Marit Larsen Brings Her 'Song' to the US

Though she's not yet a household name in the States, Marit Larsen has already had a successful four-year run as a solo artist in Europe. The 26-year-old indie-pop singer is, in fact, a bit of a pop star in her homeland of Norway, as well as Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Larsen, now testing American waters, stopped by Spinner's New York headquarters to play a few tunes and give the staff a taste of what's to come.

"In my former life, I was in a duo called M2M," Larsen told Spinner as she introduced herself, just before performing 'If a Song Could Get Me You,' 'Fuel' and 'Ten Steps.' "At a point, I just realized I was compromising the music that I was making. I was not really comfortable with the music that we were releasing. I was so young, and really growing. I was having growing pains."

It was then that Larsen -- influenced by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor and Feist, whom she admitted even inspired her current haircut -- started writing songs for her solo project, soon after releasing 2006's 'Under the Surface' and 2008's 'The Chase' in Norway. More recently, she put out a compilation of those two albums throughout Europe, where she is now touring, and she hopes to bring that same set of music to the US.

Of her single, 'If a Song Could Get Me You,' Larsen said, "As you will find out, most of my stories in my songs are this desperate. I like to wrap it in a cheerful and bubbly melody as possible to sort of get people to listen to my songs. By the fourth time [they hear it], they realize what I'm singing about. The truth is, I've probably fooled hundreds of people on the radio every day."

In another sign of how much things have changed for her, Larson also discussed when she opened for Hanson back in 2000 with M2M. "That was an adventure for us," she said. "We came straight from Norway, 15 and 16 years old, and we got to tour with Hanson for two months. I even ended up dating one of them -- the older one [guitarist Isaac] that had the braces. Well, he didn't [have braces anymore] when we dated. Wow, that's a long time ago."

Here's to having just as memorable an experience the second time around. Larsen just wrapped up a string of dates in Germany, and is now on the road in Switzerland.