Get to Know Manda Moor
In the two short years since Manda Moor released her debut EP What U Want with Kaluki Musik, she’s already hit the top of the charts, headlined the biggest parties in Ibiza, and started her own record label. If you don’t know Manda Moor, odds are you will soon. In the meantime, here are five fun facts about the house producer you might not have known.
1. She takes a lot of musical inspiration from her Filipino heritage.
Though she’s born of both Filipino and Dutch heritage, Moor says she’s much more influenced by her Filipino heritage. Growing up with a very musical mother, Moor learned to love tribal music, heavy percussion, and the joyful relaxation of island music. You can hear these influences in tracks like “The Climax” and “Besame.”
2. She loved MTV and pop music when she was growing up.
As a teen, Moor became enthralled by the dance-pop glitz of Michael Jackson, Queen, and Justin Timberlake. “I was always in front of MTV and watching video clips, I was obsessed,” she said. These early influences—in addition to pubescent stints with hip-hop, EDM, and rock—helped to influence her sound today.
3. She’s close friends with Chicago house music royalty.
In 2019, Moor took a trip to Chicago. Suddenly on hallowed grounds for house music, she met with music legends like the late Paul Johnson, DJ Deeon, and DJ Sneak.
“I’m so blessed to have them in my life. I consider them family,” Moor told Gray Area. “They really really inspire me, and they inspire the whole music industry. They’re like the pillars of house music today.”
Manda Moor with Paul Johnson
4. The pandemic helped her start a record label with Sirus Hood.
In the spring of 2020, Moor had just released her first EP. She was at the top of the charts, and the offers flooded. “It was all starting so well, and then COVID came and it was like a curse, but also a blessing,” she said.
“If COVID didn’t start, I don’t think I would have started MOOD Edits,” she says. The initial limited-release concept (which she co-created with her partner, Sirus Hood) is now expanding into the record label Mood Child and even hosted an Ibiza residency in 2022.
5. She struggles with anxiety - but constantly overcomes it.
Though she now stands atop some of the biggest stages in the world, Manda Moor says she is “a really nervous person by nature” and “I overthink so much.”
She explains that have gotten better recently and reminds young hopefuls that it does get better. “The worst part is right before you go onstage, but when you start, after the first two tracks, then it goes away.”
