For those unsure about the sometimes-misunderstood difference between ‘Kitsch’ and ‘Camp’, Dr. Freya Jarman, who is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Music at the University of Liverpool, UK, provides a concise definition :
“Camp enjoys and glorifies its own awfulness where kitsch doesn‘t realise it.”
Dr. Jarman researches how ‘camp’ works, musically. See, for example: ‘Notes on Musical Camp’, in: The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology, ed. Derek B. Scott. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2009), 189-203, which cites this 1969 performance by (the late) Liberace :
Unfortunately, another reference-video cited in the paper, Charlotte Church – Don’t Rain On My Parade appears to be damaged, so instead, with the definition above in mind . . .
Here is an Improbable mini-cornucopia of possible camp / kitsch renditions which might serve as a starting point for comparisons along the lines of – Camp? Kitsch? Neither? Both?
● Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
● Queen – I Want To Break Free
● Cliff Richard – Bachelor Boy
● Pet Shop Boys – Go West
● Rammstein – Seemann
● The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Canyons Of Your Mind
● Boney M – Daddy Cool
● Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
● Lang Lang – Schubert Standchen (Serenade)
● Mick Jagger & David Bowie – Dancing In The Street
● Robbie Williams – You Know Me
● Kenneth Williams – The Marrow Song (Oh! What a Beauty!)
● Katy Perry – California Gurls (featuring Snoop Dogg)