Why Mandy Moore Is Ready to Put Her “Heart Back Into Music”

Mandy Moore stars in what’s already pegged to be one of fall’s hottest new TV shows, NBC’s This Is Us, but that doesn't mean she's forgotten her music-centric roots. The singer and actress, who skyrocketed to fame in 1999 with her hit single, “Candy,” hasn't released new songs since her sixth and most recent studio album, Amanda Leigh, came out back in 2009—and during a recent visit to InStyle’s NYC offices, she revealed that she’s almost ready to get back in the music game. And soon.

“There’s no way to duplicate that rush of adrenaline that comes with being on stage and performing live,” Moore explained. “You get instantaneous feedback from a crowd when you’re giving to them and they’re giving back to you. That cycle is contagious—it’s infectious.”

Of course, it’s nothing like being on the set of a film or TV project. “I feel like there’s a discernible difference between acting and making music,” said Moore. “Music feels much more insular and solo—it just feels like something I do myself. It’s something I ruminate on, and I help write the lyrics and the music. Sure, you have a team assembled around you to help it come to fruition, but being on a set—being part of a television show, for instance—is so much more of a team effort. It’s not just the cast, it’s the entire crew. It takes so many people for it to come to fruition and to end up on television screens in people’s homes.”

For Moore, having a career that spans both the music and acting industries is important. “I feel very lucky to do a little bit of both, because it exercises both sides of my creative person,” she said. “I’ve been working on music for the last five or six years, and now that I feel very satisfied with this side of my life—I have the show that I can fully invest myself in and put my energy towards—it will give me the space to really open up and really put my heart back into music. Because I miss it—I miss writing, recording, and performing. So at some point in the next couple of months, I want to get that ball rolling again.”

While you wait for Moore's return to the music scene, be sure to catch her in the premiere of This Is Us, Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.