Kidz Bop

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The cover for the first Kidz Bop album.

Kidz Bop is the name of a series of popular music albums recorded for children, sold by Razor & Tie Direct, L.L.C. and frequently marketed through television commercials.

1 Advertising
2 Audiences
3 Albums
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Advertising

Kidz Bop is often advertised on television channels popular with young audiences, such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The commercials typically show "regular kids" (not to be confused with the Kidz Bop Kids who sing in the recording sessions) singing and dancing to songs featured on the album. Although the albums are initially sold through direct mail-order prior to their retail availability, they are predominantly sold in traditional stores as well.

The album cover follows the footsteps of the art for the original album in the Now That's What I Call Music series in the American market.

[edit] Audiences

Kidz Bop is intended for children; popular songs are recorded with kids singing them, and lyrics considered inappropriate for younger audiences are changed.^[1] Hit songs with considerable mature content are often bypassed; for example, Fall Out Boy's Dance, Dance was not included on Kidz Bop 10 due to sexual references in the lyrics. Criticism stems from Kidz Bop's covering of songs that mention or insinuate death, sex, or drugs, subjects considered unsuitable for the young; examples include Nelly's "Dilemma," covered on Kidz Bop 3, Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl", covered on Kidz Bop 6, and Justin Timberlake's "My Love", covered on the forthcoming Kidz Bop 11.

Notably, the children on these albums usually do not sing the entire song; instead, an adult typically sings the verses, while the kids sing the choruses and occasionally join in at other times. If the song is a feminine song like Kelly Clarkson's hit "Breakaway" (which was then recorded for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement), Christina Aguilera's "What A Girl Wants" or even P!nk's "Get The Party Started", the adult is a woman, and if it's a masculine song like Smash Mouth's All Star (which was performed for the motion picture Shrek), Daniel Powter's "Bad Day", or U2's "Vertigo", the adult that sings is a man. Another common complaint is that Kidz Bop ruin the songs they sing, as the kids' voices are not matured or professional.^[2] Some of the singers in Kidz Bop do not match up to the pitch and timing of the original song.^[3] Also, in some songs, the lead artist's verse is included, but not the collaborator's; an example includes Beyonce's Crazy in Love, which does not include any of Jay-Z's guest vocal (possibly because of Jay's drug references in the song).

[edit] Albums

Kidz Bop 1 (simply titled "Kidz Bop"): Released on October 9, 2001 but wasn't certified Gold until October 13, 2002.
Kidz Bop 2: Released on August 20, 2002; certified Gold on December 13, 2002.
Kidz Bop 3: Released on March 4, 2003; certified Gold on April 9, 2003.
Kidz Bop 4: Released on August 12, 2003; certified Gold on November 12, 2003.
Kidz Bop 5: Released on February 24, 2004; uncertified
Kidz Bop 6: Released on August 13, 2004; uncertified
Kidz Bop 7: Released on February 22, 2005; certified Gold on November 7, 2005.
Kidz Bop 8: Released August 2, 2005; certified Gold on January 3, 2006.
Kidz Bop 9: Released on February 21, 2006; certified Gold on May 8, 2006
Kidz Bop 10: Released on August 1, 2006; certified Gold on August 29, 2006.
Kidz Bop 11: Released on February 20, 2007; yet to be certified

The Kidz Bop Kids have managed to make many albums including Kidz Bop Christmas, which was released on October 22, 2002 and was certified Gold in 2004. Kidz Bop 10 is the fastest Kidz Bop to hit gold, and although it did not surpass the series' highest peak postion, achieved by Kidz Bop 9 at #2, it did mark the series' biggest single sales week ever. Kidz Bop 12 is scheduled to be out this Summer.