Grandstand review: Kidz Bop concert had kids singing along to Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo hits

The Minnesota State Fair Grandstand season drew to a close Monday afternoon with a spirited performance from Kidz Bop.

What, you might ask, is Kidz Bop? It’s an ingenious concept launched by the indie record label Razor and Tie in 2001 that takes pop hits, edits out any objectionable lyrics and has kidz — sorry, kids — sing the songs. It started out as a series of CDs that sold remarkably well and, in 2007, the live touring version launched at Target Center in Minneapolis. (More on that in a bit.)

Even as streaming replaced CDs and music got much more diverse, Kidz Bop has soldiered on with 21 million albums sold and more than 4.5 billion songs streamed. I don’t have kids, but I understand the appeal to parents who may grow tired of some of the more inane original music targeted toward the youth market. Some 4,545 people showed up Monday.

I happened to see that first show in 2007 and Monday’s performance looked and sounded a bit different. The live band of adults has been replaced by a DJ and the number of kids on stage reduced from six to four. And the song selection has grown to include hip-hop (Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thing”), Latin pop (Black Eyed Peas and J Balvin’s “Ritmo,” Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola”) and even reggaeton (Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s “Savage Love”).

Also, back in 2007, the kids felt a lot more like actual kids who sometimes sang off key and messed up dance steps. The four kids on stage Monday were much more polished, which maybe isn’t too much of a surprise as the franchise has helped launch the career of some professional singers and actors, including Becky G (who coincidentally opened this year’s Grandstand series), Kiana Brown, Olivia Holt, Ross Lynch and Zendaya.

For an hour and 45 minutes, with a 20-minute intermission during which Kidz Bop covers blasted over the loudspeakers, a barrage of current and recent songs played nearly nonstop, many in shortened versions. Part of the fun for adults was listening to the lyrics to figure out how the producers sanitized numbers like Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” and Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.”

The kids in the audience probably did more dancing than singing along, but many looked to be having a blast, particularly those who took advantage of the empty space at the top of the Grandstand to spread out and sway along to the tunes. And, really, some of the selections made perfect sense for children’s voices, including Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”

At one point the Kidz Bop Kids invited four dads (in hats and/or sunglasses) for a Daddy Dance-Off that saw them do the worm, moonwalk and robot, among other moves. The guy who pulled off some rudimentary breakdancing won the audience’s vote along with a pair of Kidz Bop pompoms. It was also cute when the foursome taught the crowd the dance for Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and then encouraged them to dance to the song itself.

The concert ended with the audience’s pick of their favorite song, Walk the Moon’s 2014 hit “Shut Up and Dance.” I’m guessing it’ll be a while until some of the kids in the crowd shut up about how much fun they had.

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