By Heather Wadowski

When teen pop reemerged in the late ‘90s, Mandy Moore was quickly criticized for being a younger knock-off of pop princess Britney Spears. Despite her song “Candy” being an audience favorite on “TRL” and radio stations everywhere, Moore was seen as a child singer who would fade away faster than Kris Kross or Another Bad Creation. However, more than two years after her CD debut So Real hit store shelves nationwide, Mandy Moore is stronger than ever.

At the age of 17, Amanda Leigh Moore has accomplished more than most singers do in a lifetime. She has had three hit CDs during the past three years and was the host of her own TV show on MTV (“The Mandy Moore Show”) during the summer of 2000. When she’s not making guest appearances on shows like “Mad TV” and “The Andy Dick Show,” Moore can frequently be seen co-hosting various MTV shows and events next to Carson Daly, Dave Holmes and Ananda Lewis. Additionally, unlike other singers whose feature film debuts flopped at the box-office, Moore’s feature film debut in Walt Disney’s The Princess Diaries crossed the $100-million mark domestically.
Probably the biggest surprise of Moore’s career though is the fact that, although her CD sales pale in comparison to Britney Spears, many believe that she has found the key to success that will keep her in the business longer than any of the other pop divas in training— staying in the spotlight.

“I’m really lucky,” Moore admits. “I have great people around me that allow me to dabble in a little bit of everything. I’m interested in everything and want to try it all.”
Moore’s latest attempt to “dabble in it all” is Warner Brothers’ A Walk to Remember. Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, the film stars Mandy Moore as Jamie, the daughter of a Southern Baptist minister who is battling leukemia. Although the movie may seem to be another teen chick flick by playing up the socially forbidden romance between Moore’s character and actor Shane West— Moore plays the serious, highly religious outcast while West is the reckless, popular rebel— Moore insists that the story has something for everyone.

“It’s a sad story,” Moore admits, “but I would definitely recommend it to anybody. Sparks also wrote Message in a Bottle and The Notebook, and he’s just a great author.”

While many may dismiss Moore’s recent cross-over from music to motion pictures as a desperate attempt to extend her “fifteen minutes of fame,” her interest in acting actually goes back further than her interest in being a pop sensation. In fact, Moore admits that she wasn’t even interested in popular music until just a few years ago—- around the same time she was discovered singing in her garage.
“I did a lot of musical theater when I was younger and sang the National Anthem at a lot of events, but my big break came when— unaware to me— a FedEx delivery guy sent off my demo tape to a record label. Apparently I had met him before at a studio, he had a friend there or something. It was so random. The record exec just got in touch with me after that and things happened. I was always a big musical theater bum, though. I like the combination of both acting and singing. It was so cool in The Princess Diaries to have the combination of both, although I always say that was Lana singing and not Mandy (laughs). That’s what I love about musical theater though— acting and singing at the same time. I’m kind of geeky in that aspect.”
Although Moore has yet to follow in former pop princess Deborah Gibson’s footsteps by setting foot on a Broadway stage, she has performed for a variety of audiences worldwide thanks to her music. Despite performing on popular television shows like “Total Request Live” and “The Tonight Show” though, Moore insists that she isn’t recognized in public as much as her competition and is still the same “jeans and T-shirt” girl she always was.

Nevertheless, her success has had an effect on her personal life, especially when it comes to her childhood friends. “Your circle of friends obviously gets smaller when you enter something like this, and I’m still struggling to find out who my true friends are and who really cares about me,” she says. “I believe that time heals all wounds though and will tell the truth about everything.”

While Moore’s relationship with her friends may have changed throughout these past few years, her relationship with her parents has only gotten stronger. Similar to pop stars Britney Spears, *NSYNC’s Justin Timberlake and Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean, Moore remains close with her family while on the road.

“I’m really lucky that my parents have sacrificed their lives and have been able to come on the road with me. I think that the most important thing for anyone who wants to get into the music industry or the acting industry is to have your parents with you. At the end of the day you need someone who loves you for you and knows you for you.”

Moore credits her success greatly to her parents, as well as the knowledge she has learned about the business. Unlike some parents who become stage parents and try to manage their kid’s career, Moore says that her parents have let her handle her own business.

“I understand so much more now than I did a few years ago, and a lot of it has to do with my parents saying, ‘you’re a big girl and you can handle this yourself. You are the professional.’ They know a lot about the industry but they also know that it’s my job. I credit them a lot for just leaving a lot of the things to me to handle. Getting a song played on the radio, for example, is something you have to learn about on your own. That surprised me. I just thought you handed your song to them and they were like, ‘okay, let’s put it on now.’ I had no idea they had a certain number of records they could play and in order to play your song they’d have to take one off the list they could play. It’s just insane.”

As Moore continues to learn about the business she is constantly moving up in, she is aware of the media’s continuous attention on pop music’s demise. No matter how many Backstreet Boys end up in jail or how many covers of “Entertainment Weekly” are devoted to the teen pop bubble bursting though, Moore is confident that teen pop isn’t going anywhere.

“People are always quick to say that something is a trend or something is a fad,” she says. “Yes I think everything comes in waves, but I think in some form it will always be there. Kids are always going to want music that’s for kids by kids. They like seeing people their own age doing something that they aspire to do or may be excited about.”

Moore is also quick to point out that, while in the past people didn’t know her from Jessica Simpson or Christina Aguilera, today most people can tell the difference from one pop singer and another.

“I think people have gotten to the point now with all of us out there, hearing one of our songs on the radio it’s kind of easy to tell the difference. We all have different images, different ages— they are all in their 20’s and I’m still a teenager— and that sort of sets us apart I guess. I think musically we have all evolved and developed into different artists, too. I know that my new album was a lot different from what people expected of me. A lot of people heard the first single and was like, ‘Is that Mandy Moore?’ They all expected “Candy” part two, but instead its a lot of organic elements—like live guitar, percussion, bass and a string quartet. There is some real life aspect to it that I think is missing in a lot of pop music that’s popular and on the radio today. I was really happy to do that. I’m really passionate and proud of the music that’s on there and I’m glad people are listening to it.”

As for what’s next for this young pop diva, Moore continues to set her sights on Broadway. While she works on becoming the next Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” though, she hopes to continue her career as an actress... just so long as it doesn’t get in the way of her career as a singer.

“Maybe this fall I will do another movie—that is if the record label will let me (laughs).”