Moodring is the third studio album by American singer Mya, released on July 22, 2003, by A&M and Interscope Records. Before Mya began to work on what would eventually be her third studio album, she participated in prior engagements which would result in the blockbuster success of 2001's "Lady Marmalade", a collaboration for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, and a supporting role in the 2002 film Chicago.
Production on Moodring was handled by a bevy of producers and songwriters. Mya enlisted the assistance of producers Ron Fair, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Rockwilder, Damon Elliott, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and a handful of others. With this album, Mya wrote "99.9%" of her own lyrics and co-produced many of the album's tracks. While recording the album, Mya funded her own studio time, and used several songs taken from her archive of music, recorded two years prior. Described by Mya as "[s]omewhat of a bi-polar album", Moodring contains elements of R&B, hip hop, techno, pop, and reggae.
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, with AllMusic praising Mya for coming up with her best and most varied set of songs yet. Moodring debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 113,000 copies, marking Mya's highest debut and first-week sales yet. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 589,000 copies in the United States. Moodring spawned two singles, "My Love Is Like...Wo" and "Fallen", with the former reaching the top 40 in several countries. To further promote the album, Mya embarked on the Moodring Tour. In August 2005, after five years with Interscope Records, Mya decided to part ways with the label and her management.
In July 2023, to commemorate the album's twentieth anniversary, Universal Music Group released a digital deluxe 20th anniversary edition featuring nine songs and remixes previously unavailable on DSPs.
Background
Since the singer's 2000 album "Fear of Flying," she has earned a Grammy for her contribution to "Lady Marmalade" from the "Moulin Rouge!" soundtrack and appeared in the Oscar-winning film "Chicago." In addition, Mya also served as a pitch woman for Coca-Cola. Speaking about the gap between albums, and her transition from one Interscope-distributed imprint University Music to A&M Records, Mya told Billboard magazine, "this has been the biggest gap between projects. Not knowing when my album would come, working with someone like A&M Records president Ron Fair and the transition from moving from an independent label to Interscope sort of left us in limbo."
Due July 22, 2003, Moodring was her A&M debut. Mya’s two prior sets, Fear of Flying and her self-titled debut, were released via then-Interscope-distributed imprint University Music. Consequently, for Mya, who executive-produced Moodring with Fair, fighting for her single was only one example of the creative control she had on the album. "I took control," Mya commented. "It wasn’t about being a stubborn artist. It was just something that I started on my own by calling up people and gathering musicians together."
In fact, the singer fronted funding for the album at the beginning of the studio process, "to create a playground for Mya," she admits. "There were no expectations, because people didn’t even know I was working on an album." In agreements with the singer, Fair shared with Billboard, "Over the last couple of years, she has really matured. A lot of this growth was on a human level, and she applies it to her work. Once I realized that her ideas were coming from a real place of talent and vision, [she] really began to drive the bus."
Development
Although Fear of Flying garnered critical and commercial success, Mya felt unfulfilled and unsatisfied musically and had developed a complex with her last album because it felt more like a concession than her own body of work to her. While speaking with Trace, Mya admitted Fear of Flying was a political war at Interscope Records between her former manager Haqq Islam and CEO Steve Stoute competing with each other. She expressed she was "tired of songs that didn't reveal her vocal capabilities." While acknowledging, that her radio singles were "cool", "nice" and "happy" but didn't really display any of her vocal talent. Mya also bluntly dismissed Fear of Flying as a whole, commenting, "I wouldn't even have bought my last album off of what I presented! In order to buy my last album, I would want more from Mya!"