Mandy Moore Picks Her Favorite Line from Her 1999 Bop 'Candy' — and It Might Surprise You (Exclusive)
The singer reminisced about the 25-year anniversary of the song while talking to PEOPLE about her new partnership with Eucerin
Her cravings may be different at the moment, but Mandy Moore is still sweet on her smash 1999 single, "Candy," 25 years after its release.
"I'm sort of mind boggled that that was a part of my life and history because it almost feels like it belongs to someone else, just because it was so long ago," Moore, 40, told PEOPLE recently when discussing her new partnership with Eucerin.
"But I also have such very tangible, visceral memories of that time and what it was and where I was," she added. "And I have a recollection of that time stamped in my unconscious way more than I do about lots of other things that happened way after the fact, way after 'Candy.' "
One such memory is the line she and fans have loved singing — or in this case, speaking — together.
"I'm a big fan of the spoken word part," she said when asked to name her favorite line from the song. "I love [it] because it makes no sense to me: 'You know who you are. Your love's as sweet as candy. I'll be forever yours. Love always, Mandy.' I remember when I was doing that way back in the day thinking, this is insane. This is so strange. Will this work? Will people understand this?"
The answer is, they did! "I guess it's stood the test of time with that song because people really love to chime in," she said. "An audience loves to chime in during that part, so I roll with it."
Though her sons with husband Taylor Goldsmith, Augustus "Gus," 3, and Oscar "Ozzie," 19 months, haven't heard the hit, they do know another of Mom's successful singles, she shared.
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"We have our bedtime routine with Gus and it involves reading books and telling stories, which we call 'once upon a times,' and then we sing songs," she said. "We normally sing one song of mine that is from the last album of mine that no one knows, but Gus knows and asks for. But the other day he goes, 'Sing, "I Wanna Be with You." ' And I was like, what? What do you mean? And he's like, 'Sing, "I Wanna Be with You." ' And I was like, 'How do you know that song?' "
She continued, "He just kind of looked at me. And so I sang the first verse and chorus of it, but I'm like, where has he heard this? It really tickled me. And so now that's part of our routine is he asks for me to sing, 'I Wanna Be with You,' which feels very weird and inappropriate that I'm singing a love song to my son as he goes to sleep. But hey, whatever gets him to go to sleep, I'm fine with."
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For that love of her music from both her family and fans, she's thankful, she shared.
"I'm really grateful to still be here, hanging on doing what I love," said Moore. "I have a lot of fondness for that time in my life and just gratitude to still being here, still kicking."
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