I Wanna Be with You (album)

Background

Because Moore's debut album So Real was only released in the United States, Epic Records decided to market her to an international audience with a different version including newly recorded material and remixes of several of the previous album's tracks. In April 2000, it was announced that Moore's second studio album would be titled I Wanna Be with You. This album includes modified and re-recorded versions of songs that did not make the final selection of the debut album. I Wanna Be with You maintains the same genres of the last album: teen pop, dance-pop and bubblegum pop.

Composition

The opening track, "I Wanna Be with You" is a string-heavy pop song with slight R&B influenced beats. The song is written in the key of E♭ major and is set in the time signature of common time. It is moderately paced with a tempo of 76 beats per minute. The song also follows the sequence of E♭maj7–A♭–E♭7–A♭maj7 as its chord progression. Moore's vocals in the song spans from the note of A♭₃ to D♭₅. The version used in the film Center Stage has more poppy beats. "Everything My Heart Desires" is a dance-pop song, the song was written by K. Dahlgaard, M. Jay and J. Pederson. "Want You Back" is a romantic teen pop song that draws influences from bubblegum pop, with a length of three minutes and eighteen seconds. The song is composed in the key of B♭ major and is set in time signature of common time with a moderately slow tempo of 96 beats per minute. "The Way to My Heart" was produced by Peter Mansson. The song is a teen pop and dance-pop song that lasts for three minutes with thirty-nine seconds, is composed in the key of D major and is set in time signature of common time, with a moderately slow tempo of 88 beats per minute. "So Real" (Wade Robson remix), is a remix version of "So Real" was also the third single released from the record overall, the second in Australia. In its lyrics, Moore sings that what she feels about a guy is "so, so real". The song was written by Tony Battaglia, Shaun Fisher and produced by The Wasabees. "Lock Me in Your Heart" is a mid-tempo track where Moore asks her boy to "lock me in your heart and throw away the key".

"Walk Me Home", is a ballad in which Mandy daydreams about her lover and she asks him if he "would walk with [her] home". The song was compared with some Janet Jackson's ballads. The next song, "I Like It", co-written by Backstreet Boys member Howie Dorough, is related to when one likes everything a person does and it feels right. "Candy", talks about her feelings, that she misses and craves for her love like "candy". The melody and tune of the song has a marked resemblance to the 1996 song "Do You Know (What It Takes)", which was written and composed by Max Martin and Denniz Pop and recorded, written and released by Swedish pop star Robyn. Actor John Goodman also appears on the track, playing the chimes. "Your Face" is a teen pop ballad that lasts for three minutes and seventeen seconds. The song is composed in the key of E major and is set in the time signature of common time with a tempo of 76 beats per minute.

Critical reception

Reviews among music critics were generally mixed. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated, "So, the album that you planned to be a teen pop blockbuster to rival BMG's massive success with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera flops with nary a trace. What do you do? Well, if you're 550/Epic, faced with the flailing Mandy Moore debut, you shuffle the order of the songs, remix a couple of tracks, and shoot a new, sexy glamour shot of your underage diva so she looks shockingly like Britney. A crass marketing move, to be sure, but hey, tough times call for drastic measures like that. The thing is, the revamped, puzzlingly titled I Wanna Be with You [Special Edition] (thereby giving the impression that this is an extended EP release or that there's a "regular" edition of I Wanna Be with You, which there's not) works a lot better than its predecessor. Why? Because it's trashier, flashier, gaudier, and altogether more disposable: all essential ingredients for a good teen pop album, since it should be something that is of the moment, not designed for the ages. I Wanna Be with You is definitely, almost defiantly of the moment, and while there's more than its fair share of filler (let's face it, there was a reason why the album needed to be reworked), that filler glitters here where it was simply dull on the predecessor. And, most of all, it's pretty fun, whether it's on ballads or dance numbers. Moore still isn't as good as Britney or Christina, since she just doesn't have a comparable persona or material, but with this she vaults above Jessica Simpson and maybe, just maybe, captures the bronze for female teen pop divas in 2000 (Hoku being disqualified because she is pitched at a younger crowd)."

Commercial performance

I Wanna Be with You debuted at number twenty-one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling over 60,000 copies in the first week. It was eventually certified gold in the U.S. for shipments of 500,000 copies.

Many versions of this album were produced, although there are two general track listings listed below. The Australian, Japanese, and Asian versions all differ from the standard version, with 16, 17, and 18 tracks respectively.

In Asia, it almost peaked on the Asia Hitlist due to its massive radio airplay. However, sales began to subside when fellow contemporaries Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera released singles at the same time. Regardless, the album became certified 2× Platinum in the Philippines, where Moore also had later success.

The album reached number forty-nine in Japan, selling 15,760 copies. In New Zealand it became her first album to chart, peaking at number six.

Singles

"I Wanna Be with You" was the first and only single released from the album. It spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached #24 in its ninth week on the chart. The single was more successful in Australia, spending over 25 weeks in the top 100 and reaching number 11 on the ARIA charts. It also hit number 21 in the UK, becoming her second and last single to chart there, as well as her second top forty single. The song's video was directed by Nigel Dick. It gained significant airplay on MTV and the song also features on the soundtrack to the film Center Stage. The video shows a 16-year-old Mandy in a dance studio singing to her love interest, who was played by Sascha Radetsky from the movie.

Other singles

"Candy" was released as Moore's debut single on August 17, 1999. The song received generally favorable critical reviews, most of whom praised its composition. It performed only moderately well on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking just outside the top 40, at #41. It entered the chart on #88 and reached its peak in its eighth week on the chart. Despite this, the song is the most successful single ever recorded by Moore, at least internationally. It received more success abroad, peaking at #6 in the UK and #2 in Australia. The music video, which was directed by Chris Robinson, had a cameo by the girl group PYT and also featured a young Scarlett Johansson briefly.

"Walk Me Home" was released on December 6, 1999 as the second single in the US, but the song failed to chart when it was first released. In 2000, the song was re-released to promote I Wanna Be with You, but it failed to chart on the main chart again, despite peaking at #38 on Billboard Pop 100 chart. "So Real" was released on June 13, 2000 as the final single. The song was released only in selected markets such as Australia, New Zealand, France and Japan as the second single from the album. The song was less successful as her debut single, but peaked within the top 30 in Australia and top 100 in France. It was also recorded in French under the name "C'est si facile".

Personnel

Credits for I Wanna Be with You adapted from AllMusic.