The Napster Blog

Black Eyed Peas: From Kidz Bop to SNL

Now that two songs from their latest album, The E.N.D., have spent more than half of this year atop the Billboard charts, Black Eyed Peas seem to be everywhere—even in the children's music world: The equally successful kid-friendly franchise Kidz Bop has not one, but two different BEP-related releases. First there was the Boom Boom Pow EP, which includes a rendition of a solo Fergie song, "Glamorous." And now there's the Kidz Bop version of "I Gotta Feeling." Whether you prefer this version, the original, or the live performance from this past weekend's Saturday Night Live, there's little doubt that you'll be seeing lots of Black Eyed Peas on year-end 'best of' lists. Check back soon to see if this kid-friendly version made the Napster cut.

Phineas and Ferb

While the Disney Channel may get a lot of hype for their successful teen stars, from Hannah Montana to the kids of the Camp Rock movie, we shouldn't forget that their programming for little kids is equally engaging and successful. Their latest success story is the animated show Phineas and Ferb, which chronicles the misadventures of two stepbrothers, their pet platypus, and their obtrusive older sister (voiced by Disney star Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical fame). The show features zany humor, running gags, and musical numbers in each episode, and the theme song is sung by pop-punksters Bowling for Soup, which helps to keep it just hip enough for parents to enjoy as well.

Spooky Stories for Kids and Trick or Treat: Napster Playlists

Halloween is for children. If you know any, then you've probably already felt the excitement building for this weekend's big day. Napster's children's music page can help you set the mood this week with lots of Halloween-inspired features, including two Napster playlists suitable for kids of all ages:Spooky Stories for Kids offers up haunted tales mixed with some spooky sound effects, making it perfectly chilling set to get those little hearts pounding (though not too scary, of course). Featured tales include the classic "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as well as some newer tales such as "The Witch In The Corner," "The Haunted Tree House," and "The Skeleton's Hand," each separated by imagination-spurring werewolf howls, a haunted heartbeat, and even the classically spooky Bach organ toccata.

Trick or Treat: Halloween Is for Children, meanwhile, is focused on more traditional sing-along fun. It's filled with kid-friendlyrenditions of all your favorite Halloween hits, including "Monster Mash," "The Witch Doctor," "Thriller," and the "Addams Family" theme and is perfect for parties or as a soundtrack for the intense preparation for a night of candy-collecting.

Halloween Music for Kids

With Halloween less than two weeks away, there are tons of excited children out there looking forward to candy, costumes and parties. Through the holiday, Napster's children's music page will be featuring plenty of musical options for playtime or party night to help everyone get into the spooky swing of things.

The most popular album is usually Kidz Bop Halloween, released last year but featured again this year. But we also have the newly released Best Ever Halloween Party Album (pictured), which includes some of the same songs as on the Kidz Bop album, but not sung by the Kidz Bop Kids. 

All four of this week's Staff Picks are older but dependable compilations of Halloween-themed songs, including releases such as Ultimate Kids Halloween Party and the pictured Kids' Halloween Hits. If you want something slightly different, give It's A Hip Hop Halloween Night or the scary tales on Kids Party Songs & Spooky Stories a try. Check back next week for more albums and playlists that kids of all ages will love (and not find too terrifying). 

Selena Gomez & The Scene, Kiss & Tell

Selena Gomez, the up-and-coming star of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, has said that she has no plans to be a solo artist like fellow Disney friends and starlets Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, but that hasn't stopped her from releasing a debut album with her new band The Scene.

Kiss & Tell manages to be exactly what her teen fans would want: It's a fun, sassy pop record with plenty of catchy, sing-along hooks. It comes as no surprise that some of these songs are infused with a sweet punk-pop attitude, as one of the main writers and producers on the album is drummer/singer/songwriter Gina Schock of The Go-Go's. Her material turns out to be a perfect match for Selena's style.

Karen O. and The Kids, Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack

In just a little over two weeks, Spike Jonze's film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are hits theaters. The soundtrack, helmed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs' singer Karen O. with additional orchestral work by Carter Burwell (Fargo, Adaptation, Twilight), sets an adventurous musical tone for the film. The single "All is Love" is a charming parade of a song that incorporates indie-rock sensibilities with the cute and whimsical characteristics of children's music. Can we call this "indie-child-rock"? Childrindie? Regardless, the combination, as on the touchingly introspective, piano-carried "Worried Shoes" and the head-bopping "Heads Up" add a lot of charm. Karen O. has been able to provide the big-screen version of the children's classic with music that's quite free-spirited and creative, and just feels good—an aesthetic of which, one imagines, Sendak himself would approve. Additional contributors to the album include other members to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Deerhunter, The Raconteurs, and Liars.

101 Dalmatians

Even though a new generation of children are more familiar with the live-action film version of the seminal doggie tale 101 Dalmatians, some of us older kids have a soft spot for the original Disney animated version. The jazz and swing-influenced score was composed by George Bruns, who spent 20 years scoring many of the classic Disney animated films and television shows after beginning his career playing jazz. Also included on this soundtrack is the definitive version of "Cruella de Vil," performed by Bill Lee, who not only sang in animated movies for Disney and other studios during his career, but also dubbed for non-singing actors in musical films. The song was written by Melville A. Leven, who also wrote hits for Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin, to name a few, but it was the couplet "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil / If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will" that made him famous.

The Cure, The Beatles, and more, Lullaby-Style

This week on the Napster children's music page are a selection of lullaby renditions of songs by some popular rock and alternative bands. While it may seem easy to imagine lullaby renditions of The Beatles' catalog, an album of Nine Inch Nails lullabies is not an obvious choice. But as it happens, both work well, as do lullaby albums devoted to alt-goth rockers The Cure and the ultimate rock 'n roll band, The Rolling Stones. All four albums are featured in the Staff Picks. Want more? Just search for albums with "Lullaby Renditions" in the title and you'll find many more fun and unique choices for bedtime.

Sinai Rose, “LOL”

Sinai Rose is a 12-year-old singer-songwriter who is the first original artist signed to the Kidz Bop label. You might remember us mentioning her song "LOL" in our post about Kidz Bop 16, noting that this was the first time the series departed from its usual "kids singing along to today's hits" formula, even for one track. The song has now been officially released as a single on its own, and we'll be seeing (and hearing) more of Sinai on both the upcoming Kidz Bop 17 and Kidz Bop Christmas albums before she releases her debut album next year. Her fun, poppy debut is definitely more pre-teen-minded than some of the older teen stars of today (Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Emily Osment), but considering the fact that she's already writing her own material, we will probably hear a lot more from Ms. Rose in the coming years.

Emily Osment, “All the Way Up”

Any Hannah Montana fan will already be very familiar with actress/singer Emily Osment; she has played the role of Miley/Hannah's best friend on the hit Disney series since day one and also enjoyed a starring role in the movie. And now she's following in Miley Cyrus' footsteps and releasing an album, due next spring. The first single from that album, "All the Way Up," offers a taste of her style, which is definitely more rock/pop than Miley's sound. Indeed, Emily says the album will be influenced by "indie rock." But breathe easy—once you hear this upbeat teen-pop song you'll realize she has no intention of abandoning her teen fanbase completely.