Mandy Moore

So Real

Generic '90s teen pop.

Review Score:

(6/10)
Somewhat incensed by one magazine's declaration that Moore is "most likely to end up a popcorn seller at a porn theater" (she's 15, for crying out loud), I checked out the album. And sure, it's not great music, but it is at least a first musical step for a young artist with some spirit. The song lyrics aren't nearly as bad as those Eric Foster White-concocted Britney Spears atrocities like "Soda Pop" and "E-Mail My Heart", and Moore's only real fault as a singer is that she tries too much for R&B singing, despite not having the vocal strength to support her attempts at technique.

The musical backdrop as about as generic as they come, Moore's producers reaching into that same old, tired bag of tricks that all '90s teen-pop producers are beating to death. The use of echo on lead-vocal tracks on verses, stiff soulless hip-hop beats that emulate the worst rap artists, having the drumbeat stop on the last bar of a chorus (ludicrously overused device), and so on. And Moore, like so many other young singers eg. Christina Aguilera, confuse "soulful" with "nasal", usually singing from either her nose or the top of her throat, resulting in an annoying parody of R&B vocalization that sounds more squeaky than anything else. It's a shame so many singers take after Shaznay T. Lewis (All Saints) in faking the R&B voice when they don't have one.

Just for the energy and spunk, I'd give this one a shaky 3. Two and a half would be more like it: Not terrible, but far from great.

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