Mandy Mania Hits Town And We Want Moore

Eastciti

She's young, she's new and her voice is really not that much to rave about. Still, Mandy Moore is hot property after her hit single, I Wanna Be With You, topped the charts, beating other more established artistes like Matchbox 20 and Santana. So, what's the power of this tall, lanky lass who's got the world at her feet at the tender age of 16?

By Junie Ong

Hands up those with I Wanna Be With You programmed as your handphone melody, or if you've had a copy of Mandy Moore's I Wanna Be With You CD stuck in your disc player for the last 3 weeks in a row. Chances are, half of Singapore is tuned into this teen queen's latest single, packed into her re-release of her debut album, I Wanna Be With You. She first grabbed our attention with the kitschy dance-tune, Candy, a year ago in her first album, So Real, which achieved platinum status in just 3 months, but this opening act for 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys is now a star on her own.

This is Mandy's first visit to Asia and Singapore and she was well prepared for her stop here, she says. " Singapore's very like America to me because there's California Pizza Kitchen, Starbucks, Burger King and I knew that there was no gum, though I'm addicted to gum." Well, at least she didn't get a culture shock here.

Success Is As Sweet As Candy
Mandy, in her blissful youth, happily understates her status as a singer and her presence in the teen music scene. "I'm not home as much, I don't see my friends as much and I can't go to football games on Friday nights or celebrate my birthday with my friends sometimes. When you think about it, you go 'Ouch!' but it's something you know you have to do when you go down this path and I'm glad you chose this path." Wise words, indeed, from one so young.

"I miss my friends, my house, my cat, sleeping in my bed, I miss my Mum's cooking even though I didn't even like it before!" she says. Dad usually travels with her so that helps a great deal. Mandy also has plans to study journalism in NYU and to live in New York so that she can work with her record company there and study at the same time. "I would love to interview Madonna (her idol) as a journalist because she's so unpredictable and she's always changing, but one thing that's consistent about her: she's always going to come up with something great."

Predictably, she also suffers from the clichéd your-circle-of-friends-gets-smaller-after-you-become-a-star syndrome and keeps close to her few true friends who aren't sucking up to her just because she's famous. Her fame has even hit her younger brother in school and he gets a lot of 'pals' and older school boys coming up to him and going, "Hey, buddy, what's up?", hoping for a introduction to Mandy.

We hope she won't turn into a bitchy diva like Christina Aguilera. She says, "I don't know if I like the word diva…you get this idea in your head about this person who doesn't like the potato chips that are in her dressing room …" Well, it's good to know Mandy's got her head firmly on those shapely shoulders and doesn't expect the world to revolve around her just because she's a star.

The Inside Scoop
You would have thought this photogenic pop icon with her sugar-sweet looks and poster-girl qualities would have nothing to complain about her body, but this is what she says, "I just don't like my feet because there're just so big!" Well, one would be hard pressed to agree. She stands a strapping 5'10" with her lithe frame in a sweet Mandy dress; this camera-friendly star could not be more picture-perfect, schoolgirl pouts and all.

Mandy also just celebrated her 16th birthday a while back and bought a new car for herself. "I just got my driving licence 3 weeks ago and I feel 16 now…you haven't celebrated your 16th birthday till you've got your licence." And which flashy car did the little miss buy? "A BMW X5, which is a jeep. I wasn't going to get that, but I finally broke down…it's like my first big splurge!"

This disarmingly honest girl punctures most of her conversation with a shrug and an "I don't know…" which she drawls most innocently. She loves to get on the net to talk to her friends and visit gossip websites and websites on herself. "I also sleep, watch TV…I'm spontaneous, I do anything." What about reading? "Reading…yes…but it's probably sadly low on my list right now. I'd rather talk to my friends." Well, Mandy is every bit a teenage girl!

And how does she take criticisms? "I'm very sensitive…people think you have this think skin because you should be used to it, but it can't not hurt because it's still somebody being mean. I'm not good at criticisms sometimes and I always want to defend myself but I have to know that this happens." So, would a bad review or a vicious rumour sting more? "Bad reviews…you know rumours are not true." This girl has learnt the essence of showbusiness after all.

Does She Have A Boyfriend?
Rumours of Mandy allegedly going out with a certain so-and-so or this-person-from-this-boyband have probably gotten the male population in despair, but she clarifies," I don't have a boyfriend but I have started going on dates recently. It's just so weird because I haven't done that the whole time that I've been recording for the past 1 1/2 yrs…it's all a little weird especially for Mum and Dad." Looks like Mandy is still Daddy's girl.

"I Wanna Be With You was written with no one in mind," continues Mandy, but she adds a tease, "but I guess there could be…". And what about Mark from Westlife, whom she's been linked to? "He's nice…" she trails off with smile," I really like the Westlife guys and I'm a big fan of their music," and that's all her attraction for the Irish lads, no love, no romance. Okay, so maybe not Irish guys…how about American boys, then? Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync? "Urm….not really because they're a little bit too old for me." Goodness, her youth really hits you now: who would have thought those guys ever to be 'too old'?

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