All Pop - Artists

It's not often that a 17-year-old pop starlet looks you straight in the eye, in the morning, and tells you she's happy. Mandy Moore doesn't sing the "I'm so tired", "I miss my friends," "There's so much pressure," "I'm so bored with doing interviews" refrain that many young music stars chant in interviews (either out loud or in subtle subtext).

"When you think of all the millions and millions of people honestly out in the world that are so super talented, people that are more beautiful than you are, more talented than you are, probably would work harder than you but yet you have this opportunity, you were at the right place at the right time, you were blessed, you're extremely lucky," says Mandy, "it makes you smile."

Mandy's giggly exuberance probably has a few different causes, the main one being her new, self-titled album. Unlike her debut effort "So Real" or her follow-up remix album "I Wanna Be With You", "Mandy Moore" doesn't revolve around synthesisers or backing tracks packed with cliched dance breaks.

Mandy describes the new album as guitar driven, practically devoid of synthesisers, conducive to touring with a live band and absolutely free of songs that scream for pop choreography.

"I hate dancing. Honestly, I am the worst dancer," the young singer says firmly.

Mandy's refusal to join in with the rest of the teen pop world is not only demonstrated by her refusal to dance up a storm during live shows, but also with her decision not to attempt the current R & B/pop craze that's overpowering radio stations. "I was like 'I can't do this'," Mandy told her record label reps when they asked her to give the new album an R & B twist. "I have not one ounce of soul to be able to pull that off onstage."

After the singer recorded demos of songs she liked in garages and bathrooms ("next to the toilet" she says), her record label finally agreed to let Mandy make the new album her way.

"I really wanted to concentrate on making music that I was passionate about," she says, "music that I wouldn't tire of easily."

But Mandy has more in her life than just music to keep her busy. She's been dating Wilmer Valderrama of "That 70s Show" fame for eleven months and has recently been bitten by the acting bug.

Mandy will appear in two films in the near future. She'll play the "popular, stereotypical, mean, rude, crude, cheerleader" in "The Princess Diaries" and a leukaemia stricken, good-hearted daughter of a Southern Baptist minister in "A Walk To Remember" - a movie she describes as "amazing," "sad" and "beautiful".

But right now, Mandy's focus is on her new album.

"I don't care if people don't buy the album, don't listen to the music," she says, "because I'm happy. For the first time, out of all the records and stuff like that, I'm satisfied and I feel really fulfilled about the music."

Mandy Moore happy with new album