In celebration of their 25th anniversary, we sat down with Michael Anderson, Senior Vice President of Music and Talent Development at Kidz Bop. Anderson has hand-picked every single Kidz Bop song for the last 52 albums and now, he's pulling back the curtain.
Michael Anderson, Senior Vice President of Music and Talent Development at Kidz BopKeep reading for a fascinating deep dive into the business of making pop music kid-friendly and why—even after 25 years—it's more important than ever.
PARADE:Thanks for talking with me today! There’s really not much out there about the inner workings of Kidz Bop.
Before we start our deep dive, can you tell us about Kidz Bop Live: The Concert Movie, now in theaters?
I really hope everybody can get out to see it. It’s perfect timing because this year we've got four days between New Year's and when people return to school and work. So if you need something to do with your kids, it’s perfect. And parents know these songs, so they can enjoy it, too. And the kids, they're so talented. It's really amazing to see.
Yeah. And you might have heard of Zendaya. She got her start in Kidz Bop music videos—and Olivia Holt, Becky G and Ross Lynch, too.
What is an average day at the helm of Kidz Bop like?
That must feel like a cat-and-mouse game!
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It's crazy. I went to school for meteorology and could not do math. I knew that I wanted to be in the music business, but it was 1995. You couldn't go to college and get a music degree back then—you just had to know somebody.
One of the first things I did was I put a compilation together called Monster Ballads, which sold over 3 million copies, ended up in a Simpsons episode and got referenced all over in pop culture. After that, they kind of turned that part of the business over to me. Basically, I got to come up with mixtapes for a living, and put compilations together and then write and produce the TV commercials for them.
Inside info: At first, it was called Kids Pop. I shot a commercial for it at a day camp in Rockland County, New York where all of the kids say “Kids Pop rocks!” But then, we found out that we probably can’t use Kids Pop.
Wow!And what’s the process of picking songs for each album?
There are songs you definitely can't touch. Like if the entire song is about drinking or sex, there's nothing I can do about that. But if I can make a couple of tweaks here and there, it becomes a Kidz Bop song.
Yes, we've changed the way we record songs. Back in the day, I would submit all of the songs to my producer, Gary. He would collect them, get all the instrumentation ready and then every couple of months, we would get all of the kids in the studio and they would record 8 or 9 songs at once.
That’s wild! Are you guys diving into AI?
The authenticity is what people really connect to—and seeing real kids singing in the music videos and you can sing along. Parents can feel good about the fact that these are the songs that they know, and they trust that the lyrics are going to be kid-friendly.
A lot of people think that we are completely rewriting songs, but there are a lot of clean versions already available. So we're not completely rewriting songs unless we're going to collaborate with the artist.
Did you ever completely rewrite a song?
The lyrics go, “Okay, someone turn it up and dance along with KB / They know we and Shaboozey got a history.” We have Shaboozey’s name in there instead of Jack Daniel’s. “There's a party going down near Fifth Street / everybody in the place, sing it with me.”
If this was 20 years ago, that would have taken a good 45 minutes, but I probably did it in 5 to 10 minutes. When that's your job—you just get to know what works. It's not just changing lyrics; it's understanding the flow of words, understanding the number of syllables that are in the words. Just because it's the same number of syllables doesn't mean it's going to work.
I was a kid myself when I first got into Kidz Bop! I was 26 or 27, so not that young, but young enough. My husband and I adopted a girl 13 years ago and she is awesome. And she's been watching every Kidz Bop video with me since she was born. When she was in fourth and fifth grade, she wore the Kidz Bop shirts all the time just to be repping the merch. Like, “You know how I got this? My dad.”
Things are either really easy or they're just not possible; it’s very clear for me. If a song is about partying all night and makes references that are adult, then there's not much I can do. Unless Shaboozey calls and then you work together!
Would “WAP” be an example?
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It depends! I think the problem I have is the people who don't understand how we actually change lyrics. They think we literally change every lyric to like, “Drinking juice boxes right in the school bus.” That is not what we do—we stay as true to the song as we can, within the spirit of Kidz Bop and kids and dancing and fun.
We're celebrating our 25th anniversary. What's really incredible is that the artists who are releasing songs now grew up with Kidz Bop, and they know exactly what it is. Our kids actually just met with Kehlani, when they were at Sirius. Kehlani saw them and said, “I wanted to be you guys when I was little.”
@alexwarren
I didn’t think my lyrics were that naughty…
♬ Ordinary - KIDZ BOP KidsDo you have a particular favorite that you're like, I'm really proud that I got this song to work?
And then—on the other hand—you've got all these kids growing up for the last 25 years who reach a point where they're like, “Oh, I didn't realize that was the lyrics of the song.” They know the Kidz Bop lyrics first, so they're very shocked when they get older and realize what the actual version is!
What would be a dream collaboration for you?
When you're ready to pass the baton, how would someone get your position?
Can you tease what songs are on the new album coming on Jan. 9?
Do you use other people when coming up with some of these lyrics now?
Finally, congratulations on the 25th anniversary of Kidz Bop! What’s something you’ve seen change over the years?
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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