Kidz Bop has become a trusted guide to pop for parents without the time or energy to keep up with music but who still want to hear today’s hits minus any overtly sexual, drug-related, or violent lyrics. With over 21 million album sales and 24 albums that debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, the “Kidz Bop Kids,” as the changing cast of young performers is credited, have had more Top 10 albums than anybody save for the Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones. In an era that has seen the music business all but collapse in on itself - declining album sales and revenue, streaming disrupting the traditional distribution model - Kidz Bop has managed to thrive. Since its first album, KIDZ BOP, which opened with a cover of Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and closed with Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me,” the franchise has been one of the recording industry’s quietly enduring success stories. Perhaps there’s no better sign of total cultural saturation than this: Even the things you don’t do can spark a news cycle. Still, Kidz Bop-esque parodies of the hit proliferated across the internet, as did a satirical news story about a Kidz Bop writer suffering a nervous breakdown while trying to write a clean version of it. While their task is sometimes as easy as swapping out swears, in the case of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s terrifically profane ode to women’s sexual desire, there was no way it could be softened. Kidz Bop - technically stylized as KIDZ BOP - has been in business for decades. If you’re familiar with the company, which PG-ifies pop hits for the early-elementary set, you can probably see why. If you couldn’t tell they were children, you definitely can once you realize the line “We’re higher than a motherfucker” has been replaced with the bland but on-brand “We’re Kidz Bop and we’re taking over.”īut there’s no Kidz Bop version of, say, “WAP,” no sweetened version of that driving beat or child-safe alternative lyrics. Then the vocals kick in: Minaj’s petulant rapping has been replaced by several chirpier voices. The musical arrangement is just familiar enough, like one you’d hear at a karaoke bar. Have you ever heard the Kidz Bop cover of Nicki Minaj’s “Starships”? It’s so strange, it became something of a meme.