanese version)? Well, I'd rank the song "Surfing the Sun" as "good not great"--definitely among the weakest of the selections, so if you're hard up on cash, the cheaper version will do in a pinch.This was my favourite album of 2005--for a sense of my tastes, my other faves from that year were the new albums from Paul McCartney, Oasis, and Ringo Starr. Not surprisingly, Marion is also a Beatles fan, as Her music reflects a progressive bent. Although it seems to be marketed as hard rock/punk, only some of the tracks really fall into that category. There are also some light rock tracks reminicent of Her M2M days; and some ballads, from simple piano ballads to power ballads.But to hell with style--the primary focus should be on the music itself. Aside from writing strong, original work, She's one of the few new artists (if I may call Her "new") to master the often neglected practice of writing bridges. Her lyrics are also quite evocative: "Before I go / I will see you crawl" (HOT!!); "All that's left is the memory of a bad lay" (not an M2M lyric); and the fantastic "In Spite of Me," using strings and background vocals sparingly but to great effect, with lyrics about, for a change, the woman doing the cheating(!).I love virtually every song here (although I don't know if Marion realizes just how silly "Let Me Introduce Myself" is). Other than that, nearly every track works. And with that, I am officially in love with this woman.

Unlike the one reviewer of Marion's new album, Here I Am, I don't hear forced anything. She keeps her melodic abilities while creating a rockier style. "Little By Little" is quite the creative folk-pop song, and "Heads Will Roll" is creative hard rock. On "Let Me Introduce Yourself," you hear some of the M2M style. All the rest is great meat and potatoes rock. For example, "End Of The Day" is a pretty duet with the lead singer of Everclear. Marion isn't necessarily better than ever (except for her vocals,) but the change suits her.

This album is very gothic, i like it. her vocals here are a huge step up from M2M. powerful. Shes found her style with her voice. All the songs except one are written by her, and the lyrics are very telling. The songs are about getting hurt by people, and getting hurt over again. theres a couple positive songs in there. Listen to her songs and see her videos at her website. I went there and heard two songs and took the chance of buying the cd based on those two songs, and I ended up liking the cd.

Marion produces damn good rock music with little effort. The passion is clear on this CD as she wales through an assortment of songs from sweet and soft to hard and brash. She has a polished sound from years of experience in the business as a member of M2M. She is branching in the right direction.

Its an ok album but nowhere near as good as Marion on Meatloafs Bats 3 (its all comimg back to me now)

かつて、日本盤も発売され、テレビでPVも流れていた女性2人組「M2M」のメンバー、マリオン・レイヴンのソロ作品です。　M2MはPOPグループでしたが、本ソロ作品はロックアルバムに仕上がっています。　曲がよく、ヴォーカルに表現力もあり、たいへん良い作品です。88点

昔大好きだったアルバム。。。だけど売ってしまったのか無い。。。中古で購入！やっぱり2曲目最強！

ビジュアルに負けてない実力者と言う感じです。ノリがいいのでドライブにいいのでは‼