Sophia Michaels
On Feb. 10, 2011, Rebecca Black became a viral sensation with her video singing “Friday.” However, “Friday” was not a success story. People mocked Black, who was only 13 years old at the time she recorded it. “Friday” still makes lists of worst musicians and worst songs.
Now Black is 22. She posted a message about the anniversary of her infamous “Friday” video on her social media accounts. She revealed how difficult it was for her growing up after the notoriety and negativity “Friday” generated, but concluded with an empowering message for anyone going through rough times, or just growing up. The reaction to her post might have finally turned things around for Black.
Rebecca Black’s Black ‘Friday’
ARK Music Factory posted Black’s video in 2011. By the time Black forced ARK to remove it in a legal dispute, 166 million people had viewed it. A September repost also got 139 million views, with 3.6 million thumbs downs but still 1.1 million likes.
Mocking “Friday” even went mainstream. Stephen Colbert once performed a rendition on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Rebecca Black through the years
In her post, Black described how the negative reaction to “Friday” impacted her life every two years. The ramifications range from the personal to the outward abuse.
“9 years ago today, a music video for a song called ‘Friday’ was uploaded to the internet. Above all things, I just wish I could go back and talk to my 13-year-old self who was terribly ashamed of herself and afraid of the world. To my 15-year-old self who felt like she had nobody to talk to about the depression she faced, to my 17-year-old self who would get to school only to get food thrown at her and her friends, to my 19-year-old self who had almost every producer/songwriter tell me they’d never work with me. Hell, to myself a few days ago who felt disgusting when she looked in the mirror!”
Rebecca Black social media post 2/10/2020
Recovering from ‘Friday’
Black seems to be making lemonade out of “Friday”’s lemons. She looks forward with hope.
“I’m trying to remind myself more and more that every day is a new opportunity to shift your reality and lift your spirit,” Black wrote. “You are not defined by any one choice or thing. Time heals and nothing is finite. It’s a process that’s never too late to begin. And so, here we go! This might be a weird thing to post but the honesty feels good if nothing else.”
Long overdue redemption
After Black’s anniversary post, supportive fans tweeted to let her know she wasn’t alone.
This user wrote, “Probably a good time to reflect on how growing up on the Internet literally scarred people. The retrospective of every other ‘meme kid’ is basically ending up admitting to mass bullying and stalking without having the financial security to live through it the way celebrities do.”
This user realized the error of his ways. “Will willingly admit I was one of the mean online bullies when the song came out,” Benjamin David wrote. “I‘m glad she got through all that. Nobody deserves to be bullied that badly at that age for something as silly as ‘Friday.’ You go Rebecca Black.”
Black responded, “Okay so I just got back on Twitter and I am just so blown away and confused and grateful at the messages you guys have been sending to me in response to this. I could have never imagined support like this. Thank you a million times. I just wanna cry!! (happily!!!)”
Written by: CheatSheet
