# Trying to make sense of this Rebecca Black thing... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151 "2011-08-26T07:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/21 "2011-08-27T02:28:11Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > How does that even work? How do you get paid for youtube views? [Youtube Partner Program.](http://www.youtube.com/t/partnerships_benefits) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/22 "2011-08-27T02:32:24Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > “Friday” is the worst song most people have ever heard with that level of production and obvious money spend on it. Yeah, it’s bad, but don’t discount the complete lack of production values. Shitty songs have cost more. Look at “MacArthur Park.” ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/23 "2011-08-27T03:19:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Yeah, it’s bad, but don’t discount the complete lack of production values. Shitty songs have cost more. Look at “MacArthur Park.” I don’t think MacArthur park is in the same ballpark of bad. It’s overwrought nonsense. Friday literally sounds like somebody reading a slightly mistranslated children’s primer about the days of the week. The production values in Friday aren’t so much “lacking” as “bad.” It’s overproduced in a stunningly silly way. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/24 "2011-08-27T03:35:12Z")
Ark Music factory has dozens of [videos from its current and former clients](http://www.youtube.com/trizzy66) up on youtube. The most recent: [Lexi St. George – “Dancing to the Rhythm”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UCdcW0RgII) You could make the same criticisms about all of them. So what was it about the Friday video that caught the public’s attention that the previous and subsequent videos lacked? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/25 "2011-08-27T04:01:07Z")
I had never heard of her before this thread, so I Googled up the video. It’s pretty lame, especially the lyrics, but it’s not William Hung bad, it’s just really amateurish. I’m assuming a lot of the viral nature if the video is ironic? People making fun of it? I see that her Wiki page says she had to leave her school because of harassment and bullying she started receiving after the video took off. She even got death threats, apparently. If I had to guess at the reason for the hatred, it’s probably just envy. She got something for very little. It’s easy to accept that if a person has some kind of obvious talent, but if they’re completely ordinary, it’s harder to take. People feel like it could have just as easily been them. None of that is an excuse for the harassment, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/26 "2011-08-27T04:16:47Z")
[Previous thread from back in March.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=602048) [And another thread, from May.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=609192) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/27 "2011-08-27T04:30:44Z")
It’s shit. As if most of pop music isn’t shit. Those of you (William) hung up on it, give it a rest and go back to sleep. There have been FAR crappier hits. Ask your parents and grandparents, though we will deny spending our paperboy earnings on that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/28 "2011-08-27T04:38:15Z")
I was at best slightly aware of the “Friday” thing before this thread, so I checked YouTube, watched a parody version that was so damn funny that I don’t _want_ to watch the original now because it’ll be a letdown, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/29 "2011-08-27T04:45:28Z")
It is. Avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Cara\_mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Cara\_mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cara_mel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/30 "2011-08-27T05:41:43Z")
If you lived through the 70’s, you will know there is much worse than Friday. It’s a pop song, by a kinda cute fresh-faced girl. It’s Friday, Friday, gotta down on Friday… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/31 "2011-08-27T08:02:39Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Ark Music factory has dozens of [videos from its current and former clients](http://www.youtube.com/trizzy66) up on youtube. The most recent: [Lexi St. George – “Dancing to the Rhythm”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UCdcW0RgII) > > You could make the same criticisms about all of them. So what was it about the Friday video that caught the public’s attention that the previous and subsequent videos lacked? The song [Butterflies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xHfRUW99aI&feature=relmfu) is decent, although the vox could be improved. I could imagine if it was rerecorded it could be a hit, even maybe for a country artist. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/32 "2011-08-27T12:50:42Z")
> [@](#): > > **DKW** : > Michael Jackson was a fluke. Michael Jackson was a fluke. Perhaps all pop success (or even all mega-success in general) is a fluke to some extent, but Michael Jackson is one of the worst possible examples of this that you could choose. Not only was Michael’s success the product of relentless training and promotion, from an early age (by his father), I think it is clear that he also had an immense innate talent (not particularly shared by his similarly trained siblings) as a singer. I am not, actually, a huge fan of his music (I find most of he actual _songs_ uninteresting), but anyone who make an otherwise cliched song about a pet rat genuinely moving is, IMHO, a vocalist of real genius. Jackson’s case is about as far away from Black’s as you could get. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/33 "2011-08-27T13:14:15Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > “Friday” is the worst song most people have ever heard with that level of production and obvious money spend on it. > > That’s all there is to it. It’s not lousy like a Black Eyed Peas filler track lousy. I’m not convinced “Friday” is worse than “My Humps”, which was an international top ten hit. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/34 "2011-08-27T13:38:44Z")
Re: Justin Bieber - have you ever encountered [Gordon Pinsent reading](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih-2O_gdYZo) from Justin Bieber’s biography? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/35 "2011-08-27T14:07:45Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I’m not convinced “Friday” is worse than “My Humps”, which was an international top ten hit. It is. My Humps is exactly what it intends to be: vapid and earwormy. It’s pop pablum with intentionally goofy lyrics that caught on like crazy. Fergie probably wanted you to hate it. “Friday” includes a line about eating cereal. Which doesn’t rhyme with anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/36 "2011-08-27T14:10:19Z")
Maybe it’s meant to be ethereal. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/37 "2011-08-27T14:43:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Maybe it’s meant to be ethereal. Or just one more required step in her day, showing that life is serial in nature. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/38 "2011-08-27T16:18:26Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > I would be interested to know if anyone could explain how Rebecca Black came to be credited for writing the song. She paid them to do the song and video making each a [work for hire](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_hire). In a standard recording contract, the record company would own the master recording. And copyright for songs is automatically attributed to the author. And RB Rebecca Black is in Katy Perry’s latest video extending her 15 minutes. If reality stars can stay relevant as long as they have, I don’t see any reason RB Rebecca Black can’t do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/39 "2011-08-27T17:13:38Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > It is. My Humps is exactly what it intends to be: vapid and earwormy. And you think “Friday” was intended to be what, a deeply moving glimpse into the hidden depths of the human soul? I doubt anyone involved failed to notice that it was a stupid song about being excited about the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151/40 "2011-08-27T17:25:27Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > And you think “Friday” was intended to be what, a deeply moving glimpse into the hidden depths of the human soul? I doubt anyone involved failed to notice that it was a stupid song about being excited about the weekend. Personally, I was watchin’ to see what she would do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-make-sense-of-this-rebecca-black-thing/594151.md?page=3)