Rebecca Black made a music video when she was 13, called “Friday”. She posted it on the internet, and the video went viral for the wrong reason.
The Video Was Taken Up by Comedians and Took Off
When the video was originally posted on February 10, 2011 it received 4,000 views.
Then, comedian Michael J Nelson posted it on his Twitter account and it went on Tosh.0’s blog post called “Song writing Isn’t for Everyone” and it brought the video more attention, and not the kind of attention that was wanted. It went viral.
The Extent of the Viral Views
As of June 15th 2011, the video had more than 166 million views making it among the top 20 most watched YouTube videos of all time.
Comments on the Video Had to be Disabled
Not content to merely watch, or simply post “no thanks”, people had to comment. The comments were critical of the video’s lyrics and the use of Auto-Tune for Black’s vocals. People posted that she sucked, that she should kill herself, etc.
Eventually, there were so many comments that required approval before they could be posted and they were so terrible that the comments had to be disabled.
Black Was Harassed at School
The other kids at school would make remarks like, “guess what day it is” and they would sing “Friday” in mocking voices, and even threw food at her.
It got so bad that Black dropped out of school, and her mother, who was a teacher, started homeschooling her. Her mother also felt that it would give her daughter a chance to focus on her career.
Black Wishes She Could Talk to Her Younger Self
The bullying that Black experienced left her feeling shame, and she developed a fear of the world over the video when she was 13. When she was 15, she felt she couldn’t speak to anyone about her depression.
Black Has Learned to Move On
Black was mature enough to learn from what happened and realizes that a person is not defined by one thing, or one choice they have made.
She knows time heals and that nothing is forever, and that it is never too late to start on something else. She is trying to be positive about “Friday” and not let that one song define her and her career.
Any Publicity is Good Publicity
A cover of “Friday” was performed on the show Glee in the second-season episode called “Prom Queen”.
Show creator Ryan Murphy has remarked that having the cover of “Friday” on Glee was done because his show pays tribute to pop culture, good or bad, and “Friday” is pop culture.
She is Still a YouTuber and Singer
Black is now 22 and is still a YouTuber and singer, though she feels that she has experienced career setbacks because of “Friday”. When she was 19, she wrote that producers and songwriters told her they would never work with her.
Say what you will. That video made her enough to pay off a college tuition.
