After the debut of Britney Spears in late 1998 – record labels across America were all scrambling to find their own Britney. After all, the solo female blonde pop star was a business model that hadn’t worked since Madonna debuted in 1983 – every other pop blonde that came out after her came and went. So when Britney stuck – the music industry struck gold. RCA Records got Christina Aguilera, Columbia Records got Jessica Simpson, and Epic Records got a young teenage girl by the name of Mandy Moore. Her first album was a carbon copy of the pop tarts of the time – so for her second official full-length release – she wanted to take some risks. And alas- was born her self-titled album. With middle eastern influenced tracks like “In My Pocket” – heartbreaking ballads like “Cry” and innocently lustful grooves like “Crush” – the album is a second chapter in Mandy’s early pop career – and is so nostalgic to so many of us who grew up in that era – so let’s take a trip back in time to 2001 and unpack the third release and second official full-length album by Mandy Moore. courtesies: sony music entertainment, fox family, cannel v, launch