JUKEBOX: “What Dreams Are Made Of” by Hilary Duff

Lizzie McGuire sings at the Coliseum.

Hey now! Hey now! It’s Kimberly here for my third post for the genre “Children’s Music.”

Before Miley Cyrus became Hannah Montana, Hilary Duff was Lizzie McGuire. Lizzie McGuire was a very popular Disney Channel Show that ran from 2001-2004. It was about a girl named Lizzie McGuire who had to deal with normal teenage problems like dealing with an annoying brother and the stereotypical “mean girl.” Lizzie McGuire was so successful as a television show that it actually earned the right to become a feature-length film (much like Hannah Montana) in 2003. The eight-year old version of me was quite excited to watch The Lizzie McGuire Movie when it came out in theaters.

The Lizzie McGuire Movie starts with Lizzie graduating middle school. Before her first semester of high school, she leaves to go on a trip to Rome with some of her classmates. While in Rome, Lizzie meets an Italian pop-star and without giving too much away, Lizzie ends up getting the chance to sing a song at the Coliseum. The song that she sings is this song that I’m reviewing, “What Dreams Are Made Of.”

After I watched The Lizzie McGuire Movie, I was so captivated with “What Dreams Are Made Of,” that I longed for the movie to come out on DVD just so I could listen to that song again (YouTube wasn’t founded until 2005, so accessing songs wasn’t as easy as it is today). Now that I’m older, I am analyzing “What Dreams Are Made Of” with a more critical ear. The song is characterized by its repetition of the line, “Hey now! Hey now! This is what dreams are made of!” In the movie, the song certainly applies to Lizzie who gets the chance to both travel Rome and to perform in front of a spectacularly large crowd. Like other songs written for Disney television, “What Dreams Are Made Of” is a highly pop-influenced song and the lyrics don’t deviate much from the common theme of fulfilling one’s dreams. The cleverest rhyme in the song is the one that rhymes “duller” with “Technicolor.” Although Disney songs, including this one, tend to be unoriginal in their themes and lyrics what keeps those songs successful is their catchiness. There is a portion of the song dedicated to triumphantly shouting “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” One watching The Lizzie McGuire Movie will probably be so caught up in the excitement of Lizzie fulfilling her dream that he or she won’t really mind that “What Dreams Are Made Of” isn’t a unique song. Because “What Dreams Are Made Of,” doesn’t have strong lyrics but is still “yelling-in-the-car and getting-stuck-in-your-head” worthy, I’m giving it 3 records.

I highly recommend “What Dreams Are Made Of” as your victory song whenever you reach your goals (there is nothing like screaming HEY NOW! HEY NOW! THIS IS WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF when you’re so happy that you don’t care what people think.) Until next time, I hope you enjoy “What Dreams Are Made of” by Hilary Duff. J

Below is a lyric video for “What Dreams Are Made Of.”