Dylan Gardner, 18. an Illinois native, released his debut album Adventures In Real Time on May 13th, 2014.

Gardner is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His inspiration comes from older artists such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones.

Gardner is the epitome of a tween pop star. His music appears to be geared toward middle school aged girls.

His tour began January of 2015.

His song Let’s Get Started was put on Spotify and became his most popular track. It is the first track on the album and easily stands out as his best song.

The fourth track, Too Afraid To Love You, comes across as a background song. It’s something you’d listen to when you’re at a party where there is music playing but no one is really paying attention to what it actually is.

Tracks five and six are slower paced and different from his usual upbeat sound. Track six, The Actor, is more personal. You get to see a different side of him as a musician than the rest of the album presents.

The eighth piece, Feeling Of Love, has a fun and uplifting beat and a different vibe for the intro.

With A Kiss, the second to last song, sounds similar to bands such as American Authors or One Republic.

Overall, Gardner’s record is full of mushy love songs. His lyrics are meaningful, and will make young girls fawn over him, but his sound will not attract most girls around his own age.

He is a good instrumentalist, but he needs to figure out what kind of artist he wants to be instead of imitating others. He has talent, but needs to become his own person.

Gardner is passionate and has good stage presence. His music does not apply to high school students, but he can sing.

His album is good for a debut, but if he wants to really become a star, he’s going to have to do better. With other artists swooping in to take the limelight, Dylan Gardner will be washed away.