Kidz Bop 10

While children and adults singing covers of popular radio songs will perhaps never be the pinnacle of musical accomplishment, it does have a certain appeal for certain audiences (mainly, children and their parents, as well as those with a penchant for cheesiness). The Kidz Bop series is, of course, the forerunner of this genre, and since the first volume was issued in 2001, has provided an assortment of family friendly(ish) music that is played on continuous loop in toy stores and on road trips to Six Flags. Of course, no one — hopefully — is arguing that any of the albums are good, but some of the songs chosen are more successful than others. Unfortunately, Kidz Bop, Vol. 10 is a bit devoid of said pieces (where's the hipster cover or the fun summertime hit?), with far too many serious, adult-themed contemporary R&B numbers ("Don't Forget About Us," "Unwritten," "Stickwitu") that are neither particularly fun nor really that appropriate for children, unless perhaps you decide to change the reference of Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" ("I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you") from a lover to a parent (still weird, though). And besides covers of Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It," Madonna's "Hung Up," the All-American Rejects' "Move Along," and Ashlee Simpson's "L.O.V.E.," the rest of the selections on the record are pretty morose as well. The creators of the album seem aware of this, but even the attempt to lighten up Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" by having the children yell "yeah!" and "woo!" doesn't exactly make it cheerful (disconcerting may be a better word). Perhaps the radio hits are just sadder this year, but maybe they should've waited to release Kidz Bop, Vol. 10 until they figure out how to get a version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" on there. Now that would be something to hear.