Artist: Mandy Moore
Album: So Real
Release Date: December 7, 1999

1. So Real
Old 90′s bubblegum pop is amusing. That said, this song starts off like a lot of typical pop songs of that time with the heavy synth opening, while the tempo is fairly midtempo. The verses here are really lackluster in comparison to the fairly catchy opening, as the verse as fairly little flow. There are breaks every single line, and it feels really abrupt. The chorus is a bit better as the sound is more continuous with little “baby, baby” lines in between in the breaks. Moore’s vocals are okay as she reaches notes well enough, but I dislike how she presents this song as everything she does is done in the same manner. The base synth is quite catchy though.

2. Candy
Oh my god, I remember when this first came out. This song is actually rather addicted, although again I dislike how Moore sings this song despite the fact that she still reaches notes well. There’s a lot of forced growls throughout this song that I find really annoying as she emphasizes a bit too much for no apparent reason. Either way, this is around the same tempo as the previous song, and again the melody has very poor flow throughout the song. Either way, I like the chorus, which, again, flows much better than the verses. The dialogue in the bridge is lame, as dialogues usually are.

3. What You Want
Take out Moore’s growling, and you get a rather thin voice. There are points where she talks rather than sings, so it makes her rather flat. The song itself is again of a similar tempo than the other songs, but I find this song less interesting than the previous song, possibly because I haven’t heard of this song before this. There’s something very unpleasant about Moore’s presentation of this already dull song that makes it even worse, possibly because she tends to twist her words a bit.

4. Walk Me Home
I personally have a soft spot for this song, as it is one of her earliest songs that I actually really like. It’s a ballad, but Moore’s vocals are actually quite pleasant here as she no longer has to growl and she actually sings. She has a light, breathy voice here, and I quite like the amount of emotion she has in this song. The song itself is pretty, but nothing outstanding, and it gets a little dull after awhile. I like the overall sound, though.

5. Lock Me in Your Heart
“MANDY. MANDY. THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE IS SWEET LIKE CANDY.” … What?! XD Moore comes back after the weird man talking with her softer, ligher voice. Her voice actually isn’t bad until she starts twists her voices around (e.g. “The magic between us becomes real”). I personally find her vocals in this song really, really dull and one-dimensional. The song has a bit of a laid-back sound to it, but it’s also equally as boring. The nicest part of the song is the first line of the chorus: “Lock me in your heart and throw away the key”. After that, the melody isn’t really interesting at all. This is one song you’re probably best avoiding, even if the one line in the chorus is kind of catchy. Nothing else is interesting. Even the writers’ vain attempt at a key change doesn’t make the song better.

6. Telephone (Interlude)
… dialogue interludes. No away now. Thanks.

7. Quit Breaking My Heart
The second ballad of the album, and Moore comes in with a really muffled, breathy tone. I don’t particularly like her breathy vocals as if feels like she’s not really singing at all. The song itself is actually quite nice, and I enjoy the melody in this song. The whispered, breathy vocals are really annoying though, and Moore sounds much better when she’s not so muffled. I like the harmonies on the “Quit breaking my heart” line. It’s quite pretty. Otherwise, this track is pretty uneventful.

8. Let Me Be the One
This is probably the strongest vocals I’ve heard from her so far. Her tone is much fuller here, and the melody for once isn’t chopping off every line for an upbeat song. While Moore does do random growls, she sings out in this song and it actually isn’t bad. She, again, tends to twist her words a bit. Although this is probably the best I’ve heard from Moore so far on this album, the song is unfortunately forgettable. It has no catchy riffs, and repeats itself over and over in a forgettable manner.

9. Not Too Young
The next track starts off with some kind of thunderstorm sound effects, before going into a slightly muffled sound. I find Moore’s attempt at an “edgy” vocal really terrible sounding as she ends up twisting and growling more and more. No thank you. This song is an attempt at a “darker” piece, with some nice acoustic guitar solos throughout. However, as nice as the acoustic guitar sounds, nothing else really sounds interesting in the song. There’s no musicality in the vocals at all, and it makes the overall song quite painful to listen to.

10. Love Shot
This album just continues with the same style over and over again. This is another mid-tempo upbeat song. I actually like this melody a bit more than some of the previous song, especially the pre-chorus. I like how rhythmic Moore is on the whispered parts here. Moore switches between the whispery voice and her belting voice, and despite the style being rather similar, I actually find this song kind of catchy, as there’s a nice string lines in the background with the heavy synthesizer bass line. Again, kind of too repetitive after awhile.

11. I Like It
Again, Moore actually sounds quite good at the beginning of this song with her lighter voice. It starts off with a ballad-sound, then Moore starts to twist her voice horribly once a more upbeat sound comes in and she again sounds terrible. After that, my attention fades away as there’s nothing interesting about this song beyond the introduction. Moore doesn’t have enough energy to pull of this slightly laid-back upbeat song as she sings it as a ballad, which it is not.

12. Love You for Always
This is probably one of the better songs of the album. It’s another mid-tempo pop songs. The background has an upbeat percussion, and the melody is actually quite pretty throughout the song. The blend of sound in this song works well and is quite pleasant. Moore sings well throughout as this style works well with the lighter, legato singing. This song is pretty.

13. Quit Breaking My Heart (Reprise)
This is an acoustic guitar version of the previous-heard song. The acoustic guitar is actually quite nice accompanying, and Moore sings well, although she has really bad phrasing in this song. She has a tendency to take breaths in the middle of a phrase, which of course ruins some of the musicality she puts into the track. Either way, if you don’t notice those, the track is actually quite pretty.

Overall -
Favourite Track: Walk Me Home
For those who are wondering why I’m reviewing Mandy Moore… her new stuff is actually pretty good, and I’ll eventually get to that! As for her first album, Moore wasn’t kidding when she admitted that her first album sounds awful. Vocally, Moore isn’t bad, although she has a tendency to have very poor pronounciation when singing: for example, she tends to emphasize the ‘r’, like in ‘here’ way too much on elongated notes, focusing on the ‘r’ rather than the vowels, in addition to some poor phrasing. To Moore’s credit, she’s 14 and she’s got a pleasant voice when she uses it well. The material on this album is uneventful, poorly written melodically, and instantly forgettable. I’m surprised that this is her best selling album.