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American Morning

Mandy Moore's on top of the World

Aired August 17, 2001 - 10:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This might catch your attention. A guy named Marilyn is in trouble with the law, and a girl named Mandy seemingly can do no wrong.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Where's the boy named Sue? That's all we need here.

PHILLIPS: Or Spot.

HARRIS: Well, we've got the guy named Michael. Michael Okwu joins us now from New York. He's got the Showbiz Today Reports. Take it away, man.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning you guys. You guys are good, you're very good. We're going to talk about Marilyn Manson later on in the morning, but let's talk first about Mandy Moore.

Bubble gum pop doesn't come much sweater than her. She's on her second album, has become a TV and movie star, and landed a lucrative endorsement for a skin care company. At the ripe old age of 17, Mandy's just dandy.

CNN's Lauren Hunter caught up with the golden girl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 17-year-old Mandy Moore has a new CD, and a role in "The Princess Diaries." Don't forget about her MTV show...

MANDY MOORE: Thank you so much.

HUNTER: ... or the Neutrogena ad campaign.

MOORE: Gives you smooth skin and clear skin.

HUNTER: With such a busy schedule there's barely enough time to go to the record store, where we caught up with her.

MOORE: I need to get my shop on and try to find some music.

HUNTER: Just as her new self-titled CD has an eclectic sound, Mandy's musical taste is broad. For instance, the pop princess loves Alien Ant Farm.

MOORE: I put it on in the car and I can groove, and rock out, and stuff like that, and feel like a rock star.

HUNTER: She's also partial to Alicia Keyes.

MOORE: I think this is really something and someone that was missing from the musical landscape.

HUNTER: Mandy's wild musical landscape includes singing lions and apes.

MOORE: I have one of these, Disney's Greatest Hits. Come on, all of you out there, you know that you sing along "The Little Mermaid," and goodness, "The Lion King," "Tarzan," "Mulan," all of that.

HUNTER: You might be surprised at Mandy's response to her own CDs.

MOORE: Bad. Not good. Better, but still quite embarrassing. We try and walk past the M's very quickly in the music store, we run past the M's.

HUNTER: The singer felt her first album, "So Real," was anything but.

MOORE: Shortly after we released the first record, I was kind of like, you know what? Candy's a great place to start from, it's a great platform, but maybe that's not what I'm all about musically.

HUNTER: Mandy even has a disclaimer for album number one.

MOORE: All right, you can listen to the record but skip tracks 8, 12, the last half of 13, and maybe number 2 as well.

HUNTER: But now with more creative control and a live band behind her, Mandy's singing a different tune.

MOORE: It was a challenge to find out that I was someone different, that I wasn't the pigtails, and the tube-top and dancing on stage all the time. Now I can just say, you know what, go ahead, you can listen to the whole record and maybe it's not your favorite type of music, but I stand behind it. I'm proud of it.

HUNTER: Lauren Hunter, CNN entertainment news, Hollywood.

MOORE: What's up, guys!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: Mandy's just dandy. Come on back for our next Showbiz Today Reports next hour, the weekend is here. That means plenty of new movie options.

Critic Peter Travers will be here to tell us what's new at the bijoux. That's 11:35 a.m. eastern. Until then, I am Michael Okwu reporting from New York. Back to you guys in Atlanta.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Michael. We'll see you in a bit.

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