Mandy Moore released her first song in more than 10 years, and we were missing this like candy

While the rest of the world has been stockpiling tissues before the Season 4 premiere of This Is Us, one of the show’s stars, Mandy Moore, has made her long-awaited return to her other gig. On September 17th, Moore released “When I Wasn’t Watching,” the first single from her upcoming studio album—and we’re craving for this.

The timing of Moore’s new music feels significant.

It’s been a decade since the Emmy-nominated actress dropped her most recent studio album, 2009’s Amanda Leigh, and this past August marked the 20-year anniversary of Moore’s debut “Candy.” (Feeling old yet?)

Moore posted a sweet homage to her first-ever single on her Instagram.

But serious Mandy Moore fans have been anticipating her newest release for some time. She first teased the new album in July 2018, when she posted a video on Instagram of her singing a demo in the studio.

Mike Viola is a Grammy-nominated producer who’s worked with major musicians like Fall Out Boy, Jenny Lewis, and Ryan Adams, whom Moore divorced in 2016. And we can’t help but wonder whether the “someone else” Moore alludes to is Adams himself.

In 2019, several women accused Adams of sexual misconduct, and the FBI launched an investigation into Adams’ sexually explicit communications with a minor. According to The New York Times, Adams’ accusers describe “a pattern of manipulative behavior in which Adams dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex.” Moore corroborated accounts of Adams’ “destructive behavior,” stating that “music was a point of control for him.” The Times also writes that Moore considered Adams’ behavior “psychologically abusive.”

Moore’s relationship with Adams—and, by extension, her relationship with music—makes her upcoming album all the more meaningful. (“I want to make music,” Moore said in the Times article. “I’m not going to let Ryan stop me.”)

Show your support and check out the full video of her new song “When I Wasn’t Watching,” below:

Over the summer, Moore posted a few teasers of her new album to social media. On September 6th, she posted an especially sweet picture revealing that her husband, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, is working alongside her on the record. He helped write “When I Wasn’t Watching.”

We can’t wait to hear the rest of Moore’s seventh studio album, which is slated to drop in early 2020—and which we’re sure will mark the happiest era in her music career yet.