Laura Brehm

Laura Brehm is eighteen — and she sounds like it. Start with her voice: With the high, girlish timbre and inflection of Miley Cyrus, she'd rate similarly on the Disney Pop Machine register of innocent to raunchy. Of course, unlike most of those Disney starlets, Brehm writes her own songs, but there again, her age is apparent. While she certainly knows her way around a good hook, she doesn't venture far beyond standard, ballad-approved four-chord combos, and lyrical sentiments like "I feel so alive/When you are here by my side" aren't going to win any Pulitzers. Not that Dreams isn't perfectly listenable; it is. Brehm's vocals, guitars and piano are polished and pleasant, and producer Nick Cocozzella's string arrangements and radio-friendly production are sure to have her on the easy-listening circuit in no time.