In anticipation of the upcoming Kidz Bop show in Madison as a part of their nationwide “Life of the Party” tour, The Badger Herald had the opportunity to talk with Ashlynn Chong, 14-year-old singer and musician and one of four members of the group, to discuss her career with Kidz Bop, their remixing process and child labor laws, among other subjects.

This interview has been edited for style and clarity.

Badger Herald: How’d you first get involved?

Ashlynn Chong: I had auditioned a few times, but when I was 11 I sent in a video of me singing and dancing, and so did thousands of other kids across the country. After that they narrowed it down to 11 or 12 kids and sent them to Dallas, Texas for their final audition.

BH: What made you Kidz Bop material?

AC: The times before that I hadn’t started dancing yet, and dancing is a major part of this job, and so I think that helped me.

BH: OK. So this is a job — this is a paid position for you?

AC: Yes, it’s a job, but it doesn’t feel like work. It’s so fun.

BH: Did you grow up listening to Kidz Bop?

AC: I knew what Kidz Bop was.

BH: What’s life on tour like?

AC: Life on tour’s actually really fun. I love having a bonding experience with the other kids who are on this team. We’ve just become really, really close friends from touring and working hard together, and it’s been an incredible experience.

BH: On your own time, do you listen to the Kidz Bop versions of the songs or the originals?

AC: Well, it’s pretty cool that I know the people on the albums, so yeah we do all listen to the Kidz Bop versions.

BH: When you go on tour, does your family get to come along or is it just you?

AC: Since we’re all kids, we need to have a parent with us at all times.

BH: When you were on tour initially, was Kidz Bop your first experience performing?

AC: Performing, no, but touring yes.

BH: Do you feel like all this is isolating? Like, is there a life outside of Kidz Bop for you right now?

AC: Well, yeah, we all have lives outside of Kidz Bop. We all have families, and we get to see our families a lot. And we have each other, so it’s definitely not isolating because we’re traveling with people who are all our age who are interested in the same thing. So it’s like a second family.

BH: How much time do you spend working with or for Kidz Bop every week?

AC: Well, when we’re working we do spend a lot of time together. I don’t actually count because it varies every couple of weeks. Sometimes we’re on tour and sometimes we’re rehearsing, or promoting new CDs. Work is so different that it’s kind of hard to count.

BH: Do you prefer the Kidz Bop versions to the actual songs?

AC: [pause] I think they’re both great.

BH: The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 sets 14 as the minimum age of employment. You said you’ve been working since 11 or 12? How were you allowed to work at that point?

AC: Well, children are allowed to work. We have work permits.

BH: The FLSA also limits the number of hours worked by minors under 16. Are you exempt from this as a performer?

AC: Well, they do follow the rules of how long we’re allowed to work. They don’t keep us any longer than we’re allowed to.

BH: Do you know how long you are allowed to work?

AC: Usually under 8 or 9 hours, I think?

BH: Per day?

AC: Mhm.

BH: So a 40-hour work week for a 14-year-old.

AC: No, because we do need a day off.

BH: Oh, OK. So about 30 hours a week.

AC: [pause] It depends.

BH: Slate criticized Kidz Bop rewriting in a 2015 article. One of the examples was Nick Jonas’ “Jealous.” It removed the word “hellish,” but Slate criticized it for preserving a message that the singer has the right to be jealous of his romantic partner. How does Kidz Bop respond to cases like this where the content might be overt in bad language, but also harmful in terms of a larger message?

AC: We replaced that word with “jealous,” so it still got the message across.

BH: Sure, the explicit word was removed, but the song retained this theme of jealousy in a relationship. There’s still content that you might be introducing a 5-year-old to, but it’s not explicit. How do you approach that?

AC: Usually the adults in Kidz Bop approach this situation, because they make the choices.

BH: Do you agree with that? Should 5-year-olds be hearing about being permissive of jealousy in a relationship?

AC: [pause] These kids are young, it depends on their parents on what they can and can’t listen to. We make the music, and we hope they appreciate it.

BH: Even though you are the face of Kidz Bop, do you have a say in the messages you’re conveying?

AC: The adults work on the lyrics for the album, they work on the image and we portray this image. We’re the face of Kidz Bop. We go on tour, we do the music videos, we do the CDs.

BH: Sure, but when people think “Kidz Bop,” they think of your face, not an adult songwriter. Do you think you should have any say in the messages that you’re singing?

AC: The thing about this is that the adults are able to make choices that are good for kids. And we can trust that they will make the choices that are good for kids. And they do see our face, because we are the entertainers.

BH: But the adults are making a choice, even if it’s the best to be jealous of a partner — are you fine with that?

AC: I do have lots of faith in the people who work for Kidz Bop, and I approve of the choices they make.

BH: Kidz Bop has had 23 Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. This record’s only been surpassed by three artists: Barbara Streisand, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. How do you explain Kidz Bop being up there with some of the most prominent musicians of the last century?

AC: I think that the reason that we’re up there is because kids across the country, and even kids in different places in the world, are able to appreciate Kidz Bop. And families are able to appreciate Kidz Bop.

BH: Is Kidz Bop as good as The Beatles?

AC: The Beatles are amazing. And also, Kidz Bop covers amazing songs.

BH: But is Kidz Bop as good as The Beatles?

AC: [pause] They’re definitely different from The Beatles.

BH: Alright. Do you think Kidz Bop is something that you grow out of?

AC: I think that when you’re older, yes. But that’s how it works. Kidz Bop is, in it’s name, kids.

BH: That’s true. Just yesterday I googled Kidz Bop and I put “Kidz Bop is” into the search bar. The following adjectives in the suggested completion of my search term were overwhelmingly negative. I don’t really wanna go into the specifics, but it certainly didn’t present a popular opinion. Why do you think this is?

AC: Because older people do have access to the internet a lot more than younger people do and the older people that do choose to listen to Kidz Bop may not like it. And that’s OK, because it’s not for older people.

BH: How do you feel about this being your last year?

AC: I’m definitely going to miss this experience. Instead of focusing on not getting to do it for another year, we’re all really reflecting on how amazing these past couple of years have been and how amazing this next year is going to be, and just trying to appreciate every single second of it.

BH: What do you think the biggest takeaway is going to be?

AC: I definitely think my biggest takeaway is going to be the ability to perform, the experience of touring for three years and the amazing friends I can keep from this.

BC: What’s hard about it? What won’t you miss?

AC: There’s not a lot that I won’t miss. I guess maybe seeing my siblings more because being on tour means that we’re not with our entire families all the time. So I’ll definitely get to reconnect with my friends at home a little bit more, and more family time. But we do get those opportunities on this job too.