By now, everybody but the amish has seen Rebecca Black's "Friday" video or heard part of the song. When this thing broke big, I wondered if she wasn't actually destined for stardom.
Not because she's talented, though I do think she has some talent. But because, in the same way Paris Hilton got famous for making a sex-tape, the public soon forgets why you got famous, and just remembers that you are famous.
I doubt many people genuinely like her song much. However, it's not something that's bad per se. It's just sorta silly and not particularly well done. Even there, it's not her voice or the production values that stink, it's the innane lyrics, mostly. The first thing I thought once I caught my breath from all the laughing is that a lot of folks will download and listen to this song due to the hilarious irony, but ultimately, this will let it catch on. Pop music has never and will never be about the lyrics. Sometimes, the dumber, the better.
Some of this backlash, undoubtedly, is that her parents had the money to get this done for her. If this had been just her and an acoustic guitar, the song could still have gone viral, but the reality is that the production values on the song are excellent and the video, though not particularly well-concieved, was shot and edited pretty well.
It's the lyrics of the song and the lack of a coherent script for the video, juxtaposed with the relatively high production values that gives this whole thing a hilarious incongruity.
And while I'm putting aside my hater's hat, I heard on Slate Culture Gabfest that this thing was done for $2,000. All I'm gonna say there is, that's amazing. Song and video for $2,000? Really? The guys at Ark Studios have taken a bashing on this, but frankly, I don't think they deserve it. Based on this, I'd have no qualms about letting them record and video a song I did. The production values are really pretty good.
It's the creative side that they need a little help with, but frankly, the creative side is not that easy to do. Millions of people are trying their best at that stuff every day and very few break through the background noise. Also, the $2,000 included providing her with the song, which was already written.
(This may account for the low cost, too. If they wrote the song, they could have already put together all the studio tracks in advance. Still, a lot of work, but maybe they didn't mind because they were able to assemble it without a deadline, during otherwise downtime at their studio.)
I can easily see her becoming a public figure with a career as a celebrity. She's young enough that she can live this down with things she does later in life. Alanis Morissette started out with an album that had tracks on it that were worse than "Friday", and her next album was considered an edgy, genre-defining masterpiece.
Yeah, this is mostly an accident. I doubt she or Ark did this whole thing looking to write a song that was so campy that it gets universally bagged on. A relative in France even told me that this thing has gone international. Granted, she said that in France, it's being called the worst song of the year, but still.
She can sing. She's sorta cute. Most importantly, she's famous, now. We've seen entertainment careers built on less.
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