Some Thoughts on Rebecca Black

Last Friday, City High students were split into two very clear groups: those singing Rebecca Black’s youtube sensation “Friday” like an anthem, and those with hands over their ears and murder in their eyes.I found myself in the second category.

It wasn’t the whiny voice, the annoying chorus, or the fact that 13-year-olds cannot drive that sent me over the edge. It was the interview she gave to ABC that convinced me that something was desperately wrong.

I have two large problems with the interview. First, Rebecca claims she has accomplished something by creating a song no one can get out of their heads. Has music descended to this level? If I come up with a tune irritating enough to get stuck in people’s heads, can I too become an overnight celebrity?

My second problem is with Andrea Canning, who conducted the ABC interview. In her words the song has made Rebecca “a target for extreme hatred and cyberbullying.”

Rebecca has not been cyberbullied. The definition of bullying is a habitual action meant to abuse or intimidate a weaker person. “Friday” was released only a week ago so these comments are not habitual. They may be meant to abuse and intimidate, but these are not people she knows, masking their identity with the Internet, waiting to strike out at her. They are critics.

She has created a piece of art (I use the term loosely) and sent it out into the world. She has made the transition from ordinary girl to a chart-topping artist, and more than 40 million people have watched her music video. She is living the dream, on top of the world. But that does not exempt her in any way from the critics of this world. Every other celebrity deals with negativity, so she cannot expect anything different.

It is true that she is young, and negative attention at that age hurts deeply. But she chose this, even if she didn’t know how far it was going to go. If she can’t take the pressure, she doesn’t deserve the spotlight. If she can’t play with the big kids, it’s time for her to go home.

Source: http://thelittlehawk.com/

In Defense of "Friday" Singer Rebecca Black

When we want to pick on someone in the media, young YouTube-powered pop stars may be the lowest-hanging fruit. Witness the collective condemnation of Rebecca Black, the 13-year-old California girl who partnered with a vanity record label to make what many consider the Battlefield Earth of pop songs and the worst music video of all time: "Friday." 

It's surprising that venerable bastions of news like TIME and Slate even bothered to give the song and video a thumbs down, but that only contributed to the legend. Tosh.O got into the act, and there are currently way more Friday parodies than days of the week. Right now it's hipper to slam "Friday" than it is to love Justin Bieber.

But are the "Friday" lyrics any cheesier than some of those in beloved songs by bona fide stars Willow Smith and Ke$ha? Let's compare.

In Friday, Black sings: "It's Friday, Friday/Gotta get down on Friday/Everybody’s lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend/Friday, Friday/Gettin' down on Friday/Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend."

 The lyrics to 10-year-old Willow Smith's "21st Century Girl" aren't exactly poetry by comparison: "I'm the type of chick/That likes to rock the beat/I like to rock the beat/I like to rock, to rock the beat/21st Century Girl/I do what I like/21st Century Girl/I'm taking you for a ride/21st Century Girl/Yeah, I'm gonna live it up." 

But at least Smith is only 10. Ke$ha is 24 and rocking lyrics like these in the appropriately named "Blah Blah Blah": "Oh Blah-di-blah blah, blah-di blah blah blah/Comin' out your mouth with your blah blah blah/Zip your lips like a padlock/And meet me in the back with a jack at the jukebox/I don't really care where you live at/Just turn around, boy, let me hit that."

We don't have to love "Friday" (it's not like Black is up for a Grammy or anything), but why tear it down so harshly? After all Ke$ha and Willow have legitimate producers; all Rebecca had was a dream and $2000 to make her music video. 

Black says she feels like she's being cyberbullied -- and indeed she is. What else would you call experiencing a barrage of ridicule across the Internet? What did Rebecca do to deserve all this negative attention while others do virtually the same thing -- at times way more inappropriately -- and receive nothing but adoration?

I think Rebecca's earned a three-day weekend and then some... especially now that she's scored a real manager.

Read More http://www.ivillage.com/defense-friday-singer-rebecca-black/1-a-335771#ixzz1IS9U7i2O