Amanda Leigh, Joe

Let's talk about the art of Mandy Moore. And only the art. Please.

I learned what the "Laurel Canyon Sound" was through Mandy Moore. I guess I had heard the phrase before, but it truly entered the pop culture vernacular around the same time I was getting into Mandy Moore's music for the first time (this was also around the time of COVID, and my brain was spoiled meat for months, which accounts for a lot). It's luscious, high-production folk music, basically. I don't know if all of Amanda Leigh can be considered within this genre, but a lot of it can. Enough that I would name Mandy Moore to be an acolyte of Laurel Canyon. Even though she wasn't born yet when Joni Mitchell was orchestrating foursomes with Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

I'm not huge on the Laurel Canyon sound overall—I think too much of our perception of that scene boils down to retroactive Boomer rock romanticism—but I do love what Mandy Moore does with it. It's corny as fuck, but it sounds nice. I think that she's being sincere with this music. I think that Amanda Leigh is Mandy Moore's attempt to be more sincere than she ever had before on tape. This is her "I'm grown up" statement, after some years lingering in B-list pop icon purgatory. I can see your typical member of this rock-forward music club being turned off by such an attempt, deeming it generic pop music in Laurel Canyon sheep's clothing. I don't blame them.

What's different about Mandy Moore for me? I think it's complicated. A lot more complicated than "she was the main voice actress in a movie I've seen dozens of times" or "she was the main star of a soapy TV show I used to adore" or "she's hot" or any of that. That's all true, but none of this explains why I find her to be more honest and reliable than most pop stars (and certainly more than most of her own pop star peers from the late '90s and early '00s). But I really do think that, whatever the reason is, it's the same reason that made her such a natural fit as the lead in a multigenerational TV family drama, or a Disney princess. Some people have just "got it." They make you feel comfortable. They can convince you that the dorkiest theater-kid-bullshit folk pop is something that approaches high art.

I'm going to say that this is why the constant fly-buzzing presence of Mike Viola is such a nuisance to me. Just let Mandy Moore cook, jesus fucking christ. You don't have to be all over this thing, it ain't your album bro! But now see, this is where I kinda gotta get into the weeds a little bit, because I'm reticent to say anything that is going to be consider "jealousy." As much as I like Mandy Moore as an artist, this is not a parasocial relationship by any definition. I don't do that. If I had to guess, I would guess she's a good person, but I have literally no idea. I don't know her at all. She can flirt her way through a full-album team-up with some fucking jabroni, that's fine. I have no say over it. There are no stakes for me. Am I protesting too much? I swear I'm not protesting too much. I've never been the jealous type, even if there was a logical way to be jealous in this situation, which there is not. I don't need that much attention. It's okay if there attention here is split between me (the audience, the listener) and some fucking guy. The fact that Mandy Moore was married at the time to someone else does not factor into this at all, as you should well know at this point. The fact that Mandy Moore was married to known abusive shitbug Ryan Adams also doesn't factor into it, since he had nothing to do with the making of this album except inspire its worst song. Mandy Moore is an independent woman and an artist and I don't know her and I don't care what she does. I'm not talking shit on Mike Viola due to the fact that he was clearly nursing some strong feelings about his coworker Mandy Moore. I don't know these people like this. I don't care. I don't care! I swear it has nothing to do with that. It's more just that the guy is annoying, and I want to punch him in the face. I'd say that in a Mandy Moore-free vacuum too, by the way. I would. Most guys have punchable faces. This is a common refrain in my album reviews. I'm not just saying it here because of Mandy Moore. I don't actually care about Mandy Moore. She seems nice but what the fuck do I know. She's attractive but so is basically every other woman. Her looks have nothing to do with her art, which is good. Her art has everything to do with who she invites to take part in that art, which is Mike Viola, which is not good. If I received definitive proof somehow that Mike Viola was creepy around Mandy Moore during the making of the 2009 album Amanda Leigh, I would make a face like "told you so" and shrug. I wouldn't be personally offended for Mandy Moore. She's a grown-up, she can make her own judgments on matters like this. I trust Mandy Moore to say something if she felt that way. Maybe Mike Viola was actually nice about it. Maybe the feelings were mutual. I'm not saying there were feelings but if they were they were probably mutual. Which is fine. Mandy Moore can like whoever she wants. She can flirt with whomever she pleases. I don't have any say in the matter. It was a long time ago and she's married to the Dawes guy now. They have kids. I don't know if she has contact with Mike Viola anymore. Maybe. I've never heard his voice on any of the subsequent Mandy Moore albums that I've heard. Maybe I missed him. Or maybe Mandy Moore regrets allowing his pestering voice to be so ubiquitous on her 2009 album Amanda Leigh. Maybe her feelings on the matter were obvious to everyone, and if Ryan Adams were to stalk back into her life and try to make his fragile pathetic male ego feel better in his post-divorce post-"cancellation" era by talking shit to his ex-wife Mandy and claiming that she "cheated" on him with "that punk-ass bitch Mike Viola, basically the co-lead of your great album Amanda Leigh," then she'd probably make a face like "told you so" and shrug. I don't echo any of Ryan Adams' hypothetical feelings, is what I'm saying. I think Mike Viola is probably a punk-ass bitch but it, I assure you, has nothing to do with any creepy parasocial feelings directed toward Mandy Moore. I know proper boundaries between artist and audience. I don't cross those lines. I don't starfuck. I don't crush on people I don't know. I can objectively talk about attractiveness and I can make pleasant innocent assumptions about the quality of her character, but I don't think I need to say I "like" Mandy Moore as an individual, since I do not know her, and thus would never be "jealous" of any other males in her orbit, whether husbands or annoying hangers-on in the studio. I don't like Mike Viola but it's not like that. I am not threatened by him. Threatened how? Not possible. Threats to a relationship can't exist if the relationship itself does not exist. I don't know Mandy Moore at all. No relationships, parasocial or otherwise. I'm just listening to her album. I feel a certain way about Mandy Moore and that feeling is largely positive but it is within the bounds of societal norms and in no way stretches toward impropriety or indecency. It is based on the perception of the art and the artist who made it. I am being led by my brain, not my dick. And even if I was being led by my dick, which I'm not, then I can honestly say that I would never allow my dick to lead me to jealousy of any kind. My dick just doesn't work like that. Mandy Moore is free to flirt with or fuck whomever she wants. Jealousy would mean that I'm the creep. I'm not a creep. I'm not. I don't feel that way about people I don't know. I just focus on the art, and NOT her looks or manners. The art. The art that I'm listening to, that is like a beautiful marble statue of a Greek goddess that a dog puked all over the side of. This is a bad example because it's making it seem like I'm calling Mandy Moore a Greek goddess, but I am not. I am not creepy. In this example, the statue is the album, the songcraft, and the puke is Mike Viola's voice. I don't care what breed of dog, or the dog's intentions, or whether the dog's owner is there to clean it up. I'm not saying that Mike Viola smells like dog puke either. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. I don't know the guy. He's not a threat to me. He's nothing to me. He's just some fucking guy. But he also shouldn't be singing on this album. But I'm NOT jealous I promise you that. You have to believe. I'm making my case very strongly here, and I am not being sarcastic. I'm not. I wouldn't lie to you like that. You have to believe me. You have to. I cannot be perceived as creepy. I cannot be perceived as the guy who has crushes on celebrities. I've never been that guy. I ignore the celebrities in the room. If Mandy Moore walking into the room right now I would say "hi" briefly and then keep it moving. You can't say she's not objectively attractive though. She is, but so are so many other people. That's not what makes her a good artist. And if it was I wouldn't be here, examining her art. Good looking people are allowed to make art, but the looks shouldn't affect the art. Unless the art is about being hot, in which case we'd have to consider it. but that's not the case here. The art isn't really about anything, except maybe Mandy Moore being "mature" by making "mature" music. Which is why I think that it's creepy that Mike Viola is all over this thing. It would be like if Mandy Moore got her first period and Mike Viola was there to save the blood in a little vial. Just like that. Just as creepy. And it's creepy when I write it, right? So imagine how creepy it would be if Mike Viola did something like that. He is here, is what I'm saying. It's creepy that he's on this album, that he pushes his way into a Mandy Moore album to this degree. I don't like it. I don't think he should have done it. But I'm just painting a picture of the reasons why I don't think he should have. Please note that it has nothing to do with my feelings about Mandy Moore, of which there are none, save for the appreciation for the art. Just so you know. Just so you understand exactly what I'm trying to say here. It's important for you to know.

Also important for you to know that "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week" is the best song on the album. It's a song about self-worth. Mandy Moore does a great job with it. Musically, this album is great. I think we should all stick strictly to conversations about the value of the art. I think this is a good album. I liked listening to it. Despite its one flaw, which we don't really have to talk about.

GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5