Hear Mandy Moore’s Folk-Inspired Single ‘I’d Rather Lose’
Mandy Moore has released “I’d Rather Lose,” her second solo single in over a decade. The track follows her recent song “When I Wasn’t Watching” and both are expected to appear on her next album.
On the acoustic guitar-driven track, Moore reflects on a relationship, singing, “Are you happy with your life?/Am I happy with mine?/Where is the innocence we left behind?’ And who were those kids/Who knew where to draw the line?” As the hooky chorus kicks in she confirms, “If the only way to win is by breaking all the rules/I’d rather lose.”
“We live in a cultural moment of ‘win at all costs’ and that may afford small victories in the short term but this song tries to explore the idea of trying to live according to your moral compass, whatever that might be,” Moore said in a statement. “It’s easy to run out of patience and give into temptations on any given day, but it seems like the only way of achieving the kind of long term peace of mind we’re all looking for, requires a recommitment to the concepts of honesty and integrity that ground us. On a macro level, that’s what this song aims to hit on—abandoning some game you never subscribed to in the first place.”
Moore’s last album, Amanda Leigh, came out back in 2009. Since then Moore’s music has been mostly tied to soundtracks for her acting projects, including 2010’s Tangled and her current TV show This Is Us, for which she covered Linda Ronstad’s “Willin’” in 2017.
Not many details have been confirmed about her upcoming album, which will be released early next year via Verve Forecast, but Moore told Marc Maron earlier this year that she planned to work on the songs with her husband Taylor Goldsmith and Blake Mills. The singer described the new music as “very personal,” adding, “I mean, I feel like I’ve lived a life in the last 10 years. I have got plenty to say.” She also worked with long-time collaborator and producer Mike Viola on the new songs.
“I wanted to make a very California-sounding record—something that feels sunshiny and airy and natural, something you could listen to driving up and down the PCH with all the windows rolled down on a beautiful weekend day,” she said. “I very much feel like I’m at the helm of the ship now, where I’m stepping back into music completely on my own terms. Everything that’s happened up until this point has gotten me to where I am today, and I’m so excited to just keep moving forward.”