- Children's music brand
Kidz Bop released a cover ofLil Nas X 's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)." - The Kidz Bop version of the song removes references to sex, drugs, and queerness.
Kidz Bop covered Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," the single that $4, but censored all mentions of sex, drugs, and gay attraction.
Kidz Bop is a children's music brand that repackages pop tracks for a young audience, typically censoring mentions of adult themes in covers that are performed by children.
The Kidz Bop cover of Lil Nas X's "Montero," which was released on October 22 as part of the compilation album "Kidz Bop 2022," included changed lyrics like "cocaine and drinking with your friends" to "singin' and dancin' with your friends," and "I wanna feel on yo' ass in Hawaii" to "I wanna lie on the beach in Hawaii."
Kidz Bop also removed "boy" from the lyrics in lines like, "You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend." It also tweaked the final line of the song's pre-chorus: "if Eve ain't in your garden, you know that you can" became "if you ain't in the garden, you know that you can" in the Kidz Bop version.
$4, a $4 noted that the cover also removed lyrics that make it apparent that the song was written and sung by a gay man. Other TikTok users have posted videos reacting to the Kidz Bop version of the song, and some in the comments have levied similar criticisms.
"They degayified it," reads one comment with approximately 7800 likes on $4.
The song, along with Lil Nas X's "Satan Shoes," a $4, $4. The song's music video included erotic, Christian imagery, and showed Lil Nas X awaking in Eden before pole dancing his way down to hell and grinding on the devil's lap. The singer fielded criticism online from conservative media figures like Candace Owens and those saying that he was deliberately exposing children to mature themes.
"I am not gonna spend my entire career trying to cater to your children. that is your job," $4 to a post saying that the "system" was "targeting kids."
Lil Nas X has commented previously on the Kidz Bop version of his song. On October 1, he $4 On October 26, he $4, with no caption.
"Not even joking i just saw this commercial," Lil Nas X wrote in an October 1 tweet containing a clip from an advertisement for the Kidz Bop song. "they killed it tho."
-MONTERO (@LilNasX) $4
Other Kidz Bop songs have tweaked gendered language. Its cover of Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U," also on "Kidz Bop 2022," changed the lyric, "now you can be a better man for your brand new girl" to "now you can be a better one for your brand new girl." $4 included changed lines, converting "boy problems" to "some problems," and "why men great" to "why you great."
The organization has also removed explicitly LGBTQ content from other tracks. $4, the 2011 Kidz Bop cover of Lady Gaga's 2011 single "Born This Way" removed LGBTQ lyrics. While the song is no longer available on official Kidz Bop channels, $4 show that it omitted lines such as "don't be a drag, just be a queen" and "no matter gay, straight, or bi / lesbian, transgendered life."
Kidz Bop and representatives for Lil Nas X did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.