Mandy Moore (album)


Mandy Moore is the self-titled third studio album by American pop singer Mandy Moore. It was released by Epic Records on June 19, 2001. Moore began taking more creative control of her music with the album, and moved away from her bubblegum pop sound and teen pop image from her previous two albums, and included elements of dance, techno, R&B, pop rock, acoustic pop, hip hop and Middle Eastern music, and talked about more mature subject matters.

Background

After releasing her second studio album, I Wanna Be with You, Moore became very displeased with her early music, saying "All of the music has started to look and sound the same" and that she decided that it was time for her to move away from that. She wanted to change her image, sound and lyrics, saying in a Billboard interview that she wanted "no more dancers, no more singing to tracks. I got tired of that in a big way".

Composition

The opening track "In My Pocket" is a dance-pop song mixed with techno and R&B beats with a Middle Eastern sound, written by Emilio Estefan, Jr., Randall Barlow, L. Quintana and G.M. Zignago and produced by Estefan and Barlow. The song was slightly more mature than Moore's previous songs and was an entirely different approach for her as an artist at the time. "You Remind Me" is a dance-pop song. It was written by Enrico Cremonesi, Phillip "The Eraser" Aaron and R. Safinia and produced by Cremonesi and Aaron. "Saturate Me" is a hip hop ballad with an Arabic sound that lasts four minutes and two seconds. It was written by Randall Barlow, S. Green and Tim Mitchell and produced by Barlow, Mitchell and Estefan. According to the digital sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of D major and is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. "One Sided Love" is a dance-pop song with a Middle Eastern sound. The song was written and produced by Emilio Estefan, Jr, Pablo Flores, Javier Garza and Jon Secada and lasts for four minutes and five seconds, is composed in the key of E major and is set in time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. "17" is a teen dance-pop song co-written by Shelly Peiken with Todd Chapman, who produced it and lasts for four minutes. The song is composed in the key of D major and is set in time signature of common time. "Cry" is a teen pop ballad that tells the story of a girl who thought the boy she liked was insensitive, until one day she saw him cry. "You were all by yourself, staring up at the dark gray sky, I was changed...". The song was co-written by former Sky frontman James Renald and Dominic Riccitello and co-produced by Renald and Peter Mokran. "Crush" is a teen dance-pop song with a heavy dance beat, and lasts for three minutes and forty-three seconds. The song was written and produced by Kenny Goia and Shep Goodman. According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of B major and has a common time signature with a tempo of 108 beats per minute. "It Only Took a Minute" is a romantic teen pop and R&B song written and produced by Emilio Estefan, Jr., Tim Mitchell, George Noriega and Jon Secada and lasts for three minutes and forty seconds. The song is composed in the key of B major, has a common time signature and a moderately slow tempo of 96 beats per minute. "Turn the Clock Around" is a teen dance-pop song, written by David Rice, Nick Trevesick and J.W. Baxter and produced by Rice, Trwvesick and Alexis Dufrense. The song lasts for three minutes and thirty seconds and is composed in the key of C harmonic minor and is set in the time signature of 4/4 common time with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. Moore's vocal range spans over two octaves from Eb3 to G5. "Yo-Yo" is a teen dance-pop song, written and produced by Scott Cutler and Anne Preven and lasts for four minutes and seventeen seconds. According to the sheet music published at musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is composed in the key of F major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 112 beats per minute. "From Loving You" is a teen pop ballad written by Diane Warren, produced by Alexis Dufrense and lasts for three minutes and thirty-four seconds. "Split Chick" is a teen dance-pop song written by J. Freebairn and M. Elizondo, produced by Matthew Hager and lasts for three minutes and forty-four seconds. "When I Talk to You" is a romantic and acoustic teen pop ballad and final track on the album. It was co-written by Moore with Matthew Hager, who produced it. Moore said that the song was written while her and Hager were waiting to do a soundcheck. It was also the first song co-written by Moore that was included on one of her albums and it would not happen again until Moore's fifth studio album Wild Hope, that was entirely co-written by Moore. Moore's fourth studio album Coverage only had covers.

Critical reception

The album scored 56 out of 100 at review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
AllMusic gave the album a very positive review, saying, "Mandy Moore manages to pack more hooks, melody, beats, clever production flourishes, and fun into its 13 tracks than nearly all of its peers – remarkably, it's a stronger album, through and through, than either of Britney's first two albums or Christina's record..immaculately crafted, precisely polished, & exactly what a teen pop album should be."
Entertainment Weekly gave the album a mostly positive review and a B−, saying that Moore "tries out new sounds -- Eastern rhythms, jangly percussives -- that help separate her from the pack. Best of all, she spares us 'Look at Me!' vocal gyrations in favor of a breathy Natalie Imbruglia vibe. s teen pop goes, it could be a lot worse."
Rolling Stone also gave the album a positive review, saying, "It's so rare and refreshing when a teen star takes the high road... CD offers the most startlingly liberated teen pop since Eighties mall-rat icon Tiffany euphemistically declared herself 'New Inside'."
Slant Magazine also gave the album a positive review, saying, "Mandy Moore is a refreshingly modest pop/rock excursion that gives Moore the opportunity to differentiate herself from the competition and further solidifies a promising musical future." It was given an honorable mention in the magazine's top music picks of 2001.
The album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Best of 2001.

Commercial performance

The album debuted in the top 10 on the ACRpop charts and number 35 the U.S. Billboard 200. The album was certified gold. Four singles reached the Top 40 Mainstream chart in the US, including "In My Pocket", "Crush", "Cry" and "17" was released in Asia, but none reached the Billboard Hot 100. The album had sold 462,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Japanese edition of the album also had the bonus track "It's Gonna Be Love". This song was also on the soundtrack of Moore's romantic drama A Walk to Remember.
The album also achieved moderate success worldwide, with Epic deciding that they would release the album where the first one did well. Mandy Moore performed well in Asia, being certified 4× Platinum in Philippines and 33rd Best Selling Album of All Times in the Philippines which sold 200,000 copies. In New Zealand it became her second album to hit the top 40, peaking at No. 39. It reached No. 37 on the Australian ARIA Charts, her highest to date.

Promotion

Moore had her first headlined show, called "Mandy Moore Live @ ShoutBack", where she performed the songs:
Moore also performed a number of songs live on TV shows, such as on TRL, MTV Asia Sessions, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Miss Teen USA, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Channel V, and at the MTV Asia Awards, among others. None of the songs from the record were performed at any of Moore's shows after promotion of the album ended.

Singles

The first single released from the album was "In My Pocket", on May 29, 2001. The song did not become a huge hit, but its unique sound allowed Moore to move away from the stereotypical image of other teen pop stars like Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, all of whom she had spent much of her early career being compared to. "In My Pocket" missed the Billboard Hot 100 but charted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number two on June 12, 2001. It performed modestly on CHR radio, peaking at number twenty in Radio & Records. The song also peaked at number twenty-one on the Pop 100 chart, where it stayed for nine weeks, and also appeared on the seventh installment of U.S. version of the compilation series Now That's What I Call Music!, released in July 2001. In My Pocket performed fairly well outside of the United States in countries like Australia, where it reached number eleven. The music video was directed by Matthew Rolston and was shot in a nightclub that was given a Middle Eastern look to match the similar feel of the song itself, including belly dancers and fire blowers. Moore sat on a throne and watched almost as if she were royalty. In other scenes, Moore is seen dancing and almost flirting with one of the dancers.
The second single, "Crush", also failed to make much impact on the U.S. charts, but it appeared on the eighth installment of the U.S. compilation series, Now That's What I Call Music!, released in November 2001. The music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and edited by Nabil Mechi. On September 10, 2001, it became Moore's first video to reach the number-one spot on MTV's countdown show Total Request Live. In the video, Moore sits in her crush's room and tries to wake him up. She performs with her band in another room. The video ends with Moore putting on a replica of the jacket Michael Jackson wears in his "Thriller" music video, walks out of her apartment and looks up at her crush and smiles.
The third and final single, "Cry", was given a limited release to promote Moore's romantic drama A Walk to Remember and was also available on its soundtrack. The song was a favorite of Moore's, but it did not become a huge U.S. hit, and unlike her previous singles, "Cry" was not released in Australia. Meanwhile, it did become a number one hit in the Philippines. It became the first ever Song of the Year of myx, and a number of other radio stations. The music video was also directed by Chris Applebaum. In the video, Moore sings the song in heaven that looks like the night sky. Shane West drives home from the premiere of A Walk to Remember. West watches their home video. Then he looks up at her through their telescope. When she disappears from his sight, West goes and falls asleep on his bed. Stars shoot and explode behind Moore for a moment. The video ends the next day, where West goes out with friends where he walks around and sees a window display of Moore's self-titled album, the theater again with a worker putting the title A Walk to Remember on the front of it and a building covered with the A Walk to Remember movie poster.
"17" and "Saturate Me" was also released as a double single in Asia where it had minor success.
Moore's music manager Jon Leshay was interested in releasing more singles from the album, but said that "Mandy's whole world isn't riding on this project. We're building a long-term career, not simply working a record. This project has already done a good job of establishing that she's not a cookie-cutter teen artist."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for Mandy Moore adapted from AllMusic.

Certifications