The term Mena can mean a variety of different things:

Biology[link]

• Mena, one of three members of the Ena/Vasp homology proteins in mice
• Mena (genus), a genus of sea anemone

Geography[link]

• MENA, an acronym for the "Middle East & North Africa" region
  • For coverage of the MENA revolutions see Arab Spring
• Mena, Arkansas, USA
• Mena, Koulikoro, Mali
• Mena, Sikasso, Mali
• Mena, Ukraine
• Juan de Mena District, in Paraguay
• Valle de Mena (Valley of Mena), a municipality in Burgos, Spain

Goddesses[link]

• Mena or Dea Mena, a Roman goddess of menstruation; see List of Roman birth and childhood deities
• Menaka, Hindu Goddess of snow

Music[link]

• Mena (album), 2010 album by Javiera Mena.

News agencies[link]

• MENA (news), the Middle East News Agency (MENA), an Egyptian publicly-funded news agency

People[link]

Surname

Surname of Spanish and Catalan origin.

• Juan de Mena, a Spanish Renaissance poet
• Pedro de Mena, a Spanish sculptor in the 17th century
• Carlos Mena, a Spanish countertenor
• Sergio Mena, a Spanish journalist
• Maria Mena, a Norwegian pop singer
• Javiera Mena, a Chilean pop singer

First name

• Mena Suvari, an American actress
• Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart

Technology[link]

• MENA (cable system), a planned submarine telecommunications cable system linking countries between Italy and India

See also[link]

• Meena (disambiguation)
• Mene (disambiguation)
• Mina (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Maria Mena
Background information
Birth name	Maria Viktoria Mena
Born	(1986-02-19) February 19, 1986 (age 26) Oslo, Norway
Genres	Alternative rock, pop, folk-pop, alt-country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Voice
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Sony Music Norway, Columbia
Website	www.mariamena.no

Maria Viktoria Mena (born February 19, 1986) is a Norwegian pop artist.

Biography[link]

Maria Mena was born into an artistic family, her mother, a playwright and her father, a drummer. Both Maria and her brother, Tony, are named after characters from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Her mother is Norwegian and her father is Nicaraguan.

Her father played in several bands in Oslo, which influenced Mena to write and record her own music. When Mena was nine years old, her parents divorced. She suffered from depression and developed an eating disorder.^[1]

When Mena was 13 years old, she moved to live with her father. She sang and wrote lyrics as a form of self-soothing. "My Lullaby", a song from Mena's diary, expresses her pain from her parents' divorce. After pleading with her father to make a demo, he contacted some acquaintances in the music industry to record the demo. Presenting his daughter's demo to several record companies, Sony Music signed Mena to their label.

In 2002, she released her debut single "Fragile (Free)" in Norway, however it did not manage to chart there. "My Lullaby" was released as the second single and the song reached #5 on the Norwegian Singles Chart. It received heavy rotation on NRK P1, P3, P4, Radio 1, and Radio Oslo. The young singer quickly gained fans and soon earned her first platinum record. After the success of "My Lullaby", she released her debut album, Another Phase in Norway which reached #6 on the Norwegian Albums Chart.

On July 20, 2004, Mena made an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote her first international album, White Turns Blue, which debuted at the top position on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart a week later and at #102 on the Billboard 200. She made a breakthrough into the worldwide singles charts that year with "You're the Only One", a single successful in multiple countries. The song was her only single to appear on a Billboard chart, making #25 on the U.S. Top 40 Mainstream. "You're the Only One" peaked at #30 on the Dutch Top 40 and #19 on the Dutch Mega Single Top 100. Two months earlier, in March 2004, Mena had released her second album in Norway. Mellow. Less successful than her 2002 debut, it still managed to peak at #7 in Norway. The second single from both albums was "Just a Little Bit", which was a commercial flop, not managing to chart anywhere.

2005 saw the release of Apparently Unaffected in Norway and several other European countries, fronted by singles "Miss You Love", and "Just Hold Me". A significant success in Norway, the album has earned her three Spellemann nominations, Best Female Artist, Best Hit, and Best Music Video. In the Netherlands, the album was released in June 2006 and charted at #82. It slowly climbed the chart to reach its peak position in its 27th week at #11, as "Just Hold Me" was getting airplay again. "Just Hold Me" was released in May 2006, but then did not chart in the official Dutch Top 40, but did chart in the country's physical singles chart, the Mega Single Top 100, at #27. In October 2006, the song started getting heavy airplay again and this time it did managed to reach the official Dutch Top 40 and peaked at #26. In the Mega Single Top 100, it peaked at #7 in the beginning of November 2006. Mena performed at sold-out concerts in Utrecht and Amsterdam, following the success of "Just Hold Me". The album was at #48 at the Dutch year-end chart, outselling major artists such as Pink's I'm Not Dead, Nelly Furtado's Loose, and Beyoncé Knowles' B'Day. "Miss You Love" was released as the album's second single in the Netherlands and reached #61 on the Mega Singles Top 100.

Maria Mena 2008

On July 7, 2007, she performed at the German leg of Live Earth in Hamburg.

Having worked on her three first studio albums with Norwegian producer Arvid Solvang, Mena started collaborating with Martin Sjølie in early 2008 on what would become her fourth studio album, Cause and Effect. The album's first single, "Belly Up" had its radio premiere mid-June 2008 on Norwegian radio. Cause and Effect was released on September 17 in Norway. The first international single was "All This Time". The album was internationally released on September 26, 2008. This album garnered her a Spellemann for Best Female Artist.

Mena's song "Sorry" was featured on the third season of US So You Think You Can Dance and "What's Another Day" was featured during the fourth season. She released "All This Time" in the UK on April 11, 2010.

In 2011 Mena recorded her version of "Mitt Lille Land" (My Little Country) by Ole Paus as part of a project by the Norwegian TV channel TV2. On July 23, the day after the Norway terrorist attacks and after requests from her Norwegian audience, Mena uploaded her version the song to the streaming site SoundCloud. It quickly became an anthem in memory of the victims of the attacks.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Notes

• ¹: "My Lullaby" is the only song that certified in Norway, becoming a gold single for selling over 5,000 copies in Norway.^{[citation needed]}
• ²: The single was officially released in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Austria in 2007.
• ³: "Just Hold Me" gets gold in Germany in 2008 for selling more than 150,000 copies.^[7]
• ⁴: The single was officially released in the Netherlands in 2009.
• ⁵: Belly Up was only released in Norway.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maria Mena

• Official website
• Maria's official blog
• Official fanclub Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Official fanclub Netherlands
• Maria Mena on Myspace
• Last.fm Group
• LiveJournal Community
• Maria Mena at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.scandipop.co.uk/?p=6549
• http://soundcloud.com/maria-mena/maria-mena-mitt-lille-land

Mena Suvari
Suvari at the American Reunion premiere in Sydney, 2012.
Born	Mena Alexandra[1] Suvari (1979-02-13) February 13, 1979 (age 33) Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, fashion designer, model
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Robert Brinkmann (2000–2005) Simone Sestito (2010–present)

Mena Alexandra Suvari (born February 13, 1979) is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident. She made her film debut in the 1997 drama film Nowhere.

Her first major film roles were in American Beauty, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and American Pie (both released in 1999). Since then she has appeared in Loser (2000), with her American Pie co-star, Jason Biggs, and later played a main character in the comedy film Sugar & Spice (2001). She had appearances in the 2002 independent drama Spun, and the 2004 thriller feature Trauma. She also appeared in the HBO's drama series Six Feet Under in 2004, she received a nomination as a member of the Outstanding Cast at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2008, she was cast in a string of films, including Day of the Dead, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and the film adaptation of The Garden of Eden.

Suvari is a model for Lancôme cosmetics and print ads for Lancôme Paris Adaptîve, and has been featured in several fashion blogs and magazines such as Vogue. She is a long-time supporter and activist for the African relief organization, the African Medical and Research Foundation. She is also active in feminist issues, and is involved with charities whose cause is breast cancer, and "End Violence Against Women" campaign.

Early life[link]

Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the daughter of Candice (née Chambers), a nurse, and Ando Süvari, a psychiatrist. Her mother is of half Greek descent and her father is Estonian American.^[2][3][4] She has three older brothers. She began modeling as a preteen and soon after starred in a Rice-A-Roni commercial.

The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. Mena considered becoming an archaeologist, astronaut or doctor, when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school, Ashley Hall, to offer classes. By the time she started acting, she had been modeling for the New York-based Wilhelmina agency for five years.

After moving to the Los Angeles area, Mena attended Providence High School in Burbank, graduating in 1997.

Career[link]

Early work, 1994–1998[link]

Suvari made appearances in television shows such as Boy Meets World and ER at the age of fifteen and sixteen respectively. She also appeared in a number of episodes of the television series High Incident. She played a girl named Ivy infected with HIV in the Chicago Hope episode "Sympathy for the Devil".

She gained early notice for her performance as Zoe in Gregg Araki's low-budget drama feature Nowhere, alongside James Duval, Rachel True, Heather Graham, and Ryan Phillippe. She had a supporting part in the indie drama film Snide and Prejudice, which opened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. She played a small role as Coty Pierce in the 1997 thriller Kiss the Girls, where she appeared opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. She next was cast in a supporting role in the independent dramedy Slums of Beverly Hills, which was released in 1998. It was on the set of this film that she met Natasha Lyonne, who would later join the cast of American Pie.

Suvari at the Fall 2007 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show.

International success, 1999–2006[link]

In 1999, Suvari starred in the Academy Award-winning American Beauty, for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was also nominated for the "Favorite Actress - Newcomer" at the 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Her performance as Angela Hayes brought her to the attention of a much wider audience. That year, she appeared as Heather in the popular teen comedy American Pie. The film was commercially successful, grossing $102 million domestically and $235 million worldwide. She appeared as Lisa Parker in The Rage: Carrie 2, the sequel to the 1976 supernatural thriller Carrie. In the film, she played Emily Bergl's character's best friend, who commits suicide.

Suvari starred alongside her American Pie co-star Jason Biggs in the romantic comedy Loser (2000). She appeared in the poorly received film The Musketeer, and had an appearance again with Biggs in the music video for the Wheatus song "Teenage Dirtbag" in 2001. She reprised the role of Heather in the 2001 sequel to American Pie, American Pie 2, which was also a box office success. She joined the cast of the dark comedy film Sugar & Spice, playing the character Kansas Hill, one of a group of close-knit cheerleaders. The film was a box office bomb. The following year, she starred in the independent drama Spun, opposite Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo, and appeared in Nicolas Cage's directorial debut Sonny, a low-budget drama co-starring James Franco and Brenda Blethyn. In 2004, Suvari's film, the thriller Trauma, directed by Marc Evans, was released at the Sundance Film Festival. She portrayed the character of Charlotte, and co-starred with Colin Firth. The film was described by several film critics as a psychological thriller in the same vein as Jacob's Ladder (1990) and Memento (2000). In that year, she became a recurring character in the fourth season of the critically acclaimed HBO serial Six Feet Under, as lesbian performance poet and artist, Edie. She and the other Six Feet Under cast members received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005.

Suvari appeared alongside Keira Knightley in Tony Scott's Domino, an 2005 action film based on the life of bounty hunter Domino Harvey. Later, she played the character Annie, Jennifer Aniston's tennis-obsessed sister in the romantic comedy Rumor Has It, and co-starred with Queen Latifah and Alicia Silverstone in Beauty Shop, a spinoff of the BarberShop films, as Joanne Marcus. She performed the voice role of Aerith Gainsborough in the Square Enix/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts II and the English-language version of Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. She also had the main role along with Katherine Heigl in the 2006 film Caffeine, a romantic comedy about the relationships of the staff and patrons of the Black Cat Cafe in London one day. Suvari's final 2006 film was the biographical drama Factory Girl, playing Richie Berlin. The film premiered on December 29, 2006, and it portrayed the story of Edie Sedgwick and how she came into Andy Warhol's life.

2007–present[link]

In 2007, Suvari was cast in Michael Corrente's film Brooklyn Rules, with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Alec Baldwin. The film is a crime drime drama which was released on May 18, in a limited release. Later, she starred in the Stuart Gordon's controversial independent thriller Stuck. The film premiered on May 21, 2007 at the Cannes Film Market, and opened in the United States on May 20, 2008. She had the main role in the direct-to-video horror zombie Day of the Dead (2008), a remake of George A. Romero's 1985 classic zombie film of the same name.

She appeared in the film version of writer Michael Chabon's novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,^[5] also starring Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard; in the film, Suvari played Phlox Lombardi, a strange girl who works at the book shop who becomes romantically involved with Jon Foster's character. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. She was cast as Catherine Bourne in the film adaptation of The Garden of Eden. The film was released in 2008 at the RomaCinemaFest and had a limited investors' screening in the UK. Sex and Lies in Sin City, starring Suvari, is a Lifetime made-for-television film about the events surrounding the death of Las Vegas casino owner Ted Binion.^[6][7]

Suvari at the Fall 2007 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show.

Suvari reprised her role of Heather in American Reunion, released on April 6, 2012. Suvari will next appear in the romantic comedy film You May Not Kiss The Bride, which is directed by Rob Hedden and co-starring Vinnie Jones, Rob Schneider, and Katharine McPhee. Filming began in March 2009 in Hawaii.^[8] She is set to star in the horror film Last Stop, playing the character Tracy.

Other projects[link]

Suvari is a model for Lancôme cosmetics and print ads for Lancôme Paris Adaptîve. She has been featured in fashion magazines such as Vogue.

Suvari has collaborated with Echo Design to launch a limited-edition three scarf collection. The project features her own nature-inspired photography, digitally screened on silk and silk chiffon as wearable art. The collection depicts trees in three stages of foliage from fall to winter; a portion of the proceeds from sales will go to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Suvari plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Starlight Children's Foundation. She is also active in female empowerment issues. She is involved with several charities whose cause is breast cancer, the "End Violence Against Women" campaign, and tours high schools as a "Circle Of Friends" spokesperson, encouraging teenagers to quit smoking.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Suvari married German-born cinematographer Robert Brinkmann on March 4, 2000.^[10] Brinkmann was seventeen years her senior. On April 24, 2005, Suvari filed for legal separation, citing irreconcilable differences; the divorce was finalized in May 2005.

In 2007, Suvari began dating Italian-Canadian concert promoter Simone Sestito, whom she met at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Suvari and Sestito became engaged in July 2008 during a vacation to Jamaica.^[11][12] They were married on June 26, 2010 in a private chapel in Rome. The couple chose Rome as their wedding locale because most of Sestito's family lives near the city.^[13][14][15] On January 13, 2012, Suvari filed for divorce from Sestito in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences and listing November 1, 2011 as the date of separation.^[16]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mena Suvari

• Mena Suvari at the Internet Movie Database

This article's references may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. (April 2012)

Javiera Mena
Background information
Birth name	Javiera Alejandra Mena Carrasco
Born	(1983-06-03) June 3, 1983 (age 29)
Origin	Chile
Genres	Pop, Indie
Instruments	Vocals, synthesizer, guitar
Years active	2001 – present
Website	http://www.javieramena.com

Javiera Alejandra Mena Carrasco (born June 3, 1983 in Santiago), publicly known as Javiera Mena (Spanish pronunciation: [xaˈβieɾa ˈmena]), is a Chilean Indie electronic pop musician. She started her musical career in the Chilean indie music scene in 2001, and transformed into one of the most relevant Chilean indie acts after the release of her first studio album in 2006. Her musical style tends to be synthesized electronic sound, although prior to her official debut she made acoustic-oriented songs accompanied solely by guitar.

Biography[link]

Javiera has been performing live since age 17, her first concert occurring in a classroom of Campus Juan Gómez Millas at the University of Chile.^[1] In 2002, she began to study musical composition and musical arrangement at the music academy ProJazz, while also performing at underground parties and clubs. In 2003, she entered the studio for the first time, and recorded various demos which leaked to the internet shortly thereafter. In 2004, she performed outside Chile for the first time, opening for Argentinean electropop band Entre Ríos in Buenos Aires.

Between 2003 and 2006 she were also part of the musical duet Prissa (formerly Tele Visa), along with her friend Francisca Villela. The group released an EP entitled Ni Tu Ni Yo.

Esquemas Juveniles[link]

Javiera's first officially released solo single was “Sol de Invierno," which was included in the 2005 compilation album Panorama Neutral, and after that “Cámara Lenta” was included in the soundtrack of Alberto Fuguet’s movie Se arrienda. Javiera’s debut album, Esquemas Juveniles, was recorded between 2004 and 2005 and was produced by Cristian Heyne. The album was first released in 2006 in Argentina by an indie label owned by Entre Ríos, and was released in Chile and Japan by local indie labels. She achieved attention worldwide through the internet, especially via MySpace, and after Chile she toured Argentina, Perú, and Mexico. The album was later named the 2nd best album of the 2000s (decade) decade by Latin music website Club Fonograma,^[2] while its opening track "Al Siguiente Nivel" was named the best single of the decade.^[3]

In 2009, Javiera was invited by Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience^[4] to be their opening act in their concerts held in Spain and Portugal.^[5]

Mena[link]

After more than four years between production and mastering, Javiera's second studio album, entitled Mena, was released in late 2010. This album was again produced by Cristian Heyne, and took a more dancefloor-oriented style in the songs compared to her first album, along with mid-tempo and slow ballads. The album’s first single, “Hasta la Verdad”, was listed as one of the "Singles of the Week" in the American version of the iTunes Music Store,^[6] and iTunes Mexico named Mena as the breakthrough album of the year.^[7] Club Fonograma gave Mena its first, and to date only, perfect 100 rating, and later named it their 2010 album of the year.^[8]

In April 2011, Javiera performed live in the Chilean version of Lollapalooza.^[9] In May, she toured in Spain and performed live as one of the foreign acts of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. She was praised for her performance and got the attention of the Spanish local press.^[10][11]

Discography[link]

• Ni Tu Ni Yo (as Prissa) [EP] (2006)
• Esquemas Juveniles (2006)
• Mena (2010)
• TBA (2013)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Official MySpace
• Official Twitter

v*Su mejor Canción

Mads Langer
Mads Langer performs acoustically in Amsterdam, 22 December 2010
Background information
Born	1984
Origin	Skive, Denmark
Genres	Pop, rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter Multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboard, Mellotron
Years active	2005–current
Labels	Copenhagen Records Sony Music
Associated acts	Carpark North Saybia Tim Christensen The Darkness
Website	www.madslanger.com

Mads Langer (born 1984, Skive) is a Danish singer and singer-songwriter, who became internationally known for his cover of "You're Not Alone" by the British band Olive.^[1] While that song is cheerful, his own songs are frequently typified as emotional guitar ballads,^[2] because many of them are in a minor scale and have a melancholic feel to them. He has explained that even when he tries to write an uplifting song, it often ends up being a sad song,^[3] even though he does consider himself to be an optimist rather than an emotional person^[4] and says about himself that he is not that sensitive but rather a very tough guy.^[3] Langer also writes more powerful songs and performs various songs on piano. His third studio album Behold was released on 9 May 2011.^[5]

Langer writes the majority of his repertoire alone, but also collaborates with among others Marcus Winther-John, Tim Christensen, Daniel Ahearn, Edie Kuhnle,^[6] and Justin Hawkins.^[7] Tim Christensen has contributed to several songs with backing vocals, guitar and bass on Langer's earlier albums,^[6] and Justin Hawkins sings backing vocals on Langer's upcoming album.^[7] He has announced that he will also be working with several artists and producers from the United States, including Ryan Tedder.^[8] About his approach to music, Langer says: "I'm very inspired of the way Keith Jarrett just lets his hands run out of control and create big poetic moments out of improvisation. The same can be said for other big artists like Ryan Adams and Jeff Buckley. I can relate to all three because they all seem to let their intuition and playful musicality take them to beautiful places. My own music originates in the same way.”^[9] Other musical influences he names are Chris Cornell, John Mayer, Prince, Coldplay, Rickie Lee Jones, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles,^[10] Nick Drake, The Band, Radiohead, Fionn Regan, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Ray Lamontagne.^[11] His voice is often compared to Thom Yorke's and Jeff Buckley's.^[11] His band, both in the studio and live, is composed of Søren Lund on guitar, Nis Tyrrestrup op bass, and Asger Møller on drums and percussion.^[6] On 30 March 2011, Langer introduced Simon Luth as his sixth band member and announced he will be the opening act for his shows in May 2011. Langer plays among others guitar, piano, Mellotron, and keyboard.

Career[link]

[edit] Attention Please and Mads Langer (2005–2009)

Langer grew up in the town of Skive, Denmark. His parents are both teachers and share a love for music.^[9] At age three, he started learning the piano ^[9] and he listened to his father's record collection.^[8] When he was 15, he dreamt of moving to New York and becoming a rock star.^[9] In high school, he was in a Rage Against the Machine cover band.^[12] After finishing high school,^[13] a local audition in Skive got him in touch with a talent scout who suggested him to move to Copenhagen and present his homemade demos there.^[9] He studied jazz piano at the Royal Danish Academy of Music,^[4][14] but eventually he just started writing music^[14] It was during this time he started playing guitar.^[15] Ultimately this landed him a record deal with Copenhagen Records.^[8] Langer debuted on 20 March 2006 in Denemark with Attention Please,^[16] an album containing potent pop rock songs.^[6] It was scheduled to be released a year earlier, but in post-production he connected so well with Søren Balsner of Carpark North that Langer requested his label to scrap the recordings and start over with Balsner as producer.^[16] Despite an intense media hype and good reviews,^[6] the album had limited success in Denmark. According to Langer, his record label is to blame for raising unrealistic expectations: "As it often happens, when something is overhyped, then the media just gives you the finger afterwards when it comes out. Because of course this record isn't a masterpiece, but I think it's a very good debut for a very young guy, but that's never where we came to because they had been told that it was a masterpiece from the record label. So the minute it came out, it flopped."^[17] The song "Breaking News" became a hit.^[18] The American spotter Sat Bisla picked up on him,^[19][20] which enabled Langer to perform in Great Britain and Germany, to move to New York City and from there often travel back and forth to Los Angeles,^[8] where he among others played before record company executives.^[6] This media circus life was taxing on him at such a young age,^[8] he had grown tired of other people's visions on his career, questioned his talent and got homesick,^[9] so in 2007 he quit his rock star life and returned to Skive.^[9] Equipped with only a map and his guitar,^[6] he roamed through Europe like a troubadour, playing about 100 acoustic shows (other sources say about 60^[6]) for gas money^[13] to fuel his c. 1987 Volkswagen Polo^[21] which he bought after his return.^[9] He lived off the money he collected by selling his CDs after each show.^[19] The tour helped him to find himself again and garnered him a growing fanbase.^[9] Later in 2007,^[6] he composed and conducted the Danish performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch^[22] at the Nørrebros Theater in Copenhagen^[20] starring Anders W. Berthelsen.^[6]

For his second studio album, Langer had written over 90 songs,^[6][20] of which he wrote "Say No More" together with Tim Christensen.^[23] He explains the cause of this large quantity as follows: "A minute doesn’t go by, not even a second, without a stream of new musical ideas or familiar phrases running through my head. My songs spring from that source."^[24] The record was eponymous because he felt this album made it clear in which direction he is headed in style and genre,^[13] whereas he felt the songs on his first album did not reflect him, but were what he thought others wanted from him.^[9] The album was released in Denmark on 9 February 2009. The critical reception was bland; critics judged that the music was more of the same and lacked a soul because it was too polished.^[25] He did score hits with "Wake Me Up in Time"^[26] and Fact-Fiction, a song he wrote in the United States in less than ten minutes and describes his confusion during that time.^[9] He started his tour as opening act for Tim Christensen^[27] and The Script before continuing his tour as main act.^[26] The songs "The River has Run Wild" and "Beauty of the Dark" have been used in the American television series The Vampire Diaries,^[28] On En Hyldest til Sebastian ("A Tribute to Sebastian"), released in October 2009, Langer covers the song "Stille Før Storm" ("Silence before the storm").^[29] Sebastian originally wrote this song for Lis Sørensen, which led to her breakthrough.^[30]

International breakthrough (2009–current)[link]

An acoustic version of "Fact-Fiction" appeared along with several other songs off Behold^[22] on the acoustic EP Fact-Fiction - Pop or ...?^[31] and quickly reached 60,000 plays on Myspace.^[6] This caught the attention of Sony Music who offered him a contract,^[3] shortly after he found a manager in London in the summer of 2010,^[18] where he had moved to in November 2009.^[9][28] where he resides today.^[4] The record deal led to a breakthrough in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany with his cover of the song "You're Not Alone" by Olive, written by Tim Kellett en Robin Taylor-Firth.^[28] Langer is surprised that although he had already written 250 songs of his own,^[9] it was a cover that opened the doors to the international market.^[3] In 2010, he co-produced, sang the lead vocal, and played acoustic guitar and piano on the song "Sleeping With the Enemy" by Mika Vandborg. The lead guitar party was played by Justin Hawkins, who also mixed the song.^[32]

Meanwhile, Langer continued to work on his third album Behold, a process which started since he moved to London.^[9] For this album, he had written about 80 songs to choose from.^[17] Three songs were recorded in London with producer Martin Terefe,^[5][9] while other songs were recorded with Ethan Allen^[5] and Sacha Skarbek.^[20] His website describes the album as Nordic pop melancholy lifted up by big epic melodies and words that will instantly stick in one's mind; intense, romantic and fragile.^[9] Justin Hawkins of The Darkness has provided backing vocals.^[7] About choosing songs for this album, he explains: "I definitely killed some darlings there, because it was down to, let's say that this song is very close to this one, and I would rather spread it out so you get a broader picture, because this is an international debut, so it's important for me to show me as an artist. But then I can do a very narrow release in three years' time where it's just me and a guitar, but this time I would like to show the bigger picture." The album was released on 9 May 2011 and contains the following songs:^[5]

Behold

All songs written by Mads Langer, except where noted otherwise.

In December 2010, Langer offered a free download of "The River has Run Wild" off this album to anyone who joined his mailing list.^[33] In March 2011, the single "Microscope" was offered to new subscribers instead. "Microscope" entered the Italian charts at #25. It was written in around 30 minutes and came out of nothing. It was intended to be a happy song, but turned melancholic as the lyrics were written.^[34] Langer has already explained the theme of some of the other songs. "Last Flower" was written in memory of a Danish fan who committed suicide. He played an acoustic version of his song Whisper Goodnight in the church at her funeral. ^[3] "Death has Fallen in Love" is about stopping to realize that someone you love could die too. The idea for the song came about while Langer' girlfriend was brushing her teeth.^[3]

A song that has not made its way onto the album is "Bowie and Champagne", which refers to a girl he fooled around with when he was growing up, but who tried everything and ended up a drug addict. The original lyrics were written after Langer woke up from a dream and jotted a few lines down about Aerosmith and wine. At that time he thought they might just be the best lyrics in the world, but when he checked them over the following morning, he felt they were too cheesy but could be improved with some changes.^[3]

From 11 to 14 May, Langer will go on a mini-tour through Denmark.^[35]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Live albums and EPs[link]

• Fact-Fiction. Pop - or ??? (EP, 2008), Copenhagen Records
• Amstrdam EP (EP, 2011), Sony Music

Singles[link]

• "Poem with No Rhyme" (2006)
• "Fact-Fiction" (2009)
• "Wake Me Up in Time" (2009)
• "Too Close" (with Mike Sheridan) (2009)
• "Last Flower" (2009)
• "You're Not Alone" (2009)
• "Microscope" (2011)
• "Riding Elevators" (2011)
• "Something New" (2012)

Notes and references[link]