The Strange Case of Rebecca Black

I first heard of the song "Friday" long before I actually heard it, and while I was amazed at how bad the lyrics seemed, based on what was being quoted, I did not think too much about it. I thought it was just some teen fooling around, and you don't expect great songs out of a fourteen-year old, so big deal.

When I actually heard the song, I was pretty stunned. The main thing I remember was when the rapper started in, saying her name first, and I thought "She didn't earn that." Then I saw the video, and was kind of surprised at the production values. I mean, it's not super slick, but this is not just a teenage girl fooling around. I thought maybe this was a new version made after she was getting a million hits or something.

Despite the sense of disbelief I still wasn't that invested. Where things really changed was when a coworker said the whole thing was a hoax to promote a movie about robot teenagers designed to be pop stars. I was pretty sure that was not true. Also, some people were thinking that there were pushy stage parents trying to force their untalented daughter to make it anyway. That seemed more likely, and I was at least invested enough to do the internet search. That's when it really became interesting. Apparently there is a company, ARK, that will guide your teen into the music business by giving them a song, and recording it, and doing the video. This service cost $4000.

My first thought was that $4000 should get you a better song, but I think I am actually wrong about that. First of all, with all the other services involved, I'm not sure how much of the "value" of the package would be allocated for the song, but it might not be very much. Also, if it was actually a good song, she would never have gotten so much publicity. It is easier to be bad enough to go viral than to be good enough to go viral--unless you are a cute animal.

On the other hand, it seems like a poor investment. It will be a miracle if she can truly make a career of this. I mean, the obvious use of the auto-tuner does not show a lot of confidence in her vocal talent, she is not writing her own crappy songs, she didn't show off much in the way of dance tunes--there just seems to be a limit to how far this can take her.

On the other hand, I guess it's nice that you can now become a talentless internet sensation without having the financial resources of the Hiltons. That makes shameless fame-whoring a lot more democratic, so that's good, right?

Still, I am not sure that this is the right message for parents to send to their children. Helping children develop actual talents and follow their dreams, good; buying their way into unmerited exposure while they are still pretty young and stupid, not so good.

I'm not saying the tune is not catchy at all, but sad experience has shown us that there's nothing to stop a bad song from getting stuck in your head--they are often stickier than the good ones.

So, I am just not sure what to make of it. It seems inherently wrong, but I can't point to much actual harm occurring from it. Rebecca may end up totally narcissistic, or the eventual failure could give her an eating disorder, but as an American teenage girl with relatively affluent, overly indulgent parents with bad judgment, that was all on the table anyway.

I don't think ARK will make much of a difference to the general music scene. The more clients they have, the more people will stop caring. Sure, people keep watching cute kitten videos, even though they can be a little repetitious, because they are also usually short, and they are guilt-free. It will not be that way with wannabe teenage pop stars.

I don't like the message that your parents' money is more important than talent or skill, but I suspect they are not having too much of an impact on that either.

Perhaps the whole thing doesn't matter. I could try and come to a conclusion, but I don't have time. It's Friday, and it's so exciting, because even when tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterward, there's another day left due to the holiday. I've got to go get kicking!

Mosiah 14 – 21
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