in defense of Rebecca Black and 'Friday'.... an editorial....

A LOT has been written, said and joked about regarding the up and coming singer, Rebecca Black. She's a 13 year old 8th grader and the girl with the hottest internet music breakout in a long time. The sad thing is that it's not a positive breakout, she's the butt of just about every joke online and has spawned a meme all her own. You can't get online, visit a website or turn on the TV without hearing her mentioned in one way or another. As of the last check on http://www.youtube.com/, she was at 35 million hits for her video for 'Friday'. That's nothing to sneeze at for a 13 year old who was virtually unknown a couple of weeks ago. I admit that I have been a part of the majority of people who joked and teased about the horrible lyrics and tacky music that she had produced, but after some thought and a viewing of her 'Good Morning America' appearance I started to re-think things a little bit. I know that this editorial may not make me popular and might get me some backlash, however.... I think that there's more to this than meets the eye.

Let's start with the fact that Rebecca is the one receiving all of the intense backlash and ridicule, but is she really the one to be burning at the stake? Is she the one that wrote the song or made the music? The answer is no. A duo by the name of Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson are to blame for that. They put pen to paper and wrote the most infamous lyrics of 2011. Another question, did Rebecca Black put the record out on her own? No. She is a proud member of Ark Records, a record label that has a nasty habit of putting their name in every song that their artists perform. That's just kind of lame don't you think? So far, Rebecca Black hasn't been shown as someone that should be so hated and despised by the general public. She's merely an 8th grader with a desire to make music and share her voice with anyone who'll listen.... is that wrong to have a dream like that? Especially at her age? I mean, how many of us would've done the same thing if we were put in that position when we were young? I know I would've done the same thing.

Embedded below is the official video for the song, if you haven't seen it yet watch it now:

Okay, so now you've seen the song. Is it better or worse than you expected it to be? It's catchy if nothing else. Let's take a look at the horrible lyrics from another angle. Rebecca Black is a young girl, one who doesn't have a huge amount of real world experience. She's 13 years old and in 8th grade. When we were in the 8th grade, what would our songs have sounded like if we wrote our own lyrics? Unless you're a child prodigy or a young Bob Dylan, the lyrics would have probably sounded like this:

(Yeah, Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ark)
Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

[Rebecca Black - Verse 1]

7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?

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

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

[Rebecca Black - Verse 2]

7:45, we’re drivin’ on the highway
Cruisin’ so fast, I want time to fly
Fun, fun, think about fun
You know what it is
I got this, you got this
My friend is by my right
I got this, you got this
Now you know it

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?

[Chorus]

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Rebecca Black Friday lyrics found on http://www.directlyrics.com/rebecca-black-friday-lyrics.html

Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

[Bridge]

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today

Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards
I don’t want this weekend to end

[Rap Verse]

R-B, Rebecca Black
So chillin’ in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I’m drivin’, cruisin’ (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin’ lanes
Wit’ a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C’mon) Passin’ by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend
We gonna have fun, c’mon, c’mon, y’all

[Chorus]

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

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

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

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

They're not good lyrics, but in 8th grade that's about the right mindset. Your life is going to school, hanging out with friends, having a good time and not always making sense. Singing about having cereal.... doesn't surprise me that she would include that, it's part of her day. The lyrics about the days of the week is a bit silly, I don't think anyone needs a lesson on how the week works do they? I suppose that one you can joke about. It's basically filler in the middle to take up a little more time or at least I hope that's why it was included. Also, the video depicts a young girl chilling out with her friends. I mean, the two in the backseat of the car in the second verse have braces for god's sake! They're just kids. And about the "Which seat can I take?" lyric, I have no defense or reasoning behind that one.... it's basically nonsense and I'm guessing that she just sang it because that's what they paid her to do.

below is her appearance on 'Good Morning America'. Watch it and see what you think of her after it's over:

For a girl her age, she's got a pretty good head on her shoulders. To take all of the shit she has and to still hold her head up high and not let it get to her is pretty impressive. I know that at 36 years old, I wouldn't be able to put up with that much loathing and hatred. I would probably lose it on a daily basis and regret my decision everyday of my life. It's like being the next Vanilla Ice or Milli Vanilli and look what happened to Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli, he killed himself. I think that everyone should re-evaluate why they're making fun of her and the song. What if she was your younger sister or daughter? Just look at the bit of the 'Good Morning America' piece where she talks about having "Bieber fever", she shows her age loud and clear. At that point, I really felt like a heel for ever making fun of her in the first place and that brought me to where we are now. I'm not asking you to change your ways, you can do what you want. I just want you to think about it from a different perspective. I want you to remember back to when you were a kid and what was important to you and to wonder if you wouldn't have done the same thing she did. I want you to consider pointing your hatred at the writers of the music and lyrics or at Ark Records for allowing this to be produced. Although, I do find that the lyrics really sum up the thoughts of an 8th grader, no matter how silly and mundane.

That's all I have to say about the topic. I'm not 100% sure that I got my point across the way I wanted too, but I hope that it at least got you to think a little bit. And if Rebecca Black reads this (which I doubt) I'd like to tell her to keep her head up and weather the storm, this too shall pass and maybe it'll bring you good things in the future. You're young and have your whole life ahead of you.... but it seems like you already are aware of that.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming....