Mandy Moore released a brand new music video this week — and it features tons of sweet, candid celebrity moments focused on family and home life. Her new song, “In Real Life,” is all about how her life changed after the birth of her first child, and the video splices behind-the-scenes clips of her new family of three as well as intimate footage from a long list of her celebrity friends.
Upon the first viewing, Scary Mommy was able to spot Hilary Duff, Amanda Kloots, Skylar Astin, Karamo Brown, Seth Martin, Thomas Dawson, and Wilmer and Christian Valderrama, along with a hearty helping of This is Us stars like Chrissy Metz, Chris Sullivan, Jon Huertas, Justin Hartley, Sterling K. Brown and Susan Kelechi Watson.
All of that talent isn’t seen as they usually are on red carpets or on the big screen — instead, they’re doing everyday activities like washing their faces, resting, and riding bikes. Much of the footage looks like home videos and selfies.
The four minutes of footage reminds us not only that celebrity lives aren’t that different from our own (until they are), but that the most important moments for everyone have to do with family and relationships.
The video is so refreshing and fun — not to mention Moore gets even more credit for finding a very COVID-safe way to shoot her new music video.
Moore shares a one-year-old son named August with her husband and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith — and much of the music video’s footage shows the happy family of three connecting in different ways, including the proud parents playing guitar on the floor for their son.
“I started writing this song while I was still pregnant with my son Gus, but didn’t end up finishing it until after he arrived,” Moore says in a statement. “In a way it speaks to every cliché about becoming a parent: all the lights get turned on, everything crystallizes in a way that you never could have imagined.”
Her feels are reflected in the lyrics of her new song:
But I’m different now
I’m not sure how
The world don’t revolve around me
Coming out of the dark
With you in my arms
We see whatever we needed to see
“Before Gus was born, my life was completely about me, and not necessarily even in a selfish sense—you just put one foot in front of the other and make your way through the world, and hopefully try to be the best version of yourself,” Moore continues. “But then this person enters the equation, and all that gets turned on its head. I wanted to write something that distills all that down, and also acknowledges that this is the most important role that I’ll ever play in my life.”
While her home life seems idyllic, Moore is not putting her career on the back burner either. She has her first new album in ten years — also called In Real Life — dropping on May 13 and will promote it on the road with a national tour beginning in June.
