Once upon Y2K, Mandy Moore was a fixture on TRL. These days, she’s traded music video countdowns for school drop-offs, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
The singer and actor pokes fun at that evolution in her new back-to-school campaign with ABCmouse, the educational app her family has used during the busy summer months. Moore, 42, is now raising three young children with her husband, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith: Gus, 5; Ozzie, 3; and Louise, who turns 2 next month.
But pop star Mandy hasn’t disappeared entirely.
“I always have the itch to make music because it’s my favorite thing,” Moore, who has focused more on acting in recent years, tells Yahoo.
Lately, she’s found herself back in the concert crowd, cheering on close friend Hilary Duff as the formerLizzie McGuire star makes her joyful return to the stage. Moore has attended multiple shows and loved watching a fellow early-aughts icon command an arena again.
“She is such a badass,” Moore says. “It’s been so fun watching her just completely take over this year. It is her year, and I’m such a proud friend.”
What struck Moore most wasn’t simply seeing Duff perform again, but watching an arena full of people temporarily forget whatever was waiting for them at home.
“The world is so chaotic,” Moore says. “Watching the joy that she elicits and brings to an arena full of people fills my heart. We all need this.”
Duff isn’t simply a fellow performer Moore has been cheering on from the audience. She’s also one of the close mom friends in a community Moore says has become essential as she navigates life with three young kids.
Moore has handled a significant amount of solo parenting this summer while Goldsmith has been on tour, making that wider village especially important. Her mom-group text chains cover everything from birthday cakes and balloon vendors to soccer uniforms and school lunchboxes.
Her friends, Moore says, are “essential to my sanity and well-being in every regard.”
That support system is helping Moore through another major family transition. Gus begins kindergarten next week, while Ozzie starts preschool.
“It’s a lot of feelings,” she admits.
The new school year makes Moore’s ABCmouse partnership particularly timely as both boys enter new stages of learning. Her family used the app before the partnership, often turning to its curriculum-based activities while traveling. Moore says she likes watching Gus and Ozzie build confidence as they work through lessons, and knowing they’re learning while having fun.
Gus has told his parents that he is excited about kindergarten but also nervous. To help him prepare, the family has been reading books about starting school as part of their bedtime routine and talking through situations that make him anxious.
“I get nervous too,” Moore has been telling him. “It’s totally normal. It’s OK. It just means that you care about something.”
Even after doing everything she can to ease the transition, Moore expects the milestone to be emotional for her too.
“I’m going to try to at least save the tears for the car,” she says. “I don’t want them to see me crying, obviously, but time is a thief. It’s wild. I cannot believe that we have a kindergartner.”
Moore’s village includes an “incredible” nanny, her nearby mother-in-law — who helps with school pickups and makes date nights possible — and a close group of fellow parents.
“Weekends are just Mom and Dad,” Moore says. With no one in school, it’s “all hands on deck.”
Her mother-in-law gives Moore and Goldsmith an occasional opportunity to reconnect. On the evening we spoke, the couple planned to put the children to bed before slipping away to a favorite restaurant nearby.
“It’s important for Mom and Dad to have that time together,” Moore says. “We need to connect and stay connected and be an aligned unit.”
Those moments are another reason she doesn’t take her support system for granted.
“Life is easier when your village is large, when your community is thriving,” she says.
One of her favorite manifestations of that community is a standing Sunday swim at her home. The guest list fluctuates, but the formula remains the same: The children play while Moore makes a cheese board for the adults, who may have a glass of wine before everyone orders dinner.
“Just come over,” she says. “It’ll be chaos. It’ll be messy. There will be wet towels and bathing suits all over the house … dogs running around, [the kids] are playing with lightsabers, and every monster truck and Lego.”
For Moore, the mess is worth it. “Knowing that we all can do it together is essential.”
As full as this chapter of her life is, Moore still sees room for music. She doesn’t envision her return looking exactly like Duff’s, however. The two have always occupied different musical spaces.
“I feel like my music doesn’t serve quite the same purpose in the world, and that’s totally fine,” Moore says. “I will get back to it eventually and in my own way. I’ve never had designs on having a gigantic pop career. That’s just not in the cards for me, but I’ll do it in my own way somehow, somewhere.”
What draws her back is the possibility of offering listeners her own version of the escape she witnessed in Duff’s audiences.
“If I can deliver some modicum of that joy to people, I would be so happy,” Moore says. “What a superpower.”
Moore continues, “I’ve seen her now play multiple shows, and just looking around at the crowd, everyone has a smile on their face. Everyone’s forgetting about whatever crap they have on their plate at home. That is the coolest thing in the world, to be able to just make people feel this degree of joy.”
I remind Moore that “Candy” is iconic and that we do, in fact, need her back.
“Look, one song is one song, but yes,” she says with a smile, “I will do that in some way.”
Moore isn’t offering a timeline yet, but she is clear that music and performing remain part of her future, and that her musician husband will be part of that next chapter.
“I’ll get back on the road,” she says. “I’m going to make music with Taylor again at some point, and we’ll bring the tour out there.”
