Kidz Bop 16 (Deluxe Version)

Album Review

Kidz Bop, Vol. 16 is easily one of the most kid-friendly collections of songs that the franchise has put together to date. There are a few fun, danceable songs at the album's beginning and end, including Kristinia DeBarge's Rihanna-esque "Goodbye" and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" — which is so goofy that it might as well have heavily Auto-Tuned kids' voices on it — but ballads make up most of the collection. The Kidz Bop Kids' version of Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" and the covers of Beyoncé's brooding "If I Were a Boy," the Fray's "You Found Me," and songs by Nickelback and Shinedown are fine but unremarkable. Even Kidz Bop usual suspects like the Pussycat Dolls and P!nk are subdued this time around, with covers of relatively somber hits like "I Hate This Part" and "Please Don't Leave Me." "Circus," the first Britney Spears song to appear on a Kidz Bop collection since Kidz Bop, Vol. 6, enlivens the album, along with a version of Kanye West's "Heartless" and a cover of Hannah Montana's "Hoedown Throwdown," which ends up being less irritating than the original song from the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack. The new wrinkle Kidz Bop, Vol. 16 offers is its final song: Sinái Rose's "LOL" is an original, a brassy pop track based on text-speak. Will Kidz Bop continue to use its popularity to introduce new artists as well as reinterpret already established ones? Will there be Kidz Bopped covers of songs introduced on earlier collections? Only time will tell.