“Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes … afterwards.” You’ve seen heard or at least heard of Rebecca Black’s song “Friday.” You know the one that mindlessly tells us the days of the week in a slightly annoying voice over a catchy tune. The one about “getting down on Friday” and “partyin’ partyin'” sung by a girl — a 13-year-old girl. You know the song where she wrestles with the dilemma of whether to kick it in the front or sit the back seat.
In case you aren’t too familiar with this overnight YouTube sensation all you really need to know is that people online are slamming the video all over the Internet and labeling it one of the worst songs ever created. The lyrics are about as deep as a puddle and there most certainly have been better singers discovered on YouTube to say the least. And as if that weren’t bad enough if you so much as think about the song you will have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
So how is it that such a terrible song generates so much attention? In hardly any time at all the video generated over 40 million views (and counting) and sparked countless spoofs including a cover in the style of Bob Dylan. Over the course of barely a week just about every joke that could be made about “Friday” had been made (many of them predictably on Friday). Whether you’re still cracking jokes or you’re ears are bleeding you’re still thinking about Rebecca Black. And isn’t that what she and her producers wanted you to do all along?
Rebecca Black may not be “famous” in the sense she originally intended but she certainly is infamous. While not respected by many she is definitely known. Whatever she did however bad it sounds worked. I’ve heard people joking that they should just write a bad song post it on YouTube and then they’ll be famous. If they were serious it would not be too different a situation from all the people going around making fools of themselves on reality television just for the “fame even though they’re the punch line of every joke. Is our culture consumed with gaining attention at any cost? Or, on the other side of the looking glass, is our culture consumed with watching others crash and burn?
Repeatedly we watch people fail: We watch videos of ridiculous attempts at singing/songwriting. We watch the people on Jersey Shore” as if they’re some sort of sideshow attraction. We flood the media with videos of Charlie Sheen ranting in what is likely a manic state make jokes about “winning” a la Sheen and even mix his memorable quotes into songs. Have we gone so far that we need to watch a man’s decline in order to gain entertainment?
It’s not that you should feel like a terrible person for laughing at Rebecca Black’s music — I made fun of it too. We will probably never stop thinking that some things are so incredibly ridiculous that they’re funny. But maybe every once in a while we should give the attention to people with real talent and let people spiral downward in peace and quiet without the glare of the media blitz.