Just over a year ago Mandisa shot to instant fame when millions of TV viewers across the Norht America were captivated by her winning smile and powerhouse vocals as she sang her way into the final rounds of “American Idol’s” fifth season. Today, everyone can hear Mandisa again as her debut project, True Beauty, releases nation-wide.

“Mandisa is powerful and has tremendous breath and pitch control, and there’s no reason that woman should be working as anything other than a singer,” Daily Variety associate editor Phil Gallo told USA Today after watching Mandisa’s performances on “Idol.”

Working as a singer is indeed what has happened, and whether recognizing her “Bold, Natural Talent,” (US) her “considerable pipes” (Entertainment Weekly), her “passion and musical aplomb” (San Francisco Chronicle), her “Effervescent gospel-pop” (USA Today) or giving her 3 out of 4 stars (People), critics agree on one thing: this girl can sing!

Kicking off a string of promotional appearances, that included The Today Show, Mandisa performed her hit number one single Only the World last Friday on LIVE! With Regis & Kelly. With the release of True Beauty, Mandisa fans will finally get what they’ve been waiting for: a full-length project that, to no one’s surprise, packs a pretty powerful punch. A collection of funky rhythms, gospel-tinged melodies and pure pop power ballads, True Beauty reflects a versatility that few vocalists possess, and Mandisa delivers the goods with an unaffected ease.

Showcasing Mandisa’s stylistic range was the task set before the five sets of producers who lined up to work with her on the album, top-notch names like Shaun Shankel (Beyoncé, Natalie Grant); Brown Bannister (Amy Grant); Christopher Stevens (TobyMac); Drew Ramsey and Shannon Sanders (India.Arie, Johnny Lang); and Double Dutch, the team of Robert Marvin and Josiah Bell (Mat Kearney, Matt Redman). Mandisa also spent personal time with the album’s writers before the songwriting process began, sharing her vision for the project and what she hoped to communicate through the songs. The end result is a seamless flow of tracks that create a diverse landscape for messages of hope, inspiration and faith.

The album’s bouncy title track, which she co-wrote with producer Drew Ramsey and singer/songwriter Cindy Morgan, defines an essential theme in Mandisa’s own terms:

Visions of perfection
Such a misconception
‘Cause the real connection is deeper than the eye can see

“It’s all about the fact that our view of beauty should not be built around our outside. An unfading beauty comes from a gentle and quiet spirit,” Mandisa explains. “I really believe that someone can have an inward beauty that shines so much that it makes them even more beautiful on the outside. We chose this as the album’s title because this is such an important message to me.”

Only the World is the album’s funky, energetic first single, which has already spent five consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Top Single Sales chart, and is currently #5 on the Christian AC radio chart, receiving over 16 million audience impressions. Written by Matthew West, Sam Mizell and Clint Lagerberg, it captures Mandisa’s joyful spirit well. “We all have difficult days we wish we didn’t have to go through, but it gives you so much peace and joy when you realize that it’s only the world we’re living in, and one day we’re going to go to a much better place,” she says of the song’s theme. “This song makes me want to roll down the window, turn up the volume, throw my hands up and just have fun!”

The desire to live free of society’s expectations sits at the heart of the messages interwoven throughout True Beauty. Issues of self-esteem and self-worth are front-and-center among those that most young women struggle with today, and Mandisa admits she is no different. “My struggle with my weight has been the biggest struggle of my life. Rather than turning to alcohol or drugs when I was going through emotional times, I turned to food. As a result, I’ve become unhealthy, and it’s a day-to-day process to overcome.

“On the flip side, we as women are not defined by the way we look, even though society would tell us otherwise by what we see in music videos, magazine covers and beauty pageants,” Mandisa continues. “They give us this unattainable standard of beauty that doesn’t really exist. It’s amazing how the self-esteem of young girls is so low right now because of what society is feeding them, and I really do hope that America is waking up to the importance of that issue. If we really understood that our value is not based on how we look, but in who we are as people. I really think we would be much more free.”

“More than just a career, I really want to have a ministry that has an impact on people. I just want to follow through with what is in my heart. I never want to look back and wonder, ‘What would have happened if…’”

Check out True Beauty on Mandisa’s YMZ artist page. The album is spotlight priced at $17.99 or less at participating Christian retailers across Canada.

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