Cover Girl: Mandy Moore on Self Magazine

Beautiful pop singer and actress Mandy Moore hit the cover of the June issue of Self magazine and dished a little on her new album, and life without a boyfriend. Her new album, Wild Hope, is coming soon. For even more of Mandy, you can sign up for her e-mail newsletter.

SELF: Is singing more personal to you than acting?
Mandy Moore: I think singing is more personal because it's totally vulnerable and you're totally putting yourself out there. I also feel that it is more rewarding. I love what I do and when you love what you do, you don't even give yourself the option of saying, "Maybe this won't work and maybe I'll fail somehow."

SELF: What do you think people's perception of you is?
Moore: I think musically, people think of me as the underdog. I understand why they think that because when I first came out, it was at the same time as Britney, Christina and Jessica Simpson, and I was kind of like the third or fourth wheel, just sort of tacked on there because I was the youngest. I understand that. I hope that people out there will respect the fact that I've grown and am a different person now with different musical taste. I hope the people who didn't like my music then will give me a chance.

SELF: Are you a person who tends to hold emotions in?
Moore: Well, I used to, but I've gotten much better about that. I am a totally open book with people I love and trust. I talk about anything with them, but there is that certain side of me that will contain how I feel about stuff. I'll only put stuff out there so far, and then I'll wrap it up in this little box, put it over there, and then digest and deal with it after I've had time to figure out how I really feel.

SELF: And when you have all these movies [Moore has three movies being released in 2007], you don't really have a lot of free time.
Moore: Yeah, it's been a little crazy and I know that there are definitely some things that I'm going to have to hunker down with later and go, "OK, let me really think about how I feel about this."

SELF: What are those things?
Moore: You know, just personal things. Actually none of it is relationship-related, they are more personal things that are going on in my own world. I am really feeling like a woman for the first time. I have come into my own and have spent a lot of time reflecting and working on myself for the past couple of months and am continuing to do so. I just want to make sure that I'm still in control and very much a part of all the decisions that are being made in life. I guess I'm just really realizing the power that you actually have. So I really need to figure out how I feel about everything and about myself in the scheme of things.

SELF: Are you overly self critical?
Moore: I think I can be. I try to stay with the positive, but sometimes I feel like my self-criticism pushes me to do and be my best. I am my own harshest critic, but I've always been that way, even as a kid. I don't think it's completely out of control. I have come to terms with the idea that it's never going to be good enough, and that's OK. If I'm looking at a picture, listening back to a tape of a song or watching a film, it's just like, "Ugh, eew, I don't like the way I look, I don't like the way I sound." Nothing is really ever good enough for me, but I've come to terms with that. I'm not going to be happy 100 percent of the time.

SELF: Do you give yourself pep talks?
Moore: The only time I do is before I go onstage to perform. I just tell myself, "Mandy, this is what you love to do and this is what you're lucky enough to do with your life. Just go out there and have fun, because that's what it is." I think back to being a kid and doing local community theater. I loved it. When I go onstage now, I just keep trying to find and capture that feeling again. There's just nothing better.

SELF: You've said that this was a pivotal year. What was the fulcrum?
Moore: I had a lot of time to be alone and in my own head, which I don't have very often. I used to shy away from that. And now if I don't have time, especially in the morning, I start to get really anxious. I wake up early so that I have an hour and a half or two hours before I have to be somewhere and do something. I have really come to appreciate my me-time.

SELF: So for the first time you faced yourself and...?
Moore: It was scary! I was scared to be alone. But then it was like, let's jump into this life thing. I'm still sort of figuring out how I want everything to work. Every facet of who I am—as myself, as a friend, as a daughter, a girlfriend, a business associate, a recording artist—I have to take each one at a time and figure out how that definition of me has now changed and therefore how I want my relationship with the people involved in that part of my life to now be.

SELF: You have said in the past that you want to leave Hollywood by age 40. Is that true?
Moore: I don't know why I ever said that. It was really silly of me. To put a limit on anything sounds ridiculous to me at this point. I want to do it as long as I want to do it.

SELF: There's no goal, like "I have arrived, I will be complete, if...?"
Moore: No, because once you realize the finish line, then it's time to just pack it in and go home because there really shouldn't be a finish line.

SELF: Are you ready to date again?
Moore: I'm not looking. If someone finds me, I'm more than open to it. I would love to have some new people in my life. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, but I am currently accepting applications for friends!

Cover Girl: Mandy Moore on Parade Magazine

Pop singer, actress and clothing designer, Mandy Moore graced the cover of this week's Parade magazine. The bright and bubbly actress stars in the upcoming romantic comedy “License to Wed,” and talked to writer Robert Masello about being in the spotlight, embarrassing public missteps of other celebrities, her new album and more.

Her new album…
“ Wild Hope just felt like such a selfish venture to me. It was a way for me to get out of my head, get some clarity on certain situations, and finally be a part of something that I was completely behind creatively and proud of…. At first, it felt a little bit overwhelming, but I really took to the writing process, and even though ‘Extraordinary’ was the last song I wrote for the album, I felt like that was the statement I wanted to make. And once I finished it, that’s when I knew it was time to go into the studio and sing.”

Moore the daredevil…
“I’ve gone skydiving twice. I was terrified about doing it, but I wanted to overcome that. The first time, I did it with my parents and I remember that they had already both jumped out, and suddenly it was my turn. And I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to be an orphan,’ so I guess I have no choice, and I jumped out of the plane. There is this kind of adventurous thing in me—I saw this movie on Mt. Kilimanjaro about four years ago, and ever since then I’ve been obsessed with climbing it one day. At this point, I’m in no shape to be climbing a mountain, but I will get in amazing shape someday and I will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. I have no choice—I have to do it.”

Friendship…
“I don’t really have a ton of friends. My best friends, my close circle, are mostly in New York. But my brothers live with me here [in L.A.]. One is younger, one older—and I hang out with them a lot. My younger brother’s in school, my older brother’s working out here in L.A. But I actually like spending time by myself, and it’s not super odd for me to go [out] by myself…. I’m really kind of boring—I’d rather go to bed early and get up early because I really value my time off, my time away from work.”

Writer Robert Masello on Moore’s new album…
“My friends don’t believe it when I tell them I’m actually playing Mandy Moore’s new CD—v oluntarily—in my office, but I am. I’m a guy who usually listens to Bob Dylan, John Prine, David Gray, Lucinda Williams, Ray Davies—a lot of the great singer-songwriters. But I have to say, Mandy’s CD has very catchy songs, interesting lyrics and terrific arrangements. And she wrote or co-wrote all the material. When we met for brunch, I told her that I really liked the album, but I’m not sure she didn’t think I was just sucking up. I mean, it’s not that I don’t say plenty of insincere things to my interview subjects—‘The hair looks super, Mr. Trump!’—but in this case I was being sincere.”

Behind the scenes at PARADE's photo shoot with Mandy Moore
Photographer Robert Ascroft reveals the fun details behind his shoot with actress/singer Mandy Moore.

Where did the shoot take place? “The shoot took place in the Hollywood Hills at a private home. Since it was a weekend, the owners were also there.”

What time did it start? “The crew arrived at 7 a.m. and Mandy arrived at 9 a.m. It was a cool and cloudy day when we arrived, but it cleared up for the shoot.”

How long did the shoot last?
About four and a half hours.

What was served for lunch? “We were done with the photo shoot by lunchtime and we all had the most amazing fish and grilled vegetables. It was a great way to end the shoot.”

What music played during the shoot?
“We listened to the duo Bird and Bee. We all became huge fans of one very inappropriate song on the record about becoming someone’s boyfriend!”

Who came to the shoot with Moore? “Mandy’s agent accompanied her.”

Robert Ascroft on Mandy Moore…
“It started off as a gloomy and somewhat cold day but by the time Mandy walked on set, the clouds opened up and we had sun for the whole shoot. Shortly after we were finished taking the photos, the clouds came back. I originally wanted blue skies for the shoot and I got them! Mandy was very easygoing and enjoyable to be around. She even jumped in the pool for me at the end of the shoot, with a dress on!”

Photos courtesy of Parade.com.