When Matt Martinez left his New Jersey home to join the world of Kidz Bop, he was only 10 years old.
He was goofy and cute, with oversized glasses and a silly sense of humor that cracked up the other kids in thegroup.
Almost four years later, Martinez is a lanky teen with a deep voice and soulful eyes.His peers probably still laugh at his jokes, but now he's also crush-worthy.
So it's not surprising that "Kidz Bop 33" is Martinez's last album with the squeaky-clean ensemble, which for 15 years has been burning up the charts with G-rated covers of pop hits.
"We're getting old," Martinez confirmed. "We're still doing our tour, but "33" was our last and a new group will recordthe next one."
Until then, the current group will continue to connect with its young audience. The Kidz Bop Kids shot avideo for the DreamWorks movie "Trolls," performing Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling," joined on screen by the animated troll characters. "Trolls" opens Nov.4, starring Timberlake and Anna Kendrick, with Zoey Deschanel, James Corden, Gwen Stefani and Russell Brand.
The "Life Of The Party" tour continues Nov. 6 with two shows, at noon and 3 p.m., at Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth St. in Red Bank. Tickets are $35, $25 and $19. VIP tickets, which include a meet-and-greet with the performers, are available for $50.For tickets, go to countbasietheatre.org or call 732-842-9000.
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Martinez, who is from Guttenberg in Hudson County, has spent a key part of his childhood recording and touring with the Kidz Bop Kidz: Ashlynn Chong, Grant Knoche and Sela Hack, who replaced Bredia Santoro earlier this year.They are a tight group.
"It's been a good environment, being in Kidz Bop," Martinez said. "We've always been together, either in school or music or in training. Our love of music has evolved and our variety of interests has expanded as well."
Martinez loves todance — he was a member of the children's dance team for the New York Nets and Knicks before joining Kidz Bop — and he still counts Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars among his inspirations. But he also has grown to appreciate the styles of Justin Bieber, who went from wholesome pre-teen idol to something edgier without losing his pop sensibility, and of Kanye West, who is as much entrepreneur as musician.
"He knows what he's doing and he does it well," Martinez said of West."With his shoes and clothing line, he's got a lot going on."
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As it happens, Kidz Bop has teamed up with Crazy 8, the children's clothing company, to create a limited-edition line of clothes for kids, in sizes that fitbabies, children andyoung teens. The clothes are trendy but age-appropriate, with bomber jackets,joggerpants and apparel in plaids, faux fur and sparkling accents.
The line is said to be inspired by the personalities of the four Kidz Bop Kidz. For Martinez, that means "lots of baseball T-shirts, jackets, jeans, cool shoes, lots of gray and black with cool details.
"Sort of nerdy-sporty-classy," he added.
The Crazy 8 partnership firms up the Kidz Bop empire. With more than 17 million Kidz Bop albums sold since the brand launched in 2001, Kidz Bop has ranked as Billboard's top children's artist since 2010.Kidz Bop also can be found onchannel 77 on SiriusXM. "Kidz Bop Radio" is devoted to recent Kidz Bop recordings and is hosted by the kids themselves.
Kidz Bop has had 23 Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 Chart, surpassed only by The Beatles, Barbra Streisandand the Rolling Stones. In 2015, the group sold more albums than Nick Jonas, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Derulo, and Rihannacombined.
The New York-based company was founded byCliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam, who previously founded the Razor & Tiemusic label.
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What's next for Martinez, in the post-Kidz Bop phase of his life? If he's lucky, his experience might lead him to higher profile jobs. Fellow alumni of Kidz Bop have gone on to bright careers, including Zendaya, of the Disney Channel;Becky G, who had a pop hit with "Shower"; Ross Lynch of the pop group R5;Elijah "EJ" Johnson of the boy bandMIndless Behavior;the actor Noah Munck; and the actress Olivia Holt.
Before his tenure ends with Kidz Bop, Martinez hopes to meet with his successors.
"I hope to give them a pep talk and tell them what to expect and what opportunities are in front of them," he said. "It'd be a way to pass it to the new generation."
