Sweet Dreams (Beyoncé Knowles Song) - Cover Versions - Jessica Sanchez Cover

Jessica Sanchez Cover

On March 28, 2012, Jessica Sanchez, a contestant of the eleventh season of American Idol, covered "Sweet Dreams". She performed a slow-tempo ballad version of the song accompanied at the beginning by harps. Her performance received favorable comments and a standing ovation from the judges of the show. Jennifer Lopez commented, "You did a beautiful job on it ... If I was Beyoncé and I was home and I heard that, I'd be like 'I got to do that in my next concert, slow that one down.'" Steven Tyler described Sanchez's performance as "great" while Randy Jackson noted that it was "unbelievable, sensational". James Montgomery of MTV News graded her performance with a B, and called the cover "a bit of an odd choice, and yet also a supremely confident one". He added, "For once, she pulled things back, and maybe suffered a bit for doing so, but there were still plenty of subtly great moments, particularly in the verses. Might not have been her best—it definitely lacked in vocal fireworks ... And really, it was good enough".

Mellisa Locker of Rolling Stone praised Sanchez's performance, calling it a "brilliant job" and adding that "it's risky, but Beyoncé has done it, and if anyone can pull off a dazzling repeat performance, it's Jessica". She further compared the performance with the dream sequence from the 1945 film Spellbound but noted that it was "slightly weirder" Jim Farber of the Daily News commented that "her take on a song by her clear role model, Beyoncé, showed too much similarity in their timbres and phrasing, making Sanchez's voice seem redundant ... despite the fact she switched up the arrangement of the bootylicious song she chose, 'Sweet Dreams.'" Laura Schreffler of the Daily Mail described Sanchez' performance as "pared-down, show-stopping ... a floaty, dreamy, confection that wows the judges." Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Sanchez gave yet another perfectly calibrated performance with Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams,' balancing restraint and power. Everything from her voice to her dress to the red door she walked through seemed polished and tour-ready." The Arizona Republic's Randy Cordova praised the performance, saying that the slow-tempo version allowed Sanchez "to really delve into the song's emotional core". The Hollywood Reporter's Erin Carlson praised the tonned-down theatrical stage during the performance and Sanchez's vibrato voice, further describing the performance as a "near-perfection".