Mandy is actually this incredibly smart, incredibly deep person. Like, people might not assume that because of the early music that she was putting out, or like, they might watch those interviews from the L.A. Baby days or like, look at the Heartache/Heartbreak music videos and think they know who she is, but the truth is, she’s actually always been this really complex thinker, and she just sort of compartmentalized all that shit so that it wouldn’t get in the way of her career. Like, it was always so clear to me that like, Mandy got to L.A. when she was thirteen or whatever, and she saw what the game was and she saw how it worked, and she was just sort of like: Okay. Got it. And then that same level of perfection that she brought to her voice—like, that same thing that makes her voice so spotless—she brought to the whole thing, you know? The interviews, the outfits, the videos, the charity work: All of it was just sort of untouchable. There were never any blemishes. Which was kind of the thing that started to annoy me about it, or like, the thing that I started to really dislike about the shit she was making, because it just always felt sort of lifeless, or like I couldn’t see Mandy in it. But at the same time, Mandy and her team were actually really smart because she was just so reliable, you know? Mandy was maybe never the person who was getting the MOST attention or like, making the MOST headlines or raking in the MOST money, but she was ALWAYS killing it. She was consistently putting out shit that was doing well, and like, when someone else would fuck up big time or like, when someone else would take a wrong turn or say the wrong thing or make a fool of themselves and drop out of the game, Mandy was always there to fill in the gaps. And even when she did all the sexy stuff, you know, like, even when she took that leap into adulthood and adult music and started showing more skin and singing about wanting to get fucked or wanting to get “dirty,” like, even then, she was still doing it in a way where you could listen to it with your mom and your grandma in the car and none of you would be embarrassed when the song was over. It was definitely sexy and it was definitely hot—like, if you watch the video for “Take Me” or “Like I Want You” or really anything from Mobilize, there’s no denying that it’s all sexy as hell—but at the end of the day, she could still show up to the Kidz Spot Awards and none of the parents were gonna be upset that she was presenting.

And so as a result of all that, you know, like, up until that thing happened in Berlin, I don’t really think Mandy was ever concerned with like, politics or history or any of that shit, because as far as she was concerned, it was only ever gonna get in the way. Like, in her mind, the costs of getting mixed up in that shit were always gonna outweigh the benefits. But then that thing happened in Berlin, and it was like, I mean, in a lot of ways it was sort of an awakening for her, because she had to reconcile all of this horrible anger and violence in the world with all of the shit that she thought her music and her shows were supposed to be about, which was love and peace and happiness and acceptance.