Today is Friday. What’s before Friday? Thursday. What’s after Friday? Saturday. Ah, the timeless words of the musical prodigy, Rebecca Black.
Her new hit single, “Friday,” superbly follows the guidelines of a typical teenage life song. It discusses how she’s “partying (woo!)” with her friends and brings up a very pertinent dilemma, whether to “kick it in the front seat or the back seat.” Just to clarify, the past 64 words were completely sarcastic.
This video is one of the many cases of YouTube hits that are popular because they’re so horrible. (This category also includes clips from Tommy Wiseau’s movie, “The Room”). One of the main problems, in my professional musical opinion, is that the song doesn’t rhyme. The closest the lyrics get to actually being lyrical are when she sings (NASALLY), “got to grab a bowl, got to have cereal.” Afterwards, she doesn’t even bother with it. It doesn’t help that the song is full of ridiculous events and “fun facts” about the days of the week. In order for a song to be appealing, it has to tell a deeper story to its listeners. Just look at this year’s biggest hits, like “Forget You” and “Need You Now.” These lyrics draw the listeners’ attention by telling hilarious and heartfelt tales, respectively, and actually making a connection with the audience. “Friday” may represent a common feeling among teens about being excited for the weekend, but it’s too much of a caricature to be effective. Plus, it’s never a good idea to have a melody that’s reminiscent of Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”
But even with a horrible song, it would have been possible to salvage the effort if the video had been engaging but, sadly, the Ark Music Factory failed in that aspect. None of the performers in the video look remotely excited and, when there’s no energy, an audience can’t be motivated. Rebecca has no stage presence, and her friends just look awkward (especially the one in the pink dress).
This video has had nearly 15 million hits on YouTube thus far, but it is far from being “famous” or a “big hit.” A better term would be that it’s “notorious.” Rebecca Black had better improve on not just her vocals, but her song lyrics and presentation if she wants to be renowned rather than just ridiculed.
In her defense she did not actually write the song. And she's actually taken the criticism pretty well for a 13 year old. But yes it is a terrible song and it is horribly auto tuned. And it made me want to tear my ears out.
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