Kidz Bop
For all who’ve read me since day one, you know this post. I have been thinking about it often since the latest Kidz Bop is being advertised lately. I’d like to hear what all my new readers have to say on this subject.
I love music. One song I especially enjoy is Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You.” If anyone knows this popular tune, you may already be familiar with the lyrics. For those of you who aren’t, here’s an excerpt.
“I watched you die
I heard you cry
Every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry
In the middle of the night
For the same damn thing”
According to Wikipedia, Clarkson originally wrote the lyrics and melody for “Because of You” when she was sixteen years old to cope with the emotional distress she was experiencing as a result of her parents’ divorce.
In an interview with MTV News, Clarkson said-
“It’s about the cycle of families, like you act how your parents acted towards you and then your kids act how you acted towards them, and it’s all about breaking that cycle if it was a bad one [...] It’s one of those songs that everybody’s kind of gonna relate to, but you’re not happy about that. It’s very close to home [for me]. I OK’d it with my family and everything because they think it’s important, because we’re obviously very different now than we were when we were younger. And it’s important for people to see that raw kind of emotion that happens in life. It sucks sometimes, so it’s important to see that I think.”
Okay. So. I’m 29 for the third time (people don’t get it. I’m 31) and I like this song. Tons of people like this song. It was at the top of the charts and was even remade as a duet with Reba McEntire recently for her new album, Reba: Duets (2007). But when I walked into the children’s toy store at the local mall and heard it over the AP system for the customers to hear, it wasn’t sung by Kelly Clarkson. It wasn’t sung by Reba McEntire. It was sung by CHILDREN, for children!
I’m a cool mom. It’s the name of my corporation (Cool Mom Guide, LLC). Very few things bother me. I let my kid watch Sponge Bob. None of those things bother me. What bothers me is that someone is using children to sing very poorly sung cover tunes of all the popular singers of our day, regardless of content. The LAST thing a chorus of children should be singing is the Shop Boyz “Party Like a Rock Star” as found on Kidz Bop 13. I suppose I should be grateful the swearing was edited out, but hearing “You know them hoes’ be at my show, grabbin’ where my chain go, I’m tryin’ a grab hold of my pants, but these hoes wont let my thang go” makes me sick.
According to an excerpt from Wikipedia, Kidz Bop Co-Founder, Cliff Chenfeld, said, “There was not a lot of music for kids who had outgrown Elmo and weren’t quite ready for Britney. Parents were getting more aware and concerned about the music their kids were listening to.” He’s assuming they’re not yet ready for Britney but can handle Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love?” Where’s the logic? Normally, I’d laugh this off. Personally, if I didn’t find the content so repulsive I’d find it hilarious. I wouldn’t normally worry about this. I have quite a lot of faith in the parents of today. However, after reading up on this, my faith is waning. There are obviously some parents out there buying these recordings. To date, there have been more than 22 CD’s released, 9 of which have been certified Gold.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and like I have said in previous posts, I do not presume to speak for anyone but myself. We all raise our children to the standards we think are best. You may love the Kidz Bop collection and have a shrine to it in your basement. I will not judge (out loud.) I’m just saying that when I tune into Nick Jr. and a Kidz Bop commercial comes on, I’ll be awful quick to change the channel.
September 22, 2010 – I officially believe this is a conspiracy created by my stalker frog to destroy me mentally.
19 Comments
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I think the heart of the problem is absolute nim-rods having babies. And then using the babies as extensions of themselves. Of course it’s a crock of sh*t, and that’s the difference between you and these other fools. You should have told the store manager how you felt and if they didn’t do something about it you should have peed in the sink.
I think those lyrics are wholly inappropriate for children. If a child is lucky enough to be happy with both of his parents around let’s not bring him down with Kelly Crapson’s take on the breakdown of her stupid family. Maybe if she didn’t take the last porkchop so often her parents would have stayed together. But, the world would be deprived of this wonderful ode..
I agree that this is stupid. My husband and I were a little disturbed when his 3 year old cousin was singing songs to us from one of these recordings. His mom was thrilled at his willingness to learn and when I asked her if the lyric content bothered her…I got a blank look. I am guessing that it never occurred to her to check the lyrics to see if they were appropriate for a child.
The Teletubbies (sp) show bothers me for a different reason. Have you ever watched this show? My husband and I were curious so we watched…they showed a child putting on rain boots several times. It was the exact same video several times. What ever happened to the assumption that children are smart rather than showing them this brainless drivel? I watched science shows geared toward children and shows where you learned things growing up. This just seemed like a brightly colored, repetitive, and loud show about nothing…this might soothe a baby but would you really want this crap seeping in to their subconscious? OK that is my rant for now
Ah, Jules…you’re only “29″, but there are millions of mommies and daddies in their teens out there who think KidzBop is just super and who can’t BELIEVE Sanjaya didn’t win American Idol…
I’ve felt this way for SO long. Linkin Park had a song about suicide, which was meant to make teens and adults think– but they put it on a KidzBop cd, AND do we even need to mention Britney songs??? It makes me want to smack some record executive up side the head. Not ALL music is for kids. Ugh.
And i’ll come at it from a different angle, as a musician. First off, lazy people, there’s plenty of excellent music out there for kids older than Elmo and not quite ready for Britney (I’m proud to say that my Stella will NEVER be ready for Britney). You just have to look for it. They Might Be Giants is just one of many groups that have bright, catchy songs, intelligent writing, and a repertoire that adults will find fun too.
If kids want cheap karaoke, they can listen to the originals. I can’t stand the KidzBop series mostly because it’s horrid, cheap karaoke. People actually PAY for this?
OMG. Didn’t know about the kids singing adult lyrics on Kidzbop. That’s crazy! There MUST be better material out there for them to choose from!
But I do have to say, I’ve heard kids everywhere singing some of the worst adult lyrics you’d ever want to lay ears on, lately. And the parents think it’s cute, claiming that the kids don’t know what they’re saying. I’m not so sure about that. They learn everything so early these days…
OMG!! My 8yr-old has just tuned in to KidsBop. I hadn’t even looked at the songs on the cds which we have – only one or two thank heavens.
Thanks for alerting me to this. I’ll be checking the content before downloading any more of this music!!
OK, I’ve calmed down a little now.
I’m taking KidzBop off the playlists on our computers, but, in case anyone is thinking “what should I do to replace KidzBop?”, I highly recommend just picking good bands you like and introducing your children to the originals. There is so much really, really great music out there, kids don’t need to listen to kids singing covers, they just need to be introduced to and able to sample different styles and types of music – performed by the original performer – to develop their own tastes.
Man, thanks for the heads up. Yeah, these jerks aren’t fooling me, they are marketing these for the parents, NOT the kids. There is no lack of music for kids of any age, this statement: “There was not a lot of music for kids who had outgrown Elmo and weren’t quite ready for Britney.” is just a marketing gimmick (I should know, I’m in marketing.)
There are just infinite amounts of music out there with NO lyrics that will be 100% safe for kids of any age. My little girl loves dancing to instrumental bluegrass, electronica dance, swing music, hip-hop tracks, anything… Kids don’t care about the lyrics, they like the music, it gets them moving.
Yeah, I suggest grabbing a variety of instrumental music and expose your kid to a wide variety, even if that isn’t your taste. Let THEM discover what they like and don’t impart your own narrow musical inclinations or a need for introspective thought provoking (or nasty) lyrics on them.
Since I can’t hear lyrics, I seem to be deaf to them, this is one area where I’m hands off.
We’ve owned a couple of KidzBop, but also a wide variety of other music. Yes, my daughter has listened to a lot of crap – there is one popular woman’s hump song on her Ipod that is particularly vile – but she’s making her own choices. Now, she seems to be enjoying classical more & more, with a dash of Jonathan Coulton.
Harp concertos and zombie songs, it’s a cool mix.
Yeah, I can agree that kids will be listening to innapropriate music anyway, but if they are I’d rather them listen to the orig artist as opposed to a group of off key children who are going to hack the song to death. I want my kids to have a variety of music as well, I also want it to not make my ears bleed.
Hi Julie, now I realise what you wanted me to take a look at…
OK, in my book, which is a fairly liberal one in general terms, I have a few no-no’s as far as my non-adult children and grandchildren are concerned. On topic, one of these is a big negative view on swearing, not because I’m prudish, but simply because the English language is a fabulous and at times beautiful medium of expression. SO much so, that no one needs to resort to swearing. If you’re wanting to stress something, and you can’t find an appropriate adjective, ask someone else to help. If you’re angry, there are tons of words to help you express your anger.
On original artists, vs poor covers, I totally agree with you, and particularly agree about introducing them to a variety. In fact I’d say introducing a variety of most art forms is highly desirable. Last week in London (I’m now back in Malaysia), my son and I took his three kids (my grandchildren of 6,4 and 20 months) to the Museum of Childhood and the Tate Modern art gallery. As at both places they are totally geared to children of all ages, the kids had a ball.
Who’d have thought kids that young would enjoy a museum and a gallery…..
Thank you for posting this. I’m so glad to know I’m not alone. My daughter received a Kidz Bop CD in her Happy Meal recently. I was suspicious of it from the start. My husband and I listened with her for a few minutes and immediately decided she would not listen to it anymore. Then I learned that they’ve been playing Kidz Bop CDs at school. I looked up the lyrics of the CD in question – Kidz Bop 8. And I was appalled. Unbelievable. Who in their right mind would allow such a thing? So I did a search on Yahoo, “Kidz Bop inappropriate for children,” and I found you.” I commend you for not judging (out loud).
I don’t quite have your degree of non-judgmentalness (is that a word? probably not). I feel like boycotting McDonald’s and telling the media. Wow. And I’m not such a “cool mom.” I’m 40 years old and too tired to be cool anymore. But even a cool mom agrees with me. That’s encouraging.
Julie Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I flipped out on my hubby last week when he took the kids there and got them Happy Meals! He should have known better, but he said he didn’t know they were in there. I tossed that CD real quick!
That was the first time in 2 years that I’ve been to McDonald’s. If I ever do go again, NO CDs, period! If I have to take my daughter out to buy a toy to compensate her afterward, fine. But Kidz Bop is out of the question from now on!
@Momspective:
You’re a hot MILF. I would love to see a picture of you peeing in the sink like Direwolf said. I agree about Kidz Bop by the way.
Dr. B,
WHAT???????????????
Kidz Bop is really annoying to listen to. Whenever my brother listens to my mom’s iPod, he always turns on the Kidz Bop. My ears always bleed to hear little kids singing pop music. Can’t the kids just sing songs that are for six-year-olds, such as “Elmo’s Song” and “Rubber Duckie”? I think it is really annoying. KIDZ BOP, I HATE YOU!!!