Maria Mena

Maria Mena

Maria Mena is a Norwegian singer-songwriter from Lørenskog, Norway. She works in pop, rock and singer-songwriter styles, and her writing often draws on personal experience.

Early life and start in music

Mena is born in 1986. At thirteen, she moves to live with her musician father. She begins singing and writing lyrics as a way of dealing with her feelings and frustrations, and some of the songs grow out of the diary entries she keeps. One of those songs is “My Lullaby”, which reflects the pain she feels after her parents’ divorce.

After asking her father to help make a demo, he arranges studio recordings with industry contacts and then presents her material to the music business. Sony Music signs her to its label.

Breakthrough recordings

“My Lullaby” reaches number five in the Norwegian singles chart in March 2002. The song helps her build a large following, and she earns her first platinum record soon afterwards.

In 2005, she releases Apparently Unaffected, which includes the singles “Miss You Love” and “Just Hold Me”. The album becomes a major success in Norway and receives three Spellemann nominations: best female artist, best hit and best music video.

Later work

In September 2008, Mena releases her fifth studio album, Cause and Effect.