"Dreams" by Diana DeGarmo from Blue Skies

"Dreams are just dreams when they're stuck inside your head, and all it takes is a little help from you…"

Diana DeGarmo isn't afraid to play with genre even in her freshman album Blue Skies. "Cardboard Castles" was pop rock, and "Dreams" offers a softer ballad accented primarily by simple piano.

I said before that twenty-year-old Diana DeGarmo had an excellent voice, and I stand by it. She knows how to sing and sings purposefully. She narrowly escaped first place in American Idol's third season for a reason.

On the surface, the song seems to be speaking of dreams in general, and of getting help from a loved one to make the dreams come true. But details in the song lyrics suggest that Diana DeGarmo might be intending to refer to God (though it might be an accident). Either way, "Dreams" encourages the hearer to reach for dreams rather than merely cling to them in the mind, where they can't become reality.

Diana DeGarmo ended up as a top seller on singles charts with this song for a reason. It's very soft, relaxing as it edifies the hearer with (not necessarily but potentially God-oriented) encouragement.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 8/10

"Cardboard Castles" by Diana DeGarmo from Blue Skies

Poking around on the American Idol website, clicking on names and song previews that look interesting, I found this song. I immediately started writing this post, already decided I would review "Cardboard Castles" if not look up more songs by Diana DeGarmo.

Diana DeGarmo, an American Idol winner, sounds promising on this selection from Blue Skies. "Cardboard Castles" actually has nice-sounding music beyond the stock, though it's still mostly of average quality in its pop. Diana DeGarmo's voice, though, that is an attraction.

At first, her voice sounds like it might just be the average nice voice that lacks control. Paying more attention, I noticed that she actually does have control of her voice. Her voice is consistent rather than clumsy as some poorly controlled singers demonstrate as they can't even keep their voice the same in a single song. (I would be one of those vocally clumsy people, myself, if I actually had a nice singing voice. Which I'm not sure that I do)

Dream-bubbles tend to be burst by life, but that doesn't mean we can't keep dreaming dreams we know will likely never come to be, "building cardboard castles in the air." I know I doubt I'll ever be a bestselling author. Even those times when life's going great don't last, as much as many of us hate to admit our goals of comfort wouldn't last, anyway, even if we reached them. The song admits this and our unwillingness to think about it. "Does anybody know? Does anybody care?" she asks.

Though not great, I still found it surprisingly good and look forward to hearing more songs by this singer in the future.

P.S. Since I keep finding myself returning to this song, I decided to reevaluate my rating. Thus its upgrade.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 8/10