Mandy Moore's Wild Hope: Finally She makes a Good Album

Mandy Moore used to sing poppy songs about candy, indecipherable songs about pennies in her pocket, and annoyingly breathy songs about wanting to have sex with a guy "only for a night". (Those songs are "Candy," "In My Pocket," and "I Wanna Be With You," respectively.) And even through all of that, I still find Mandy appealing.

I like to judge female celebrities on whether or not I could hang out with them and go shopping. Female celebrities that I could shop with are Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Garner, and Mandy Moore. Mandy as a singer was never that great. Mandy as an actress has had good moments, namely in Saved! Mandy as a person seems very down-to-earth and real. When was the last time you saw her name in a tabloid?

When her latest album, Wild Hope, came out, I felt nothing but excitement for her. Reading magazine interviews with her where she spoke about her new music made me rethink what I knew of her musical talent. She wrote lyrics for this album. The songs are more personal. The songs are about her semi-high-profile relationships with actors such as Wilmer Valderamma and Zach Braff. Now is her time to give her side of the story and what better way to do that than through music.

The hype surrounding the album only made me want to hear it even more. I read about her recent concerts and it seemed like everyone just raved. So when I played the CD in my iPod, I was disappointed to hear the first single and first track on the album was a little bland. "Extraordinary" just didn't do it for me. The second track, "All Good Things," felt the same way.

Mandy's voice just didn't sound that great. I wasn't feeling the music at all. (I have since changed my mind about the previous song.) After I finished listening to the third track, "Slumming in Paradise," I marked it as a favorite, not because I thought it was anything special. Mainly I just liked its sun-kissed, light, California style, even though it also reminded me of an early '90s soft-rock song.