More than 25 years after the release of her debut single “Candy,” Mandy Moore has some thoughts about her fellow early 2000s pop stars.
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During an appearance on Kylie Kelce’s Not Gonna Lie podcast, Moore reflected on the release of her debut single, which happened the same year that fellow pop stars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson released their debut albums.
“I feel like I was the youngest and the most boring out of the four of us,” Moore jokingly declared.
When asked by Kelce if she had spoken to the three women in the early years of her career, Mandy stated, “I would never have been able to cross paths with them. They were, like, superstars. They were on this level of success that I’ve never known.”
“I was just like a little 15-year-old doing my own thing,” Moore pointed out.
Even As a Teen, Mandy Moore Had Creative Freedom and Control Over Her Music
The This Is Us alum further spoke about how her label gave her creative freedom and control over her music.
“I was allowed to sort of make my own decisions,” she said. “Even as a clueless 15-year-old. Nobody told me how I needed to dress or how I needed to answer questions or what lane to sort of occupy or how to present myself to the world.”
Moore then spoke about how new musicians are now being discovered on social media platforms.
“[With] social and the world we live in now, there’s so many more mediums I think to reach people now,” she pointed out. “And not have to wait for a magazine interview or something.”
Reflecting on how she was first discovered, Mandy added, “It was such a different world back then.”
Mandy Moore first started singing in 1993 and was signed by Epic Records in 1999. She toured with *NYSNC and the Backstreet Boys that same year. “Candy” was released on Aug. 17, 1999, and debuted at No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 41 on the chart.
“Candy” later received a Gold certification from the RIAA after 500,000 copies of the song were sold. Her debut studio album, So Real, was released in late 1999. The album received a Platinum certification.