Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil WayneĭJ Khaled’s 2017 chart-topper gave the Kidz Bop creators a perfect opportunity to employ what’s arguably their most beloved mantra: Any song can be about dancing if you try hard enough (or at all). Here are 11 of the weirdest-or best, or worst, or laziest, or funniest-Kidz Bop covers for your amusement.
Though Kidz Bop can’t really hold a candle to the original songs, and experts have questioned whether the censorship is even effective, listening to aggressively cheerful (and frankly very talented) kids belt out sterilized refrains is its own type of entertainment. The study also revealed that censorship in Kidz Bop songs has pretty steadily increased since the first album debuted in 2001, so the conventions mentioned above don’t necessarily apply (or, at least, don’t consistently apply) to tracks from the early aughts. Bullets-even in metaphorical phrases like dodge a bullet-are generally updated to something less violent and though praying is fine, praying to God is not. Kissing, for example, is frequently omitted, as is the word touch. While it’s not difficult to guess which categories are most problematic (alcohol and drugs, sexual references, violence, profanity, etc.), you might be surprised about specific words that get cut. In 2020, The Pudding did a deep dive into Kidz Bop songs to find out what exactly falls under the censorship hammer. But sanitizing all manner of unsuitable content across genres is hardly straightforward, and the edited versions run the gamut from totally nonsensical to still vaguely inappropriate. These kids are all multi-talent threats (some even have Broadway credits already to their name) and may just be future pop stars themselves.When it comes to kid-friendly covers of pop music, Kidz Bop has been at the top of the food chain (and the charts) for 20 years. The seven-kid cast is chosen through a nationwide casting call that picks young talents to sing on the KIDZ BOP albums, star in their music videos, and travel North America as part of the KIDZ BOP Kids live tours. During these tours, the Kids perform more than 50 live shows each year. Of course, each year features new performers, new songs, and new choreography. But they also remained a hot ticket in the States, launching the KIDZ BOP Live 2018 Tour, followed by the KIDZ BOP World Tour in 2019. This led to similar new tours each year, including 2015's Make Some Noise tour, 2016's Life of the Party tour, and 2017's Best Time Ever tour.Īlso in 2017, KIDZ BOP expanded beyond the U.S., forming a cast of British KIDZ BOP Kids exclusively for the U.K. In 2014, the Dream Big, Sing Loud tour landed in more than 40 cities around the nation with the cast singing current hits by artists like Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran, and Katy Perry. But it wasn't until seven years later that the brand took touring to a whole new level. Naturally, the KIDZ BOP franchise eventually grew beyond just recording albums to becoming a live performance force to be reckoned with.Īfter a nationwide talent search, the inaugural KIDZ BOP tour kicked off in 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and hit up venues across the U.S. It's proven to be a huge success, with multiple albums reaching No. 1 music brand for kids" has transformed pop music's greatest hits - even the most explicit of chart-toppers - into kid-friendly versions. Since first being introduced in 2001, the self-proclaimed "No. There is no stopping the 21st century's most massive musical empire: KIDZ BOP.