Did your parents make you listen to Kidz Bop CDs back in the day? If so, we apologize for inadvertently triggering your childhood trauma.

For everyone else, let's admire all the ways this seemingly innocent brand manages to embarrass itself over and over. From horrendous production to inexplicable lyric changes to a litany of ill-advised spinoffs and marketing gimmicks, Kidz Bop is living proof that sometimes the solution is worse than the original problem...

NOTE: We recorded this episode a couple days after the ICE shooting of Alex Pretti, which kind of fucked with our heads as you can tell. Also Nick had a cold which is why you can hear him coughing at several points. Enjoy!

FOLLOW US:
Instagram: polishing.podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@polishing_turds
email: polishingturdspodcast@gmail.com

We're back for our 5th annual Polishing Turds Holiday special! This year we'll be covering the wacky and disturbing world of AI, perhaps the one instrument capable of making Christmas music even worse. We'll take you on a cringe-tastic sleigh ride through vast snowfields of slop; from carols of reindeer sacrifice to fake vulgar Motown hits through - and I swear to god this real - a veritable library of AI Eminem singing gospel music. Don't say you weren't warned....

Select sources for this episode:

Janelle Shane's early forays into AI Christmas Carols: https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-ais-carol-19-12-24/

https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-christmas-music/

Mic the Snare video on spotting AI in music: https://youtu.be/hld8CNQdjQs?si=pVRQTldRYzRQD9MH

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/are-you-listening-bots-survey-shows-ai-music-is-virtually-undetectable-2025-11-12/

THE WEIRDEST GODDAMN YOUTUBE CHANNEL THAT EXISTS: https://www.youtube.com/@MusicBarronTrump

FOLLOW US:
Instagram: polishing.podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@polishing_turds
email: polishingturdspodcast@gmail.com

In the conclusion of our series, we bring the Babymetal story up to date. Like it our not, these kawaii heroines are here to stay, having upset the Metal Establishment and fostered a fanatically loyal fanbase that follows them through every puzzling career move. But are they in fact "the future of metal"? And if so is that a good or bad thing for the genre as a whole?

Other topics of discussion include some bizarre Babymetal collabs, kawaii metal imitators and the mysterious departure of founding member Yui-metal.

FOLLOW US:
Instagram: polishing.podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@polishing_turds
email: polishingturdspodcast@gmail.com