If you’re not young enough to know what Kidz Bop is, it’s basically a brain-frying series of CDs and videos featuring whitebread kids singing contemporary pop songs for little rugrats to sing along to.
That’s not so easy when you consider how many songs these days aren’t exactly kid-friendly.
Which is why is it was surprising to see that they’d done a cover of Lady Gaga‘s “Born this Way.” Not that we think the little pipsqueaks shouldn’t hear Mother Monster’s message of inclusion and positivity—we absolutely do.
We just didn’t think Kidz Bop producers would go for lyrics about cholas, queens and “transgendered life.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
And we were right!
As the clip above shows, most anything remotely questionable is either changed or skipped, the latter including all references to the LGBT community or ethnicity. (And damn if they don’t sing the song in the flattest key possible. Seriously, get some kids who can sing!)
Of course, “capital H-I-M” gets to stay—Jeebus is all about the kiddies.
Ugh, we’d rather hear The Chipettes singing “Rolling in the Deep”
Source: Unicorn Booty
Bob
And this is news from, what, May 2011?
jason
Why should this surprise? The fake gay advocate Lady Gaga left the word “gay” out of the song when she performed it at the Good Morning America concert in July, didin’t she?
Face it – your icon Lady Gaga is a fake. You’re fakes too. You are just as fake and wobbly as what she is. You have no credibility as gay Americans. Flops, you are.
Red Meat
Jason try as you might, the only one you are fooling is yourself. She has used the the full lyrics for every other performance before it and after, on tv and not. Yet you are stuck on the one no one even saw. GMA?Who the hell watches that? The jobless? Old people? Oh you must be one of them.
j
yeah this was reported on for about 3 weeks non stop around may last year
jason
Red Meat,
If you’re OK with being manipulated, that’s fine with me. Enjoy the manipulation, honey.
Kylew
@Bob: Well, as somebody who is not in the loop of global gay news, I appreciate the story, although I can see that it might be tedious to rehear the same pieces for those of you who keep up with what is going on in the world better than I do.
Godiva
@jason: Calm down! That was one performance, every single other show she has done that had Born This Way, televised or not, she included the original lyrics. Haha, it’s sad, you seem way more angry about this than any Gaga fans. I’m a bit confused why you’re calling out everybody for being fake, too, including fans. What kind of criticism is wobbly, anyway, as in indecisive, like we can’t make up our mind? Because that’s a pretty brash generalization to make about a fan base made up of millions of people…
NeueZiel
@Jason Trollolol
cconner
The youth of the world evidently need their own Madonna. Shock value lives on! Love her(GaGa) or hate her, you’re making her richer by the minute.
Tim
“Kiz Bop”? Missing a letter there. Does Queerty even have an editor?
Ryan
@Jason @Redmeat
No Jason’s right…if you tolerate Gaga cutting the lyrics to get on TV you’re
being a massive tool and allowing her to be used by her. Don’t you get that it gives her a metropolitan clout to have a gay following…it’s a marketing thing for the media in big cities. She’s only willing to support you as long she gets treated like a Queen and it gives her status. But when it comes time to actually defend you she was willing to put that aside.
The reason why it matters so much is because Good Morning America is a baby-boomer show
and that’s the generation where all trickle down homophobia is coming from..so she was willing to do what they asked and put gay lyrics aside for the older generation straight people.
Seriously guys who defend Gaga, it’s just shows who desperate you are for someone to say they represent you in the media if you’re willing to be submissive to some straight girl’s misguided attempt to claim queerness as her own.
jason
Ryan,
So true.
I’m continually astounded by the selective morality of gay guys. One could say that these gay guys might be somewhat unbalanced.
One the one hand, they go after the Michele Bachmann’s of the world for trying to de-gay people. On the other hand, they jump to the defense of the Lady Gagas of the world who de-gay their own songs.
Something’s missing in the brains of these gay guys. A screw, perhaps.
JElder
Please, you’re naming one instance where she did something I disagree with. On the other hand, how much has she done for speaking out about LGBT inclusion and equality? She was at the head of a national march on TV, appeared in numerous gay clubs after one of her concerts, called people out online in videos, on tv, met with the President.
While I’m all about calling people out on being hypocrites (and I will gladly do if the GMA issue is true. Sadly my life doesn’t revolve around celebrities or Gaga’s performances) but she’s done far more for the LGBT community than any celebrity ever has. She has my respect above and beyond for all that she has done and for all that she will do.
I don’t worship her by any means. I find it hilariously humorous how people are basically invalidating the opinions of anyone who “defends” her. Almost as hilarious as how often Queerty posts ignorantly radical liberal bullshit and how they constantly attack LGBT people who don’t share their increasingly liberal ideals. Anyone who isn’t a left wing nut or veers slightly to the right is seen as a defector, traitor, etc.
This website is full of ignorant people and it makes me smile how vile and horrible people within our community can be to our own just because they have differing opinions. 😉 It’s exactly what we attack “Christians” for doing to us. I love it.
Jonny Quander
I don’t see why parents even buy their children this garbage. Another problem is that the music artists have no real say whether or not Kidz Bop can use their music. All they have to do is pay publishing fees and that’s it. The only time an artist’ has any say in the matter is if the lyrics of the song are changed.
Kidz Bop has a bad habit of choosing popular top 40 songs that aren’t exactly “Kid Friendly” to begin with, the lyrics are changed by it just ridiculous. In Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’: “Eating that grub” stands in for “sippin that bub.” Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Boom Boom Pow’: “Next level sh*t” is replaced with “next level hit.” Christina Aguilera’s ‘Not Myself Tonight’: Replaces “F**k you” with “Boo hoo.” Ke$ha’s ‘Tik Tok’: Replaces the reference to Jack Daniels with the line “…brush my teeth and then I go and pack.” It also replaces “tipsy” with “silly” and “I’mma fight” with “I’m alright.” And Kevin Rudolf’s ‘Let it Rock’: “Stuck his middle finger” has been replaced with “raised his hand and waved it.”
They even tried to use Fall Out Boy’s “Dance, Dance” for an album, even though it had overtly sexual lyrics “I only want sympathy in the form of you crawling into bed with me.”
When the lyrics are deemed to be edited, the artists have the final say to whether or not they want the song used at all. “While Born This Way” doesn’t have the sexual innuendo or swearing as other edited Kidz Bop songs do, watering the song down like that, when its supposed to help empower GLBT people, and could be especially helpful to young people who would listen to Kidz Bop is terrible. Lady Gaga and other’s can refuse to let them use the song if they are going to change the entire message of the song.
Ryan
@jason
Ok I take it back I don’t agree with you , your referencing gay guys as if separate from yourself too much. And dragging Micheal Backman into this? I think your a straight troll playing message board tourist.
James
Who’s the person that decides if the lyric should be taken out? Gaga? or her Record company (which most likely owns the rights to the song)? I mean as the person buying the song to re-record are you allowed to cut anything you want and in a way change the message of the song?
~PR~
@Ryan: ok. I’m not a Gaga fan (love her style… her music, not so much) but please keep in mind that she censored her lyrics on GMA which is the same show that nixed Adam Lambert after his “controversial” kiss. I’m not saying it is right that she did and she certainly could have told the producers to back off, but keep in mind that there are more players involved than just the singer.
Kylew
“but keep in mind that there are more players involved than just the singer.”
Precisely. She’s an advocate of gay issues – that doesn’t mean she’s going to sacrifice her career if her record company demands censorship for a single show.
I appreciate that it can be a slippery slope, but as others have said, judge her by the entirety of her behaviour not this single performance. I iamgine she’s done more to further gay acceptance than most of the people here, and she doesn’t even have a vested interest.
jason
Kylew,
Um, no, you don’t judge on the “entirety of her behavior”. You judge on the issues. You judge on each individual act. You criticize and assess each act.
The problem with judging a person on the “entirety of their behavior” is that it leaves you vulnerable to political manipulation by that person. In fact, my view is that you are being manipulated by Lady Gaga.
TASTEY GOODIES
@~PR~: YEAH, I FIND IT REALLY SAD THAT MEDIA, PUBLICISTS, AND OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED IN AN ARTIST’S CAREER ALWAYS HAVE TO “SUGGEST” TO THE ARTIST THINGS LIKE “MAKE SURE TO KEEP IT FAMILY FRIENDLY” “DON’T DO ANYTHING THAT WILL OFFEND THE AUDIENCE” BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. WHY DO ARTIST HAVE 2 KEEP EVERYTHING PC THESE DAYS? CUZ THE RECORD COMPANIES BELIEVE THEY “OWN” THAT ARTIST- LIKE THE MILITARY OWNS PROPERTY( INCLUDING ITS SERVICEMEMBERS). I THOUGHT THAT ONE OF THE MAIN POINTS OF BEING AN ARTIST IS 2 XPRESS ONE’S OWN INDIVIDUALITY AND 2 PUSH BOUNDARIES BY THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX AND BY BEING CONTROVERSIAL. GOD FORBID NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY IS ALLOWED 2 “OFFEND” ANOTHER PERSON. HELL, I FIND SOME PEOPLE’S CHOICE OF FASHION “SENSE” TO BE OFFENSIVE. BUT I LET THEM “OFFEND” ME BY THEIR CHOICE OF ATTIRE. CUZ IT’S A FREE F#$KING COUNTRY, BITCHES!!!!!
Kylew
@jason:
“Um, no, you don’t judge on the “entirety of her behavior”. You judge on the issues. You judge on each individual act. You criticize and assess each act.
The problem with judging a person on the “entirety of their behavior” is that it leaves you vulnerable to political manipulation by that person. In fact, my view is that you are being manipulated by Lady Gaga.”
Jason, whilst I certainly can accept that Gaga or her record company are manipulating everyone (not me, because until this post I’d never listened to a single song or paid much attention to her), but the trouble with your world view is that it’s so totally cynical and unforgiving that everyone has to be perfect, can never change their mind, have an off day, or do anything to protect their own career, without it being a betrayal or a manipulation. This kind of unrealistic and unrelenting mindset is bad enough when applied to politicians, who, much as I loathe them, are as human as the rest of us, but in the case of this artist are simply nonsensical. I seriously doubt if your own life is so pure and unwavering and devoid of mistakes, and if it is, I would consider it a serious personilty flaw.
Gaga has not sworn an oath of undying loyalty to this cause, and quite frankly, if she was perceived as a corporate sell out, even by heterosexuals, it would be damaging to her credibility given her fan demographic (rebellious, intelligent), so of her own volition, why would she happily accede to remove lyrics that were the heart of the song she was singing?
Furthermore, your entire premise is antithetical. The longer time period you judge someone over, the greater your chance of seeing their core beliefs. If ANYTHING leaves you vulnerable manipulation, it’s judging people on an action by action basis. This entire site is awash with criticisms of politicians who flip flop to meet a voter demographic. Do you judge John Wayne Gacy by the round he just bought and the joke he just told, or by his 10 year history of murdering boys?
Marshal
Here we go again with our goddess, the “Mother Monster”.
Sigh.
Kylew
@TASTEY GOODIES: Surely you are not inexperienced enough to believe what you just said?
Artists ARE all-but owned by their publishers. The artists are a product, and that product has been taken on by the publisher because they believe it can make them money. Some artists are taken on because they appeal to a particular type of audience, but the publishers are always looking to package the artist and maximise the audience base.
It is NOT the artist’s job to be controversial, if that is not the type of artist that they were taken on as, and most contracts will doubtless have a termination clause if artists become a liability by behaving too outrageously.
Artists do NOT always have to keep everything PC of course, but when they are being marketed to a specific audience, their behaviour must stay within the parameters of acceptability for that audience, as was apparently the case here. The issue in this case is not whether it’s reasonable to sanitise Gaga’s lyrics for the target audience, but whether references to homosexuality were sentiments that reasonably should HAVE to be removed under any circumstances. If the audience has values THAT different to the mainstream, then Gaga should probably not have been presented to them. Personally, I think the TV show or her label over-reacted.
I would remind you that many rappers, including eniminem, and a whole bunch of rockers, have also released cut edits for daytime radio play. Indeed, last year’s UK xmas number one Killing in the Name, never went out on daytime radio in an unedited form. It wasn’t selling out – it was marketing.
LandStander
This is titled “Kiz Bop” not “Kidz Bop” …
NoelG
@jason: You are a total idiot.
Kate
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