We have all heard of writer’s block that prevents authors from moving forward with their literary efforts. However, a musician who takes a sabbatical will leave fans wondering if they have run out of their creativity or are pursuing other talents. Mandy Moore is going on tour for the first time in a decade, but she is not the only musician to take such a long break. Others like Linda Perhacs, Shuggie Otis, and Strawberry Alarm Clock break the record with their 43-year-long hiatus. Therefore although the ten years have enabled Mandy to further her acting career, Mandy has not forgotten her first love: music. Let’s see what the musician has been up to and what she is planning for her tour.
Getting into music
At a young age, Mandy knew that singing and acting were her callings, so she kept begging her parents to take her to some acting classes and voice coaching. Her parents, however, thought that she was going through a phase hence did not bother. Mandy was determined, thus, took matters in her own hands at 13 when she decided to make music on her own. It took the intervention of a FedEx delivery man to sign Mandy up with Epic Records after he sent the record label Mandy’s unfinished demo.
Mandy immediately went to work on her debut album. It took so much of Mandy’s time that she had to drop out of ninth-grade to be taught by tutors. Her efforts paid off because she got the coveted opportunity to tour with famous bands like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. By the age of 15, Mandy released her debut single “Candy” on August 17, 1999, and three months later, on December 7, 1999, her debut album came out. Unfortunately, not everyone liked it and blamed her spending time with the boy band groups. To the critics, the music seemed to lack her influence and was relying heavily on NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.
Her other albums
The artist did not make any improvement in her second album, “I Wanna Be With You” that was released on May 9, 2000. It had title songs from her debut album; hence was termed as a remix album. That did not stop fans from buying the album whose sales reached 500,000 copies in the United States. Seeing that the albums were not receiving favorable reviews, she decided to make her third album, “Mandy Moore” different. Her decision proved profitable because sales reached 1.5 million copies globally. She admitted that her first two albums were so bad that if she could, Mandy would give a refund to anyone who bought them.
Mandy was yet to tap into her creative genius despite having released three albums already. Her fourth album was nothing but covers hence the title “Coverage.” In 2007, she released “Wild Hope” this time collaborating with other artists. Despite her undeniable efforts to have a thriving musical career, she was not getting much in return. “Wild Hope” sold 25,000 copies in its first week of release and to date, has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide. In 2008, Mandy worked on her sixth studio album “Amanda Leigh,” which was released in 2009, but it was yet to be successful. Matter of fact, it only sold 16,000 copies in its first week of release, and to date, sales are 100,000 copies worldwide. Since then, Mandy has not released any more albums.
What could have made her take a break from music?
In her interview with Glamour, Mandy said that headlines describing her as “America’s Sweetheart” could have put her in a box that she never wanted to leave. Therefore while her peers like Britney Spears were in the limelight, Mandy remained a good girl, and people’s expectations prevented her from getting a career momentum. Besides the tabloids, Mandy had problems in her life that were suffocating her. Mandy got married to Ryan Adams, which was another poor decision. Without the right partner in your life, chances of making progress even in your career are slim.
Mandy was married to Ryan since 2009 and separated from him six months before filing for divorce in January 2015. By June 2016, the divorce was finalized, and Mandy disclosed that Ryan was emotionally abusive. As if that was not enough, Mandy had found out that her mother was ready to leave them for a woman. By then, Mandy was only 23, and maybe that realization made her vulnerable enough to fall for Ryan, who ended up not being suitable for her. Dealing with both heartbreaking experiences may have prompted Mandy to put aside her music and instead earn a living from her acting career. She even said she felt fundamentally and spiritually stuck.
More about her tour
According to Billboard, Mandy posted on Instagram in July 13, 2018, that she was getting back to music. She said that no one’s insecurities would come between her and her music anymore. She later revealed that she was itching to put back her musical side to the universe. Mandy will thus be performing old and new songs with Berdouine supporting the first half of the tour while Madison Cunningham will support the second.
The tickets went on sale on November 22 at 10 am, and the tour will begin on March 20, 2020, at Pittsburgh. It will end on May 9, 2020, at Denver’s Gothic Theatre. Mandy has been working on an album since early 2019, which will be the first since signing up with Verve Forecast. Her newly found motivation has to be from one person with whom she is also collaborating with on her new album, her husband. Mandy lights up talking about her relationship with Taylor Goldsmith, who helped her through the trauma after her divorce from Ryan. Now she feels ready, unlike before when other people’s perception of what she should do disrupted her relationship with music. All we can hope for is that Mandy Moore gets the big break she deserves after fighting for so long to be a music legend.
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