Customer Reviews

Kidz Bop 16

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My 7-year old daugther really liked the Kid's Bop sample from the McDonald's Happy Meal, so I decided to get her more, thinking she and her friends could have fun dressing-up and dancing around like rock stars. I was dissapointed by the music selection. Almost all of the tracks are repetitive, simplistic, 3-note songs, mostly in a minor key with lyrics about break-ups. Hard to listen to, let alone dance to, and not very upbeat. I'm not sure what audience this is intended for. . .

Why would you spend twelve dollars to listen to some kids sing good songs horribly when you can listen to the real thing?

I am basically on a mission to collect all of these. I have Kidz Bop 2-4, 7, 8, and 10-19 plus a few themed CDs (like Kidz Bop Christmas). Though I'm not a kid, I like their clean, preppy versions of songs. Most of the time, they do a good job re-creating the songs. Any bad covers are few and far between. Some of the albums I only like, but others my family has taken to. Those are Kidz Bop 11, 16, 18, and 19. However, I think Kidz Bop 16 has an addictive affect. It has a different sound than all the other Kidz Bop CDs. I can't explain it, but it's unique. Here are my opinions of each song.

1. Boom Boom Pow
If you want your kids to listen to rap music for kids, Kidz Bop has a few rap songs per CD. There's a boy in the Kidz Bop group who does all the rap. He's pretty good for a kid. The kids as a group sound preppy shouting "Boom!" It makes the song less boring. Strangely enough, my mom was the one who hit off with this song the most. It is perfectly clean of all bad words and such.

2. Circus
This is a great "girl power" song. My mom also hit off with this one. I think there could be two meanings to this song. The way I take it is being a leader. I would suggest you encourage this meaning to your kids instead of the other meaning that might pop into your heads.

3. Fire Burning
This is a good party song. Kidz Bop sings it great. In the beginning, they shout a bunch of heys like the original, but in the midst of it, they yell "Kidz Bop" at least twice. It's cute and it personalizes the song a little. We like to turn up the bass on this song.

4. The Climb
Though I prefer Miley Cyrus on this song (and I have that version too), it is good enough to listen to while this CD is playing. Kidz Bop soloists sing great, but in this song, the group singing takes it from 3D to 2D. It's not horrible, though.

5. How Do You Sleep?
I actually like the group singing in this song. It's got a good harmony. I'm not sure what the original sounds like, but in this version, there is only one verse. It was a well-sung verse, and it made me wish there was a second verse. It's a good song when you're in the mood for it.

6. If I Were a Boy
I like the solo singing in the beginning, but that's about it. Once the group chimes in, the song becomes boring. However, when I'm in the mood for a slow song, this can be fun to try to sing along to.

7. You Found Me
I don't really like this song. It's interestingly sung by these kids, but it's too slow and sad for my taste.

8. I Hate This Part
I don't like that I found the word "hate" on a children's CD. However, I do appreciate the fact that they don't use it to describe how they feel about another person. Basically, the point is "I hate the part where I have to break up with you." It has a hip-hop type drum, but it's kind of slow. It's not the most interesting of songs. I prefer something more catchy.

9. Heartless
Though this didn't attract my mom very much, it attracted my older sister. She said that every time she hears the song, she thinks of Kingdom Hearts. I like the rapping from that little boy. He's an adorable rapper, but not so cute that he doesn't sound cool. My only complaint is that they didn't use as many special affects in this song compared to the original.

10. If Today Was Your Last Day
I am pleased to see such an encouraging song on a children's CD sung in a way that children can relate to. I love the solo singing in this song!

11. Please Don't Leave Me
Though the singing and tune is great, I'm not really into the meaning of the song. It doesn't depict the relationship you want your child to be thinking about. However, I don't think many young children would figure out the meaning as easily as an adult.

12. Second Chance
This song is kind of slow and sad, but good if you're in the mood for it. I like the way it was sung.

13. Live Your Life
The beginning is amazing! The song sounds very crisp and full. I love the way it was sung. But I don't appreciate the fact that this basically means, "All that matters is money. If you keep chasing after money, you'll be fine." That's exactly what I DON'T want to tell a child.

14. Goodbye
This is another "girl power" song with a heavy bass and a lot of fun. This grabbed my whole family. It's a feel-good, relatively easy-to-sing, catchy song that I find myself singing when I feel the need to sing. The main chorus isn't new. I know it's from some old song, though not sure which one.

15. Hoedown Throwdown
I'm not sure if I like Miley Cyrus's version of this song more than Kidz Bop. The Kidz Bop version is a little faster, and the group sings mostly everything when it seems it would've sounded better for there to be more solo parts. However, after hearing the Kidz Bop version, the original seems less engaging. It might have to do with the fact that the kids sound excited and their version is more lighthearted.

16. LOL
This song is NOT sung by the Kidz Bop Kids. The girl who sings this song seems to have some sort of relation with Kidz Bop because one of her songs is also featured on Kidz Bop 17. I don't really like her songs. They have too much attitude and not enough singable lyrics. The beginning of this song is engaging with the guitar switching from left to right in the speakers and the sound of a phone dialing. But the rest is just a bunch of text talk. The point is "text me, don't call". No one in my family has really taken to this song.

My basic thought on this CD is that it's a great cover CD for children, however, they should have made it a little more kid friendly. It also would've been nice to add a few more bouncy songs. After hearing Boom Boom Pow, Circus, Fire Burning, Heartless, Live Your Life, and Goodbye, the rest of the songs become boring. However, I would recommend you buy this CD because it is a highlight in Kidz Bop history.

I would recommend this CD to:
-Kids who want something more mature than toddler songs to listen to
-Families that want to enjoy their favorite songs with the little ones around
-Kids who want to listen to famous songs but aren't ready for the mature lyrics
-People who want clean versions of songs and don't mind listening to children
-Anyone in general who likes to listen to children's music and/or is interested in the idea of Kidz Bop

I was to start by saying that my 4 and 7 year old kids love KidzBop!! So they were so excited when I bought 16, after having listened to 17. I had to force them (we were in the car) to at least listen to each song and give it a chance. But I have to agree with them, the songs were boring! The singers do a typical KidzBop job, the song selection is what we don't like. Get 17, get 18, get the Greatest Hits, but stay away from 16. My kids keep asking my why we can't return it. Well, I tell them, we opened it, and Mommy will never make the mistake of buying a CD without listening to the music samples again!

Why bother listening to professionally performed and mixed 'greatest hits' when a CD has 16 of them played by what sounds like an above average kids school choir with occasional boys and girls doing the solos and some very basic orchestral arrangements (mostly drum machine and other synthetic effects) in the background?

Being a grownup, my answer is 'beats me' but my little girl wanted this and the product appeared harmless enough for me to order it without checking the sample songs first. After the first round of listening she doesn't seem eager to want to listen again and, strangely, I am happy it is so. The only good thing about this compilation is that the lyrics have been cleaned up and adapted to eliminate all references to erotic and/or illegal activities and transform them to a mostly 'G', largely meaningless rating content - to the extent that we agree that 'meaningless' is good enough for the 'general audiences'.

Let's see... what else... Oh, everything is speeded up. The theory might be that a kid's attention span is shorter so, once you start a song you must finish it ASAP, before the kid gets bored. The songs are shorter and faster, their audio footprint something between normal performing tempo and a 'Chip and Dale' like rendition. The singing attempts to mimic the grownup performances but the immature and inexperienced kids voices project an almost-robotic, helium-assisted quality to every song.

To quickly conclude: if what you want is to expose your kid to some compilation of 'greatest hits' without shocking them with offensive lyrics, this is the thing to get but I can't believe there aren't better alternatives. It sounds rather boring, tired and sad but the CD wasn't meant for adult listening and children don't seem to be that impressed either. Between me and 2 of my kids, the star average amounts to TWO (6 yr. kid gives it a 3, 13 yr. old kid gives it a 2 and I give it a 1). Hopefully, exposing a kid to this should not do permanent damage to their artistic common sense but all one can do is hope.

Oh, it comes with a coupon for some other song download and Amazon gave me one dollar to spend at their music download store any way I see fit. Maybe I'll find a James T. Kirk tune, him doing Pink or Pink Floyd.

Great songs sung by kids- makes for child friendly content.
My 7 yr old listens to it everyday, she couldn't be more happy!

My teenage daughter listens to it constantly. I have not heard it, but with as much as she listens to it I would have to highly recommend it.

I bought this cd for my niece for her 6th birthday! She loves the song Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eye Peas! All the other songs are fun to listen, dance and be silly with too! Great buy!

My twin girls age (6) love their new CD. Every single card ride starts with mommy can you put our new CD! A definte good buy!

My son (age 2) and I love this. At least, I do not need to worry about the contents of the songs. This is great!