Mandy Moore
Wild Hope (EMI)
By Karen Choy
Published: June 3rd, 2007 | 9:22pm
Like many famous pop stars and actresses today, Mandy Moore is going through a transition period. Unlike her paparazzi-friendly peers however, Moore is expressing her personal trials and tribulations artistically. Wild Hope isn't the candy-coated stuff that made up her early pop star repertoire. Instead, it's refreshing to find Moore growing into a mature and sincere songwriter. This album is both light and dark, chronicling the mixed emotions and "delicate unraveling" that follow a breakup.
The best songs on Wild Hope were co-written by Moore and the Weepies, a folk pop duo from California. The lush "Looking Forward to Looking Back" has Moore admitting that she's "not okay" and just getting through life day by day. The haunting title track is about the fleeting and ever-changing nature of love. Moore, who is often depicted as an idealized, angelic figure in the media, lives up to this image on the upbeat "All Good Things," an optimistic song that is generous to a guy who clearly doesn't deserve much sympathy. But Moore isn't so forgiving on other songs. On the symphonic ballad "Ladies' Choice," Moore laments "You said you could be good / But somehow you're guilty / And you're not even sorry."
But even as Moore struggles with newfound singledom, there's also a sense of relief running through the songs. The album's closing track, "Gardenia," is strong and spare — just Moore and piano accompaniment, a perfect arrangement for the lyrical content of the song. Moore ultimately realizes that this experience will allow her to spend more time tuning into herself: "Will I hear my own voice / Sounds so silly / Keep on telling my story all around / Everything I lost ain't so different / 'Cause this is how everybody gets found." Wild Hope is a solid record that plants Moore firmly into the contemporary pop music scene.
Issue #35
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