Friday by Rebecca Black

[Big Phil]

Why are people losing their collective minds over this song/video? Yes, the song is stupid, and yes, the singing is nothing special. But this song is no more idiotic than anything produced/performed by Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, or Jessica Simpson. And at least the content is age appropriate - she's a 13 year old girl, after all, unlike some other young singers who write/perform songs that even people 10 years their senior would have a tough time pulling off.

For what it's worth, I think this song is better than Lady Gaga's Born this Way, which other than sounding vaguely like Madonna isn't catching a whole lot of flak, but my god that is stupid fucking song.

[aerius]

You might as well ask why we have Justin Beiber mania. Honestly, I can't say that I want to know. Pop music is what it is and this is the kind of stuff that pops up every few years and makes people lose their shit. It just happens.

[Hawkwings]

At least Lady Gaga has musical talent. This thing is just insultingly bad on multiple levels. The singing is terrible (FEEL the autotune!) and has no emotion. The lyrics are just bad, full stop. The obligatory black person rapping is terrible also. It's a Frankenstein's monster of other songs' notable portions all mashed together.

EDIT: marginally relevant but I just have to share this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xyn7vDZAr4

[Big Phil]

Her perceived lack of musical talent (which is bullshit, she can sing reasonably well - she's not Whitney Houston (pre crack), but she's hardly a horrible singer) aside, how does that justify people going apeshit? How is this song any worse than Taylor Swift's Love Story (ooh, let's retell Romeo and Juliet country style!), or anything by Ke$ha or Britney Spears? This is hardly a good song, but neither is it "THE WORST SONG EVER MADE!!!"

[Hawkwings]

Her voice is nasally and autotuned, so we don't have a good idea of how well she can actually sing.

I think a large portion of the hate arises from the lyrics. I mean, the tune isn't terrible (there certainly are better, but it's not the worst thing ever) but the words are simplistic in the extreme, delivered with no emotion, and incredibly repetitive. I dare you to find any popular artist with less emotion and enthusiasm in their singing/acting.

It doesn't help that the song doesn't go anywhere. I mean, some songs have a plot, some songs talk about what happened to the singer, some songs deliver a message of some kind. What does this song do? Nothing at all. She talks about eating cereal, going to the bus stop, and partying with her friends on Friday. That's a poor excuse for Twitter updates, let alone a song. Take your example for instance. Love Story tells a story about a girl and a boy and forbidden love but it turns out ok in the end. There's a progression in that song, it is moving forward naturally due to its plot. Who cares if the plot is simplistic? It doesn't have to be Shakespeare (haha) to help the song and connect with its audience.

Plus Taylor Swift is far more emotive than this girl, both in singing and the acting in the video.

Another aspect is probably that it's just so damn easy to make fun of this song. Every song is going to have its haters out there, because of something bad in the song: the singer or the tune or the lyrics or some particular aspect of the music video. This has so many of those bad qualities that it may just cater to every sort of hater out there.

[Broomstick]

C'mon, people, she is thirteen - really, for that age it's not bad.

What's odd is that she seems to be held up as the next Justin Beiber.

It's innocuous pop glurge for the 21st Century. I've been hearing low-content pop tunes since... well, the 1960's. You may not recall that stuff, because it didn't last. Rather doubt this one will either.

I say let her enjoy her 15 minutes of fame.

And yes, it will be mocked without mercy.

[Hawkwings]

Age really shouldn't be a consideration here. Young and old alike can engage in creative endeavors and succeed or fail on their own merits.

Anyways, she is laughing all the way to the bank probably. Cost $2000 for the experience and I'm sure it's already taken in more than that off iTunes and the like. Such is the power of social media...

EDIT: so some quick research later... apparently it was a pre-written song by ARK Music Factory. So now we know who to blame for the horrendous lyrics.

[Ryan Thunder]

Her voice is nasally and autotuned, so we don't have a good idea of how well she can actually sing.

That song gave me a headache after about 30 seconds.

[Darth Fanboy]

Aside from being about as musically appealing as a guy taking a dump in a taco bell bathroom with good acoustics, I think a lot of people lament this song as yet another blatant attempt by the recording industry to make blaand stuff to spoonfeed to kids who will then make their parents buy the CDs rather than encourage anything remotely creative.

Plus the autotuning, maybe if she actually sang the song it would be different, well a little different.

[tim31]

I gotta be honest; I'm going to pitch to the rest of the band to get this one covered in the near future for a short time only to ride the irony train. At certain venues and on a certain day of the week.

[Hawkwings]

Aside from being about as musically appealing as a guy taking a dump in a taco bell bathroom with good acoustics, I think a lot of people lament this song as yet another blatant attempt by the recording industry to make blaand stuff to spoonfeed to kids who will then make their parents buy the CDs rather than encourage anything remotely creative.

While this is a common and valid sentiment, this song wasn't produced by some rich record label seeking to make tons of money by shoveling derivative drivel down people's ears.

[J]

Her perceived lack of musical talent (which is bullshit, she can sing reasonably well - she's not Whitney Houston (pre crack), but she's hardly a horrible singer) aside, how does that justify people going apeshit? How is this song any worse than Taylor Swift's Love Story (ooh, let's retell Romeo and Juliet country style!), or anything by Ke$ha or Britney Spears? This is hardly a good song, but neither is it "THE WORST SONG EVER MADE!!!"

Ummm...sing reasonably well? Are you sure about that? If I heard this song on its own somewhere I'd be convinced that scientists had made a breakthrough and programmed the art of singing into Stephen Hawking's speech computer. Ok, so she's not William Hung bad yet even a lackluster singer such as Britney is still music to my ears compared to her.

Is this the worst song ever? Hardly, but let's be honest, it's rather like sorting through dog poop, cow patties and elephant diarrhea, it's all stinking crap and we're merely deciding which one's the worst turd.

[Darth Fanboy]

While this is a common and valid sentiment, this song wasn't produced by some rich record label seeking to make tons of money by shoveling derivative drivel down people's ears.

MAybe you're right, maybe this is all just a cruel joke...unfortunately it's not

It was produced by SOMEONE who wants to shove derivative drivel, and it's a record label that's eventually going to get the money given how corrupt the industry is the way the industry works. Given the population of the United States, the widespread availability of music, plus the fact that kids are spending their parents money on top of what they have, it's not difficult for something like this to take off and go platinum before long. Now with autotuning so popular you can almost literally manufacture a pop star and/or a hit single

[FSTargetDrone]

Charlotte Church was 12 when her first album came out. Here she is at 11 years old:



She can sing. This girl cannot.

I think this song is perfect for people under the age of 6 or anyone who needs reinforcement of how the days of the week are ordered. That said, I will now go chemically remove the memory of it from my brain.

[Dominus Atheos]

Her voice is nasally and autotuned, so we don't have a good idea of how well she can actually sing.

That song gave me a headache after about 30 seconds.

[HMS Sophia]

Newspapers over here say she is recording an album currently...
I fear for our souls...

[aerius]

MAybe you're right, maybe this is all just a cruel joke...unfortunately it's not

It's hard to tell sometimes, people are using this song to Rick Roll people now. That's actually how I first discovered this damn thing.

That said, I will now go chemically remove the memory of it from my brain.

Sarah therapy works quite well. Pop in the Afterglow Live DVD and you'll feel much better after a couple songs.

[FSTargetDrone]

That said, I will now go chemically remove the memory of it from my brain.

Sarah therapy works quite well. Pop in the Afterglow Live DVD and you'll feel much better after a couple songs.

Good plan! We haven't watched it in quite awhile. Or the Mirrorball DVD.

[RedImperator]

ARK Music Factory is a vanity record label. For two grand, they provide the lyrics, a/v recording equipment, and autotune magic. Their target market is teenagers whose parents have more money than sense, and all of their songs look and sound like this. By all accounts, Rebecca Black just thought it would be fun to make a "professional" music video and her parents had the money to pay for a session, so she went and did it. Then, somehow, the video went viral. At first, I actually felt bad for her because she was taking some really hateful abuse from dickheads on the Internet, and I still do, a little bit, but in interviews she seems to be fairly level-headed about the whole thing, and she's probably going to come out of this with a huge pile of money, so she'll be all right.

You know who I do worry about? I worry about the parents who really can't afford to blow two grand on a vanity record, who are going to do it anyway because some hustler from ARK Music Factory convinces them their kid could be the next Rebecca Black.

[Guardsman Bass]

I heard about that as well. The black guy rapping about changing lanes in the middle of "Friday" is the guy who runs much of it, Patrice Wilson.

[Broomstick]

I saw the girl on the Tonight Show - she does seem pretty level-headed about the whole thing, enjoying her 15 minutes of fame. She also stood up and performed the number - I suspected lip syncing, but maybe that was autotuned as well. Sounded just like the video, actually.

Basically, she won the lottery in a sense - she got noticed. Whether or not that will translate into anything long term remains to be seen.

[aerius]

ARK Music Factory is a vanity record label. For two grand, they provide the lyrics, a/v recording equipment, and autotune magic. Their target market is teenagers whose parents have more money than sense, and all of their songs look and sound like this. By all accounts, Rebecca Black just thought it would be fun to make a "professional" music video and her parents had the money to pay for a session, so she went and did it. Then, somehow, the video went viral.

That would explain a lot. I don't listen to radio much these days but I was kinda wondering why I hadn't heard this song yet when it was already all over the internet. Damn, vanity record labels, I can't say I've heard of that business model before but then again I'm a bit out of touch with things these days. Thinking about it a bit, with Youtube and all the other video sharing sites these days it could be a hell of a way to cut the traditional music industry out of the loop.

[Phantasee]

I didn't know about vanity record labels either, but I was convinced she just had to be a Somebody's kid. There is no effort put into the song lyrics, performance, or the video. It smelled like the kind of thing you give a kid who already has a pony.

People are liking it ironically which drives everyone else up the wall. "Oh haha this is so terrible lemme just put it on repeat for 12 hours LOL" is more or less the reaction I've seen.

[tim31]

Charlotte Church was 12 when her first album came out. Here she is at 11 years old:

A family member bought her first album. I listened along, then wrote Will go off the rails completely in five years on a piece of paper, folded it in half and handed it to my sister with the instructions to read it in 2004 as proof of my long-distance perception.

Who's laughing now?

[RedImperator]

ARK Music Factory is a vanity record label. For two grand, they provide the lyrics, a/v recording equipment, and autotune magic. Their target market is teenagers whose parents have more money than sense, and all of their songs look and sound like this. By all accounts, Rebecca Black just thought it would be fun to make a "professional" music video and her parents had the money to pay for a session, so she went and did it. Then, somehow, the video went viral.

That would explain a lot. I don't listen to radio much these days but I was kinda wondering why I hadn't heard this song yet when it was already all over the internet. Damn, vanity record labels, I can't say I've heard of that business model before but then again I'm a bit out of touch with things these days. Thinking about it a bit, with Youtube and all the other video sharing sites these days it could be a hell of a way to cut the traditional music industry out of the loop.

Hilariously, the recording industry's standard practices would be considered vanity publishing in the book business.

Anyway, I don't think this is a way to really cut the music industry out of the loop. Video sharing already provided that, and most independent musicians presumably already have their own instruments. I have no idea what it costs to rent a studio, but it has to be cheaper than what Ark is charging. I suppose what Ark does offer is a way to become an independent pre-packaged Autotune pop star, but frankly, one bolt from the blue like Rebecca Black doesn't suddenly mean 13 year olds from Orange County generally stand a chance against the big labels' disposable pop star manufacturing operations.