Rebecca Black on full volume
A household name in only a week. Rebecca Black is currently bigger than Gaga, WikiLeaks, the earthquake in Japan and the war in Libya.
In metric terms it’s astonishing: 46 million views on YouTube and counting. Social media platforms are alight with discussion about just how bad her song Friday and its accompanying video are. Hardcore Twitterati are angered by the length of time she’s been trending but in spite she goes on.
YouTube’s awash with responses, there are cover versions of every kind: Bob Dylan styled, hardcore metal and a panic attack inducing Dubstep remix. Then there are the mind-numbing ramblings of bedroom television presenters inanely acknowledging, “what a huge phenomenon!”
As the phenomenon reaches its crescendo after little over week, Rebecca’s announced that she’s commenced work on her next ditty. Boldly abandoning her signature style she tweeted: “We’re currently writing another song. It does not have to do with weekdays, or months, or numbers or colours. Throwin’ that out there.” Dylan goes electric being the most recent parallel that comes to mind.
Bieber is of course to blame. A sinister undercurrent of the whole affair has been the pitch of the vitriol to which Rebecca’s been subjected. Despite being able to wipe away her crocodile tears with huge wads of cash, the level of anger has been a remarkable aspect of the mania. In an interview on Good Morning America she explained: “Those hurtful comments really shocked me. At times it feels like I’m being cyber bullied.”
Step forward cyber nasty Justin Bieber. In response to Rebecca suggesting a duet, Bieber jumped on the band wagon to Meanieville with an unkind tweet alluding to her atrocious lyrics. Mustering every ounce of his gargantuan wit he wrote, “Sunday comes after Saturday? Weird.” Kick a thirteen year old whilst she’s down, why don’t you?
Bieber has a track record of upsetting younger girls. Previously and no less heartlessly, he made a three year old cry by making her fall in love with him. The evidence was posted on YouTube for all to see and currently there are 21.5 million potential witnesses.
However Bieber isn’t the worst offender. Rebecca cited the nastiest comment she’d seen as: “I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you look pretty. I hope you cut and die.” Debatably this would be appropriate on an Eminem track about his ex-wife, but when directed at a thirteen year old girl who wants to be a pop star it comes across as a bit punchy.
The farce of Rebecca’s rise is that there are no unique ingredients that indicate quite what all the fuss is about. There’s plenty of pop toot of a similar vein which doesn’t require much digging to find on YouTube. Her weak, nasal voice isn’t a USP (see Madonna’s career). Nor being an overnight sensation for indiscernible reasons.
What makes it a cultural phenomenon that might be remembered beyond Rebecca’s fourteenth birthday is its furious compression into the space of a week. Monitor Twitter and other platforms in real time and the tide is continuous. It’s pack hysteria fuelled by particularly strong, anger inducing steroids. Social media doesn’t change people, it amplifies how they really behave and feel. Whilst NGOs have benefited from the digital age by being better able to harness people’s good will through internet activism, the Rebecca Black saga shows an altogether less flattering side of our nature turned up to full volume.
