the song was first announced as the album's second single when the group announced they were to perform the song live on "the x factor" final on 12 december 2010; however they instead performed "the flood" after simon cowell felt the song would reflect the recent riots and protests over the rising student tuition fees, due to the song lyrics and their backing dancers being dressed as riot police. "kidz" was officially announced as the second single from "progress" on 12 january 2011. the single artwork was posted onto take that's official website on 7 february 2011. the single was initially going to be released on 28 february 2011, but the date was moved forward to 21 february 2011. the single's b-side is "rocket ship", also sung by gary barlow and mark owen, who uses falsetto. the digital download single was packaged with a remix entitled "revenge of the kidz", which was mixed by howard donald.