So go ahead. Put on “What Dreams Are Made Of.” Sing it at the top of your lungs. Because hey now, hey now—this is what dreams are made of.

For a generation that grew up navigating the awkward transition from childhood to teenhood, Lizzie McGuire was a mirror. And the soundtrack was the background music to our collective daydreams about traveling to Europe, finding confidence, and maybe, just maybe, getting the guy.

While the film gave us the iconic “Hey Now, Hey Now” singalong moment, the full album, The Lizzie McGuire Movie Soundtrack , is a masterclass in early 2000s pop, teen angst, and aspirational fantasy. Let’s break down why this collection of tracks still slaps two decades later. No discussion is complete without the film’s centerpiece. Performed by Hilary Duff (as the pop star Isabella, though Lizzie lip-syncs it), “What Dreams Are Made Of” is pure, uncut euphoria. It’s the song that plays during Lizzie’s transformation on a Roman stage, complete with a flying dress, a glittering set, and a key change that sends every millennial into a frenzy.

For anyone who came of age in the early 2000s, the name Lizzie McGuire conjures a specific kind of nostalgia: butterfly clips, low-rise jeans, and the universal horror of your animated alter ego calling you out. But when Lizzie traded her middle school hallways for the cobblestone streets of Rome in The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), the film did more than deliver a fun fish-out-of-water story. It delivered a soundtrack that became a defining time capsule of the era.

The song is impossibly optimistic. Lyrics like “Hey now, hey now / This is what dreams are made of” are deceptively simple, but they capture the ultimate adolescent fantasy: being seen, being confident, and having a moment where everything clicks. It’s a karaoke staple for a reason. Before the soundtrack’s official release, Hilary Duff dropped “Why Not” as a lead single. If “What Dreams Are Made Of” is the dream, “Why Not” is the pre-game pep talk. Written by Matthew Gerrard and Charlie Midnight (the dream team behind much of the Duff-verse), the song is a sassy, guitar-driven call to take risks.