Sining career?

She's supposed to be working on her next album. The last bit of news about it was that her husband was helping write some of the music.

She desperately needs another hit record. I really hope she'll re-consider her position on pop music and produce something that sells. Her last record sold a measly 25,000 copies, and heaven knows how much longer her recording career will last given sales like that.



"There are places in the world that aren't made out of stone."

Mandy will definitely not go back to doing any medicore mainstream pop music. It's just not her style. She has worked so hard to get rid of that image of hers, going back would look very desperate and it would probably bludgeon her career, acting or singing. It is extremely hard to sell records nowadays, Adele seems to be the only one who can sell music that isn't run of the mill pop fare.

The only thing she has going for her to stay relevant is her film career. I honestly don't know where she would be right now if it wasn't for Tangled because her filmography has been littered with horrible rom coms. Is it no wonder that she doesn't bother to go out and promote those movies? She's secretly ashamed of them and she only obviously does them to pick up a cheque.

I've watched both Swinging and LWM and they truly do live up to the reviews... they are bland and terribly unfunny. She has no chemistry with any of her leading men and the jokes are very bad.

The fact Falling Slowly is taking so long to set off has me feeling a little tentative about her film career. It would actually be kind of cool to see her do more television.

Razzie Winner Halle Berry: If you can't take criticism then you're not worthy of praise.

Even when Mandy was making "mainstream" music, she still couldn't sell records. I love her to death, but she's just not commercially appealing. I prefer that she make the music she loves to make and not sell than to have her make crap music and be a mega-seller.

Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/flickfever

Well, she has sold eight million records worldwide, and is considered a celebrity in many quarters, so I'm not sure how you can say she has zero appeal.

At the very least, doing mainstream music again may attract a major record firm, and her career very much needs the backing of a major firm.




"There are places in the world that aren't made out of stone."

I never said she has "zero appeal". I said she isn't "COMMERCIALLY appealing". And that's true. Selling 8 millions records WORLDWIDE is definitely an accomplishment. But when you stack that against other "mainstream" acts, it's chump change. Particularly since she has released a total of 9 albums.

Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/flickfever

I agree with flickfever, Mandy was never destined to be a big time star. She just doesn't have that 'it factor' and that's okay because I like her better that way. I think there's something really wonderful about the fact if you look at her contemporaries at the time when the media were comparing them, where are they now?

Britney Spears - most popular and financially successful, however, plagued by mental issues, leech of an exhusband, paparazzi following her every move won't let her have her space, pregnant teenage sister that only made her haters all the more happy to call her family white trash, caught with no underwear, party buddies with Paris Hilton, had a nervous breakdown in 2007 where she tried to attack a paparazzi with an umbrella whilst being mocked for her shaved head.

Christina Aguilera - Ridiculed by the pop music fan community for copying Lady Gaga who she called a tranny and a 'newcomer', gained reputation as the bitch of the group according to testimonials by Mary J Blige, Valerie Bertenelli, Vin Diesel, a British boy band member, Mariah Carey etc. , ridiculed for underwhelming album expectations with Bionic, bitter divorce, shacking up with a guy 5 years younger than her whilst living with her ex husband, chastised for stuffing up the National Anthem. Debut movie that opened to lackluster commercial and critical reception.

Jessica Simpson - married at 22, divorced at 25, thus her golden goose of a reality show ended. Leeching untalented sister. Issues with the media making fun of her weight. Tried her hand at a movie career but totally failed. Embarassing comment made by douche John Mayer about how she was in bed. Only grabs headlines for talking about her love life on social networking sites = on par with reality tv celebrities.

As for Mandy, here are her positives

- Received musical credibility by releasing two critically praised folk albums.
- With Burlesque out, all four of them have now tried acting, but only Mandy is the one to have received an award for it. Won MTV Award for Breakthrough female (I know, but it's still something and probably led to her being offered subsequent roles)
- Lead actress debut with A Walk to Remember which although was not received well critically at the time, has actually aged very well with the general public in years gone by, I might be so bold as to say the film has a cult fanbase
- Became a Disney princess by voicing the lead role of Rapunzel in critical hit Tangled working with Oscar nominated composers.
- Spokesperson for Nothing but Nets, an anti-Malaria foundation with the goal of eliminating malaria in poverty stricken areas of Africa.
- Met up with political leaders and is a spokesperson for cancer awareness
- Got to star in movies with respected actors, albeit a lot of the movies were pure drivel, but at least she had the opportunities.
- Happily married

Of course this judgement call is unfair as the other three have had positives in their careers as well as Mandy having negatives (let's not get into her being typecast as a romcom actress and Wilmergate).

But on an overall scale, I'm kind of happy with where Mandy sits among the peers she was compared to back when she was just starting out.

She has herself said she always felt like the 'kid sister' of the group and it's funny how I believe anyway, this kid sister has come out of it with the most class, grace and in my opinion, success. Others might have different definitions of success spouting out Britney or Christina's record album sales, but I think Mandy has the highest esteem of success in terms of quality over quantity and substance over style.

Razzie Winner Halle Berry: If you can't take criticism then you're not worthy of praise.

I'm pretty sure she has only put out six albums, and two of those had the "new sound" (total sales: less than 200,000). Eight million sales for three albums (one of which contained remixes of previously released material) is pretty respectable - and she probably deserves some credit for the sales of the "A Walk to Remember" soudtrack (which went gold in the U.S.). But let's assume that it is indeed "chump change". To what would you attribute her popularity and celebrity status in the last decade?



"There are places in the world that aren't made out of stone."

It's nine albums, including compilations and best ofs.

Her celebrity and popularity is definitely there. I never said otherwise. I simply said that she isn't "commercially appealing". She isn't! That is a fact. She isn't a multi-million record seller. Sure, when you put ALL of her albums together, she is. She isn't ubiquitous. She isn't in the MAINSTREAM. She is, and always has been, one on the margins. Compared to more popular contemporaries. She has never been the standard of measure. She has always been the one being stacked against giants.

And that's okay to admit. I still love her and I respect her for sticking to her guns; doing the kind of music she likes; and for not bowing to the "machine" for the sake of becoming MORE popular.

Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/flickfever