Rebecca Black should not be criticized for attempting to achieve stardom
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, you have probably heard the latest YouTube sensation, Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”
And unless you have a taste for campy, Auto-Tuned, preteen music, you’ve probably taken part in some form of making fun of it and the young girl who sings it. I know I certainly did. That is, until I found out a little more about the singer. Black, a 13-year-old aspiring singer, and her mother bought a $2,000 package from a company called Ark Music Factory, a company that specializes in teen music, so that she could get experience making a music video.
The company gave her the option of singing two songs, one about adult love and the now infamous “Friday.” Being a 13-year-old, Black chose to sing the song that fit her personality — a song about kids getting excited for the weekend, even though she now admits she knew the lyrics were awful. The video was made, placed on YouTube and the critics just poured in ... from everywhere.
Black received nasty comments about the song, the music, the video and even herself. One comment even told her she was so bad that she should go cut herself.
Yes, the song, from a purely musical standpoint, is terrible. From the Auto-Tuning to the lyrics, it simply cannot be considered a good form of music. However, this is not Black’s fault. The blame should lie on the producers and writers of Ark Music Factory for producing and writing something so low-quality. They should also have been aware of how harsh people on the Internet can be and that subjecting a 13-year-old to such criticism could come with a huge backlash.
Maybe the writers and producers thought “Friday” was a great song and that they had just discovered the latest party anthem, but this does not mean we should be criticizing Rebecca Black at all. She had no control over the situation. While she could have chosen not to sing the song, what 13-year-old would turn down the chance to make a professional music video? What right do we have to even criticize a 13-year-old? Here is a girl who is trying to reach her dreams by stepping out of a comfort zone.
Not many of us have taken the type of risk she has made by making a video and sharing it with the world. We should not be criticizing her but instead giving her kudos for putting herself out there and actually trying to achieve her goals.
This song should never reach the Top 40, but if Rebecca Black is seeking stardom, she certainly has succeeded. Her name is on everyone’s tongue, and the song is stuck in everyone’s heads. We might be laughing at her and her “Friday” song, but as long as she surrounds herself with the right people and as long as she has some talent, she’ll soon be laughing her way to the bank.