Donna de Lory worked as a background vocalist for American singer Madonna from the time when she was hired by the latter for her 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour.

[3] As explained in Lucy O'Brien's biography, Madonna: Like an Icon, the singer felt that "Just a Dream" was too "rockier" for her discography and asked de Lory to contact Leonard and record it instead.

[7] Along with Madonna and Leonard's songwriting and production, other personnel who worked on the track included Lenny Underwood who played the keyboards and Daniel Abraham who programmed the song.

[8] AllMusic's Bryan Buss reviewed de Lory's album and said that with songs like "Just a Dream" and "Praying for Love", the singer "showed she could perform pop with the best of them".

[9] Conversely, a writer for Out magazine criticized the inclusion of "Just a Dream" in de Lory's album, feeling that Madonna and Leonard's songwriting and production "ruined" the "peppy and optimism" nature of the record.