A comprehensive infographic mapping censorship in KidzBop songs

Kidz Bop is a music brand that makes "kid-friendly versions of todays biggest pop music hits." Think Raffi performing "Despacito."

As such, they tend to change the lyrics around, to keep things OK for the kids. The Pudding did a deep-dive into the linguistic data around Kidz Bop and their censorship choices, and turned their findings into a comprehensive and curious set of infographics:

Kidz Bop songsexist in a weird parallel universe, one where Lizzos famous line I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100% that bitch turns into I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100% that kid.

Sure, you expect profanity to be censored, but some of the swaps are giggle-inducing gems and travesties. So, we wanted to see if we could find patterns in the black-barred words R.I.P. to our Spotify account algorithms. (See thebad word methodology).

Can you find what Kidz Bop censored?

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NEW PROJECT! This week we published a piece with contributor Sara Stoudt that takes a look at censorship in Kidz Bop the parallel universe of "kid friendly" adaptations of hits by artists like Lizzo and Taylor Swift. Swipe through to see what types of "bad words" get the black bar treatment and be sure to check out the LINK IN BIO to take our censorship quiz and explore all the giggle-inducing and cringe-worthy word swaps. A note to our readers: At The Pudding, we are not currently working on anything coronavirus-related.