Kidz Bop 9

by Jaime Egan | More from this Blogger

Every once in a while we have to be served a slice of humble pie. I had heard of the CD series "Kidz Bop," but I never bought them because I had this idea in my head of what it was. I thought that it was a collection of poorly remade popular songs with a bunch of kids just shouting the lyrics in the background. Well, today I received a copy of "Kidz Bop 9" and I had to eat my dessert before dinner.

I popped the CD into my CD player and pressed play. The first song on "Kidz Bop 9" is "Behind These Hazel Eyes," a song that we know as being performed by first season American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. Well, the person who sings the initial verse sounds quite similar to Ms. Clarkson, and when the kids chime in it's a real treat! These kids can sing -- quite well! They are all in-tune and they sound like they enjoy the singing as much as the music.

Two more songs on the CD are the Weezer hit "Beverly Hills" and Nickelback's "Photograph." I would never have expected songs like these to be included on a CD meant for children because of some of the lyrics. Imagine me pleasantly surprised when I listened to these songs and found the lyrics to be more kid-friendly. For example, one of the lines in the beginning of "Beverly Hills" states, "My automobile is a piece of crap." The Kidz Bop Kids sing, "My automobile is a piece of junk." Okay, that was a minor change. Well, whereas in the song "Photograph" when he is singing about his school and says, "Criminal record says I broke in twice," the kid-friendly version goes, "School record says I was late twice." Further along in "Photograph," when they sing, "Kim's the first girl I kissed," a chorus of kids goes, "Woooooo!" That made me laugh.

I like Hilary Duff's music and her voice, so I was hesitant to listen to the Kidz Bop Kids' version of "Wake Up." The lead singer of this song does a good job imitating Hilary. The kids in the background have so much fun with this song, I felt like getting up and dancing. The harmonies are a little off in some parts of the song, but that doesn't matter -- they are kids!

"Kidz Bop 9" is an amazing compilation of some of today's greatest music hits. Featuring music from artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Gavin DeGraw, Ashlee Simpson, and Nickelback, you can feel comfortable letting your kids listen to today's music. This CD entered the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at #2, which was the biggest sales week in "Kidz Bop" history. This also became the highest charting non-soundtrack children's release ever in Billboard history.

For more information, please visit Razor & Tie.

"Kidz Bop 9" is available from MusicSpaceKids, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and other retailers.

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