Rating:  3.5/5 stars

Dylan Gardner is a young up-and-coming artist whose music is fun but yet with style. When I first received Gardner’ album, I was expecting to hear Justin Bieber or Austin Mahone-like teen pop music, which I wasn’t excited about. But to my surprise, Gardners album “Adventures In Real Time” is a mix of upbeat, laid back, Beatles inspired tunes, as Gardner is famous for his YouTube cover of “Abbey Road” by the Beatles in fifteen second increments.

A personal favorite song is “Sing For The Stars”. The lyrics within this song talk about love without actually talking about it, along with catchy background music with the use of guitars, pianos and drums. The chorus is “Sing for the Stars, Sing for the brightest stars- Baby you know, one day they will be ours”. The meaning of ‘sing for the stars’ is to strive for what you want, and ‘baby you know, one day they will be ours’ means that in the future, the world will be their own to conquer together.

Not all of Gardner’s songs are happy-go-lucky, he also has a sensitive side seen through slow ballad songs like “The Actor.””The Actor” portrays his feelings, about how he’s acting a certain way to keep everyone happy, but he has lost his way in being himself. The beginning lyrics of this song is “I am the looks, I am the brains, I am the actor I am the master of my own demise, I am the soul, I am the whole, I am the actor” but then follows up with “I’m the disaster who can’t read his lines, Please don’t leave me now; I’ve lost my way.” Gardner’s emotions are truly shown through what he does best- music. Though he is going through a tough time, he is still expressing it through music, which will really catch an audience’s attention.

Overall, “Adventures In Real Time” is definitely worth the listen. Not only are the songs filled with poetic and romantic lyrics, but everything was written by Dylan Gardner himself, which is not a common thing nowadays in the music industry. This album can definitely impress any age group and appeals to those who want to expand their taste in music.