This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Renee Olstead is probably best known as daughter Lauren on the CBS family sitcom Still Standing. She was also in the Jennifer Garner flick 13 Going On 30.
On this self-titled major-label debut album produced by adult-pop svengali David Foster — the man behind Michael Bublé and Josh Groban — Olstead confidently, competently and credibly croons a slate of big-band jazz and pop chestnuts like Summertime, Sentimental Journney and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Oh, and one more thing: She’s 14. In short, Olstead is the kind of annoyingly precocious, multi-talented wunderkind I’d normally spare no adjective to abuse, humiliate and generally take down a peg or two. But then, halfway through this dozen-song disc, I realized something: On the whole, I’d much rather hear a reasonably talented kid pull off half-decent covers of Tin Pan Alley standards than listen to this week’s so-called pop Idol mutilate soul classics on national TV. And I expect plenty of music lovers old enough to know better will feel the same way. No matter how annoyingly precocious she is.
