Don’t forget Mandy Moore’s Singing Career

I knew from the first single that Mandy Moore was a great talent. Although there hasn’t been as much music in recent years, I am pleasantly surprised by how well rounded of an entertainer she is.

1999 was a strangely amazing year for pop music. It was one of those unforgettable times when great music seemed to be coming from all different directions and genres. During this time, teen pop was making a huge come back. There seemed to be an endless amount of blonde female pop singers who were being pushed on the public by record companies looking to cash in on the success of Britney Spears. One by one, the cheesy songs came and went by artists who weren’t very memorable or couldn’t sing. There were a few like Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera who managed to get it all packaged right and gave Britney a run for her money. However, from the first time I heard her sing, I always felt that Mandy Moore was a bit underrated and overlooked.

Way before she was a primetime tv star in arguably the best and most popular show, Mandy Moore was just another talented kid trying to make it in the big, competitive world of pop music. When her first single, Candy, came out, I was immediately hooked. Sure, it was a cheesy song, but out of all of the young pop acts that were being pushed at the time, I felt that Mandy Moore had the most talent. Not necessarily the best material though. Up until she started taking more control of career, this was a major weakness. With that said, despite the lack of a solid overall catalogue, there were some highlights. Songs that probably should have kept her in the discussion with some of the similar aforementioned artists, but didn’t quite seem to do that.

In my opinion, one of Mandy Moore’s best early career recordings was Walk Me Home. A song that I thankfully still here regularly on Sirius XM’s 90’s on 9. Such a great, underrated song that really showcases her vocal talent. This seemed to be the way her career went for the first few years. Even her self titled third album, Mandy Moore, containing much less cookie cutter production still managed to keep her pigeonholed as a good, but not quite Britney Spears level pop star. I even bought this album on the first day it came out as I was completely sold on her talent by the summer of 2001. In My Pocket was unlike anything else I was hearing on the radio at that time. An edgy, mystical sounding dance pop song that showed incredible growth over anything else she had done before. I remember this song getting a lot of airplay on MTV and the radio, but still always felt like she was not being given the same amount of respect. Her self titled album was an overall step in the direction away from what a lot of her contemporaries were doing at the time. You could almost sense that she knew she needed to move in a different direction. If you search for it on Google, you will more or less get confirmation of this as Mandy Moore herself is not a big fan of her early material. She will even give you a refund (see Wiki link above). I don’t believe she is talking about the third album as it was a great overall effort.

Speaking of the third album, there is one song I overlooked for several months. I didn’t realize this until I saw her in A Walk To Remember. Although this movie contained MANY highlights in respect to her acting and singing, Cry was a song I think I may have overlooked initially. Perhaps I didn’t fully “get it” until I saw this terrific movie. Not only was it my introduction to Nicholas Sparks, it was also the moment I realized that Mandy Moore was not going to fade into obscurity. For as much confidence as I had in her singing ability, I had no idea she had it in her to be such a good actress. The fact that she landed such a big role and did such a good job told me that her career was safe. I don’t know if it was my age or where I was as a person when this movie came out, but I found her performance and the storyline overall to be very touching. The Only Hope scene was the best. I am man enough to admit that there were many moments that got to me during this movie. It was so well done. This movie really took her career to another level.

I saw A Walk To Remember the night it opened in the local movie theater. It’s still one of my favorite movies to this day!

Sadly, after A Walk To Remember, I felt there were several years of mediocre acting and singing material. Again, despite all of the talent and potential, there weren’t a lot of memorable moments in her career for awhile. Her 2003 album Coverage was probably not only meant to meet the demands of the record label, but was also probably meant to further push her career a little further into a more serious direction. It’s an enjoyable set of songs/performances with a few highlights. One of the songs, Moon shadow, may even sound familiar. For one thing, it was a brilliantly sung Cat Stevens cover. However, if you watch This Is Us, you probably heard it during one of the episodes. Possibly more than almost any other song, this performance really showcases what an amazing voice she has. Besides for this album, the next few years after her film debut found Mandy Moore getting plenty of acting gigs including one of my favorites American Dreamz. However, thankfully, more music was about to come our way. Only this time, it was going to take it up a few more levels.

Between 2007-2009, Mandy Moore truly took her singing career to the next level. If I had to recommend any of her music to anybody, I would tell them to listen to Wild Hope and Amanda Leigh first. Not only do they showcase her amazing voice, but they say the more about Mandy Moore than any thing else she’s ever recorded. It was the first time in her career that she was given the opportunity to write most of the material we were hearing. As a lifelong fan, I know that this is a direction she had been aspiring to reach for several years. To this day, as nostalgic as her early stuff is, I tend to listen to these two albums the most. It’s hard to pick highlights, but if I did, Extraordinary and Few Days Down would be my picks from Wild Hope while Merrimack River and Everblue showcase tremendous depth and growth on Amanda Leigh. Both albums are basically part 1 and part 2 of the singer/songwriter era of her career. Sadly, I am still waiting for part 3. The good news is, more great acting work was to come.

As Mandy Moore continued her acting career, another role came along that helped define her career. Although Tangled was an animated film, it once again did a lot to showcase all of her talent. I have to admit, the only way anybody could have gotten me to see this movie is if somebody I really liked was in it. Much like A Walk To Remember, Tangled was another movie I gave a chance because Mandy Moore was in it. I’m certainly glad I did. This is not just a movie created for little girls and their moms. This is a great animated movie that compares to some of the better Disney animated films of all time. Once again, Mandy Moore’s singing is a big part of what made this movie so great. When I am in the mood for “show tunes” it is not uncommon for me to crank up When Will My Life Begin from the Tangled soundtrack. Yet another angelically sung performance that you only would have caught if you saw the movie or were a big fan like myself.

If you haven’t seen Tangled yet, I can’t recommend it enough, Probably one of the best animated films i’ve ever seen

So after going through her singing career and pointing out the highlights, you might be asking why I chose to write this blog. I wrote this blog for the same reason I became such a big fan of Mandy Moore’s music. She has an amazing talent and body of work that shouldn’t be swept under the rug. In my opinion, she might have the best voice to come along since Karen Carpenter. I realize that is a very high compliment, but I think she truly deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation. Many great vocalists have come along over the past few decades. They’ve all put out great, memorable music, but much like Karen Carpenter, I could probably listen to this woman sing the phonebook. She has that type of talent where you could listen to her sing almost anything and it would probably be pleasant. For as great of an actress she is, I hope that her singing career isn’t over. I would love to hear her put out another album someday. Hopefully with the success of This Is Us, she will become inspired and find some time in her busy life to put out a new album. Considering the popularity of the show, i’m willing to bet that more people will take notice this time around.