Moore Moore
 Mandy Moore: Run For Cover |
||
 Teen star goes grown-up on her new disc of other people's songs. She's a real music-head, talking broadway, jazz, karaoke, and that age-old classic, "Papa Dog Preach."Every teen star eventually comes face to face with the realization they’re not a kid any more. The days of singing about puppy love are over. This year, we’ve seen a variety of different approaches to maturity. Justin Timberlake went street.
Christina Aguilera discovered sex. Jessica Simpson became the new Lucille Ball. And Britney tried to fit into Madonna’s pointy bustier.
Mandy Moore, the Florida teen who scored her first hit “Candy” when she was 15, has tried something completely different. Taking a cue from classy interpreters like her heroine Bette Midler, she’s recorded Coverage, an album of other people’s songs. But while Moore looks to material made famous before she was born, this mix of album tracks and ’80s college rock faves is a surprisingly fresh revelation.
Moore describes Coverage as her “ultimate mix tape,” and the sheer variety makes it hard to peg the 19-year-old as anything but a full-tilt music lover. There are ‘70s obscurities by Elton John (“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”) and Todd Rundgren (“Can We Still Be Friends”), as well as under-the-radar new wave gems from the likes of Blondie, Joe Jackson, XTC and the Waterboys.
She also does justice to surprisingly complex material from female songwriters. Her take on Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” might be a conventional choice, but she joyously rocks on Joan Armatrading’s “Drop the Pilot” (a minor hit in 1983) and makes a natural fit with Joni Mitchell’s rapturous “Help Me.” If Moore was testing herself by taking on songs for adults, then she’s graduated with flying colors.
It’s a personal triumph for the singer/actress, who financed the album herself in an attempt to wriggle out of the Top 40 straitjacket. What’s next? Along with several movies coming in 2004, she might try an album of Broadway standards. With a new horizon opening before her, Moore told VH1 about getting hooked on classics, how she is tackling Eminem, and her tennis champ boyfriend Andy Roddick’s favorite song.
Which song came first?
Mandy Moore: I started off knowing that I wanted to do Joan Armatrading’s “Drop the Pilot.” [I thought] if at some point I got to do a cover of a song, it was that and Todd Rundgren’s “Can We Still be Friends?” Listening to their music and discovering that there were artists outside of the cliché of the ‘70s singer/songwriter [is what] helped me form the record's skeleton.
What's the common thread between the songs on the album?
Mandy Moore: This is my ultimate mix tape. The similarity between the songs is that they’re all kick-ass songs!
Has anyone heard your versions and gotten back to you?
Mandy Moore: Carole King and Elton John did! They were very pleased. Elton gave me a big hug, and said, “It’s such a compliment. I love the song that you chose.” I also did “Holiday Inn” off of Madman Across the Water, which is one of my favorites, too. It was hardest to pick an Elton song, because I’m a huge fan of his, so a compliment like that coming from him, and actually giving me a hug - I was overwhelmed!
Did you have to sell the idea hard to the powers that be?
Mandy Moore: I didn’t. I made the album by myself. I paid for it initially. The record company knew that I was making the record, but I didn’t want a bunch of cooks in the kitchen telling me to do something like Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted [To You].” I wanted to do this music, and I didn’t know if everyone was gonna understand it. Luckily, my manager was like, “Go for it!” Then I found John Fields, the producer. This was just as much a pet project for him as it was for me. We were like three little kids jumping all around like, ‘Ooh, ooh! What song do we get to do next?’
What happened when you sat down and played it for the A&R guys?
Mandy Moore: I didn’t even want to set foot in there. The record was sent off when it was finished, and they liked it. It was like, “Phew! I didn’t waste my money; they’re gonna put it out …” It’s what I was excited about.
Who is your favorite interpreter of other people’s songs?
Mandy Moore: I’m a huge Bette Midler fan; and although I don’t know Rosemary Clooney’s music, I’m excited to discover her through Bette Midler. [Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook] is on my iPod, and I was listening to it on the plane yesterday. It’s so cool. Without Bette Midler, who knows if I would have ever heard her music or taken the time to listen to it, y’know?
You also just did “Good Morning” from Singin’ in the Rain with Debbie Reynolds for Lifetime TV’s Women Rock! Songs From the Movies. What’s next, Gershwin?
Mandy Moore: No, but that was such a great opportunity. I have ambitions to do a Broadway record one of these days and get in the studio with like, a real orchestra. [It’d] be real fun, because I’m a big musical theatre geek.
What is the earliest song that you remember singing?
Mandy Moore: Probably Bette Midler or Madonna. I used to sing “Papa Don’t Preach.” I didn’t know the words, so I thought it was “Papa Dog Preach.” I had a little karaoke machine when I was six or seven. I had Madonna and Bette Midler tapes - those were the only two people. So I was singing “Wind Beneath my Wings” and, “Papa Don’t Preach.”
Do you still do the karaoke thing?
Mandy Moore: I’ve done it a couple of times. I enjoyed it. It’s not like going in there all serious. I end up picking more contemporary stuff, ‘cause they don’t have a lot of the older stuff. Karaoke bars have Eminem, so I end up doing Eminem. It’s really hard! I have no flow - no soul. You think Eminem’s easy, too, once you start - but it’s terribly difficult!
What is Andy’s favorite song on the album?
Mandy Moore: “Drop The Pilot.” The song is about liking someone who’s already in a relationship with someone that you don’t feel is good enough for them. So … “drop the pilot,” drop the person that’s in control of the relationship, because obviously, you’re too chicken to get rid of [them]. There’s all these different analogies - “Drop the mahout/ I’m the easy rider.’ I think a “mahout” is an elephant rider.
Is there someone whose work you loved, but you couldn't bring yourself to revamp?
Mandy Moore: I’m a huge Jeff Buckley fan, but never in a thousand million bazillion years would I think of covering one of his songs. There are certain artists that you don’t touch. I know many people have feelings about the artists that I did touch on this album. [Laughs.] Who’s gonna go near Joni Mitchell or Cat Stevens or Carole King? But I did! If you don’t like it, that’s fine with me. I’m happy that the music’s out there.
What’s the last song that you’ve heard that you’d want to sing yourself?
Mandy Moore: I’m a big fan of John Mayer. I love his music. I think it’s something that, 20 years from now, people will be covering. It has that originality and depth and it’s not obvious, like most pop stuff today.
So do you sing along to “Bigger Than My Body”?
Mandy Moore: I love the song, but I’m more of the album track girl than the singles girl. It’s more fun to get to know those songs and go “Have you heard [this]?” How cool is that feeling when you know someone hasn’t heard something before, and to watch their face[s] as they hear it for the first time?
What’s the last album you’ve been introduced to that’s made you want to know more?
Mandy Moore: I just bought a Chet Baker record. Oh my god, that song “Let’s Get Lost!” I played it over and over and over again on the plane the other day. I thought, “I don’t know much about jazz,” so I picked up Chet Baker and John Coltrane. I just want to educate myself. I feel like in my lifetime, I’ve seen so many sh*tty movies, heard so much sh*tty music, “it’s like, God, if only I’d known like 10 years ago, at nine or something, “Enough is enough. I need to start listening to good, classic music. I need to be educating myself on the classic films.” I guess at 19, I’m trying to start.
What’s more satisfying: making a movie or making an album?
Mandy Moore: Making an album, ‘cause weirdly enough, it feels more challenging. I had - knock on wood - a fairly easy transition going from the music world to the film world, but I feel like I have yet to find that one thing that gets people interested in listening to my music. So it feels really satisfying. I’m so proud of this record. I’m proud that it’s just out! It’s like my crazy idea is sitting with us on the table right now!
by C. Bottomley
More Interviews:
|
||
Interested in Arts?