Ear Candy Or Eye Candy?

Take her seriously, I mean look! She's in black and white and everything. Nothing says serious like black and white photography.

I was cruising the new videos this weekend when I saw a new clip by Mandy Moore, the 90's teen pop singer turned successful actress turned aspiring indie vocalist. She's spent the last five years or so working to put the "Britney Spears lite" image behind her by rubbing shoulders and performing in the Alternative Adult Contemporary area. Having seen her push for legitimacy as an "artiste" (plus some goodwill built on seeing a rerun of her amusing turn on Scrubs recently) I gave her song "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week" a shot and it turned out to be a catchy slice of 70's AM radio pop. A stripped down arrangement of a snazzy electric piano hook and hand clap beat plus one of my favorite song gimmicks (using the days of the week in a song. Don't ask me why, I just like it) got in my head and stayed there. Against my better judgement, I'm going to say I like a Mandy Moore song. I like when people revive that early 70's AM sound.

So why do I feel guilty saying that? Is it because it has a girly vocal? Is it because she's a pretty face? Is it because musically she's best known for the Britney wanna be hit Candy? Is it because I'm admitting to liking a song that is sung by someone who shows up on the cover of Marie Claire magazine? It could be all of the above. When it's all said and done, it's the music that matters. And I like this tune. Makes me think of sunny days in the park playing Frisbee wearing bell bottom jeans.

I don't think this song will be a big hit or a game changer in her career though. The market she's playing towards is a small one and the song isn't strong enough to cross over to her old stomping grounds of the pure pop field. The music video is linked here, or you can listen to just the song only with a picture of Moore scrolling endlessly.