The late-90s bubblegum pop music defined Mandy Moore’s career. She always knew she was her record label’s answer to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Mandy also knew she’d never be them – and that was okay with her. In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Mandy shares advice on how to know your competition without becoming distracted by it.
In this episode, Mandy shares:
The boy band she’d tour with again
Why having parents who didn’t want to manage her was the secret to her success
How she managed to be unbothered by the pop industry’s comparison loop
Her go-to practices for easing her public speaking anxiety
A skimm of her latest project, The Boars’ Nest
On Who Helped Navigate Her Early Career
Mandy: The credit goes to my parents, first and foremost. They did a good job with my brothers and I, keeping our feet on the ground. They were there for me. I guess it's also just who I am. I was not the least bit curious about living a life that was outside of my reach. So it's not like I was going to nightclubs and living that life. That was not interesting to me. I wanted to go to the Beverly Center or I wanted to go to the mall, or a theme park. I was very much allowed to still be a young person while in the midst of this adult world, while in the midst of having the responsibilities that someone twice my age would have. I lived this duality of being able to do what I loved professionally and turn the light off at the end of the day and just get to be a teenager.
On Understanding Her Competition
Mandy: I was definitely my record label's answer to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, and I was the young one that wasn't as cool. I was always like, that's fine, they're in this stratosphere with this totally different world of success that I think is so exclusive. I wasn't even shooting for that or pining for that, so it didn't ever bother me. I understood it, but I think that's because I always sort of carried the confidence within to know that I wasn't that. I wasn't just who someone wanted to sort of box me in to be. And it's something that follows me throughout my career. So you have to recognize that that is going to be something you deal with in some professional capacity, and it's okay.
On Why She Pursued Her Latest Project, The Boars’ Nest
Mandy: I was able to delve into doing something super creative that I'd never done before. I've done plenty of animated projects, but you ultimately know okay: I'm telling this story, but there will be a visual component that I rely on to help tell the story. In this case, it was just me and my voice and obviously all of the other actors and the incredible soundscape that they paint. But knowing the intimacy required, you're going to be in people's ears and in a pair of headphones or they're listening in their car. To know that you, yourself, your emotions, your voice, and your tone is what draws them in, was a really cool challenge. I'd never done anything quite like it before, and it was so much fun to tell a story like this.
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