As I spent the past few hours attempting to get a bit of studying done, I decided to take a quick break and browse through a few YouTube videos.
To my dismay, the first — and almost only — subject I see is by, and about, Rebecca Black’s video “Friday.” With more than 85 million views, I couldn’t help but watch it to see what the hype is about. And then, I couldn’t help but wish I didn’t.
I’m not going to lie, I don’t like this song. The lyrics don’t have any purpose, its similarity to a Justin Bieber song is uncanny and Rebecca Black’s voice is auto-tuned like none other. But, I’m not going to be one of the many people who are bashing this girl, who’s only 13 years old.
I’ll admit that I am a little confused as to where she randomly appeared from. But after all, she’s doing what we all wish we could. She’s using a song that’s similar to one that is already a hit, Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” and becoming a worldwide phenomenon. She’s working toward her dream, and is most likely making millions already just from her interviews. Here I am, the college kid trying to make enough money for the coming weeks. I don’t like the song, but I definitely don’t have the right to bash.
Also, even though the song isn’t the best, and it most likely will not be on the radio anytime soon, I have to admit that it is catchy. The tune is like many commercial advertisements that get stuck in your head. As hard as you might try, you just can’t get rid of it.
After some research on tvguide.com, I discovered that Black was only given two song choices by her agency to record: one about superheroes and one about Friday. If we think about this, we realize that it actually makes sense that she chose the song “Friday.” She did not have input in the song choice overall, so we can’t blame her.
Watching her defend herself while being interviewed by multiple news stations, I can’t help but feel bad for her. All she’s trying to do is follow her dream and people seem to only point out the negative. For being so young, she has a decent voice and is capable of getting somewhere with some hard work. With her own song choices in the future, we could see some major improvement. I think it’s time to put away our anger and jealousy, and support her goal.
Despite the fact that she’s found herself a path towards stardom, and I support that, I can’t help but wonder – does this song really need to be that popular? Because I’d like to enjoy my Fridays, not spend them standing at an OSU bus stop listening to women in their 40s singing about the days of the week. Sorry Rebecca, good strategy, but we not so excited.
