How Mandy Moore Really Feels About Her Iconic "Candy" Era

Mandy Moore shared how she really feels about her early pop star days and her "Candy" era during her visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Mandy Moore's pop star days are very much behind her.

On Thursday, the This Is Us star stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and reminisced over her iconic "Candy" era with host Jimmy Fallon, who wanted to know if she found herself looking back on her old music when writing the songs for her new album Silver Landings.

"I've kind of come full circle with a lot of my older stuff," she said. "We're supposed to go on tour—I haven't toured in 13 years, so it's very precarious timing with everything that's happening in the world." 

After Jimmy showed Mandy a throwback picture of herself from her first-ever tour in the late ‘90s, where a young 15-year-old Mandy was sporting her blonde locks and platform sandals, the "When I Wasn't Watching" singer couldn't help but get nostalgic. 

"That was my very first tour," she exclaimed. "I flew from doing the ‘Candy' music video in Los Angeles to Virginia Beach, Va. to open for NSYNC on their summer amphitheater tour. It was a gig."

As she recalled her early touring days, Mandy revealed that she channeled this era in her new song "Fifteen." 

"I've kind of, like, come full circle," she continued. "I have a song on my record called ‘Fifteen' and it's talking about this exact time. I mean, I've been in this industry for 20 years now. I signed a record deal when I was 15 and sort of started in the industry. And, I think for a long time, I apologized for that time of my life and that, like, chapter because I had no creative control."

Mandy added, "But, I've kind of come full circle to have a lot of affection for that girl because she lives in me and I carry her around. She's the reason we're talking. So, it's been an interesting thing to sort of digest and come to terms with over the course of making this record, too."

Switching gears, Jimmy was curious to know if the Because I Said So star really considered giving up acting before playing Rebecca on This Is Us. Mandy explained that the part came into her life at a time where she was struggling to find her next move and was "reconsidering everything."

"I did," she admitted. "You know, this business is tricky. You know it. There's a real ebb and flow—to everything in life. But I had done four failed T.V. pilots…I was like, ‘This is the universe telling me this is done for me.'"

Mandy continued, "I had some patience and six months later This Is Us came into my world. It changed everything." 

Watch Mandy relive her "Candy" days and talk all things music and This Is Us in the video above!

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