Kidz Bop 4

Like a Now That's What I Call Music! series for the preschool set, Kidz Bop, Vol. 4 presents more dubiously kid-friendly remakes of au courant pop songs, most of which feature a group of kids singing along with the choruses. As with the previous volumes, whether or not having kids literally sing along with songs like Evanescence's dark "Bring Me to Life," 3 Doors Down's morbid "When I'm Gone," or Justin Timberlake's vindictive "Cry Me a River" makes them into singalongs appropriate for kids is arguable, but a few of the songs do work pretty well. The remake of Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi" is a fairly good re-creation of the song and is also bouncy and innocent enough to work as kids' music. Likewise, "The Anthem" has enough punky energy to appeal to kids, and "Underneath It All" is sweet enough to sing along to (questionable lyrics like "you know some real bad tricks and you need some discipline" aside). ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide