Beginning of a Project

This is the worst school project that I have ever encountered. Over the course of this project, I’ve probably listened to the song “Friday” at least thirty times. When I originally wrote this blog entry, it was at 66 million views, when the rough draft was due 85 million views, and now as I finish the edits on my final blog drafts, its a staggering 109.5 million views. Its a very catchy, but watch it at your own risk, it’ll get stuck in your head. “Friday” is the stereotypical pop song that has captivated people for weeks, and when this all ends, Rebecca Black will be what we commonly regard as a one-hit wonder.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

My project is to examine the song “Friday”. To break it down and too surround myself with the numerous critics. Hundreds of tweets, blogs, and online news sites have written about the song. There general consensus is that it is the worst song of all time. Why was this song produced, watched, and now so heavily criticized? It has everything to do with the nature of its making and more importantly how it became famous. Comedy shows can really shed light on new subjects. I remember in 2008, Colbert coined the term “colbert-bump” talking about how an appearance on his show helped increase a candidate in the campaign polls. And that has become the focal point of my argument, how key is mass media and pop culture in deciding who becomes famous. No longer is talent and good looks responsible for success. People like the cast of “The Jersey Shore” have almost nothing of value to give. They are the basis of what I define as “cringe-worthy” entertainment. They are talentless, personality-less, and class-less. Yet they have created new phrases and language to define themselves, phrases that we have picked up. With little intelligence or talent, they have re-defined the American Culture. To be famous is greatly changing, more people would recognize the Jersey Shore cast than the cabinet members of the current government. More people know the words to “Friday”, than anything Obama said in his last speech. Mass media and pop culture are leading us to be uneducated and revering the people that have a negative impact on society.

These are some links that really gave me the background information on Black and are the main sources that went into my paper besides the videos that I embedded:

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2011/03/patrice-wilson-the-man-behind-rebecca-blacks-friday.html

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1bXXHg/uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Friday_%252528song%252529 (Okay, more comical than helpful)

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/videogaga/71429/is-youtube-sensation-rebecca-blacks-friday-the-worst-song-ever/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-17/rebecca-black-friday-and-cyberbullying/#

http://twitter.com/#!/search/Rebecca%20Black

Time To Get Critical

Its hard to like Rebecca Black’s song “Friday”, but I aim to be a nicer critic than Kingsley :
[youtube.com=(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ9XIP6XNXs)%5D
Rebecca Black has become famous for her song “Friday” which has been heralded as the worst song of all time. And to be honest, as much as I dislike the shallow yet suprisingly catchy lyrics, I don’t think it is the worst song of all time. There have been worse songs, and there will continue to be worse songs. I think that it is actually a reflection of pop culture, that as a society we find it easy to mock and that people can become famous for being terrible at whatever they choose to do. Rolling Stone Magazine calls “Friday” something along the lines of, a parody of today’s pop music. The words have little to no depth, its very artificial, and for some odd reason these kids act like adults and have adult problems. In 8th grade, never once did I hop in the backseat of my friends car or party like they do in the music video. Like almost anything meant for younger audiences, adult themes are very prevalent. This is a trend that we can see in T.V., music, and movies. The upcoming generation and my generation have been lied too and shown false societal norms. My generation has been lead astray with T.V., music, and movies showing us what our social lives should consist of. That we should be “getting down on Friday”. Getting down is kind of an open-ended term, I don’t really know what it means with-in the context of the song, but for me it can only have negative connotations.
Like most pop music, this song is aimed at a much wider audience, a more adultaudience than the 13 year old Black who sings it. The song was written with really catching the pre-teen to teen generation, making the lyrics very generalized and in the end really missing the intended audience of the piece. At 13, Black is actually younger than my little sister, yet I feel as though she leads a much more adult lifestyle appealing to an older audience (in the context of the song). Middle Schoolers through college students have the same general optimism for what the end of the school week holds. That is the shallow connection that Black is trying to make in order for her audience to appreciate her and enjoy the song. It can easily be seen that this song and most of pop music is about the money-making aspect and not the artistry. ARK Music Factory who we will discuss later, is about finding the next Justin Bieber, just the female 13-17 year old version.

Ark Music Factory

Black openly admits to not writing the song. It was written by Ark Music  Factory, an agency that targets 13-17 year old girls. Almost as if they  are looking for a female Justin Bieber. They then offer to produce and  write a music video for $2,000- $4,000 as a way of letting them live the pop  star dream. Ark then in return hopes the music video goes viral, and  then they become the wealthy ones due to the contract. According to some sources, Black has made $40,000 dollars of of iTunes downloads and youtube views, which to me sounds very low.
This is a really informative video on Ark Music Factory:

Just like normal youtube user videos it is less than academic, but the kid has done significant research and really explains them well.
ARK is more aimed at the money that can be made in the current pop music scene. By trying to find the next true talent they control an artists early future, as well as the song-writing, and the production of their music. They are pretty intelligent in the way they go about there business. Patrice Wilson the writer of “Friday” admits to making it as cheesy and catchy as possible to reach a wider audience. ARK is there solely to make money, and as the factory name applies, churn out songs that a large number of people can associate with. ARK is really taking away the art, the human emotion and the experiences that go into song writing.

Parents and Patrice

Through my vast attempts at a multitude of sports and activities I have realized a certain trend among Parents. Parents have outlandish goals for the children’s future, unattainable, and even reinforce the behavior in their children. I’m not saying that we should not have goals, but we have to make them more realistic.
My parents believe that my little sister should take up acting and that her freshman year will make every varsity sports team that she tries out for. They have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to “help her” follow “her dreams”. They believe that they will not have to pay for her college one way or the other. Like so many other parents, they believe that she is exceptionally talented even though she is just another member of King Vidor’s Crowd.

All I want to say is no matter how much money or time you spend it isn’t going to create a career or make a difference in the end. Sidney Crosby would have been figured out either way. Dave Mathews would still be famous. You can’t pressure your kid into what you want them to be. We’re all meant to be something different and maybe that’s not what you want as a parent, but realistic expectations are necessary. At some point Rebecca Black had to have been encouraged by her parents. In the acoustic version of her song(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CBzT2pv1Jc) we realize that she does lack the talent necessary to become a singer, but her parents still funded and supported her.
ARK music factory is also at stake, they believe that with auto-tune, a decently produced music video, and mass produced lyrics they will stumble on the female Justin Beiber. But in the end Patrice Wilson is trying to make a musical career just like how parents try and live through there kids. Patrice Wilson shows up in every video as a rapper who doesn’t quite fit in an attempt to revitalize a career.

“Gotta have my bowl, Gotta have cereal”

“Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after … wards”

‘“I didn’t write it at all,” Black said, clearing up a major misconception. “The other song was about adult love–I haven’t experienced that yet. ‘Friday’ is about hanging out with friends, having fun. I felt like it was my personality in that song.” (From her first major interview)

‘Friday’ is just a stereotypical pop song, shallow, and basically written to achieve a broader audience. Its formulated for a certain success and to reach a wide ranging audience. “A few times, when I heard some of the lyrics, I was like, ‘That doesn’t make sense,’” Kelly [Black] recalled. “Rebecca said, ‘I sang it as they wrote it, Mom.’ So I didn’t micromanage it.”

The song in general is an insult to pop music. Black and others that have helped her to make it a mockery. That such shallow music can be written, performed, and then auto-tuned to make a popular song (in Black’s case its popular for the wrong reasons, but you have to admit, its quite catchy.) Pop music in itself is a poor genre. Artist like Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and others have made a genre where odd lyrics and auto-tune are the norm.

This is a comical video from the site, funnyordie.com where Rebecca Black makes fun of her lyrics:

Tougher Than I Thought

Black has received so much negative feedback, its impressive that she has been able to fight through it. Though her singing is nothing special her persistence after a dream is pretty impressive. Youtube comments telling her to go “cut herself and die” are pretty hard to take. Its impressive that she handles all the negative feedback. Youtube user AndyGleno says “I hope friday slaps her in the face! I also hope the bus comes that she was waiting for and runs her over!!!! Waste of 4 minutes in my life :/” EmuLu15 says “The lyrics to this song is an English teachers nightmare. It sounds like one of those essays where all you write is ‘And then I did this. And then I did that. And then I went here. And after I did this. Kill me.”
As much as I hate this song, the girl is thirteen. She’s too young to take that sort of abuse. Black is being ripped apart for her singing, her looks, and other aspects of her life. Thirteen is a very difficult age and the added stress of millions of dislikes, comments calling her fat, ugly, and all sorts of other cyber-bullying.  “Sorry, what? Seroiusly, a tone-deaf mental retard could sing better than that, even without all the audio editing.” Pages and pages of negative comments have piled up as well as almost 2 million dislikes. As the number of views continue to increase you have to wonder when this nightmare will end for Black. As a thirteen year old child she is still vulnerable and the internet has been merciless. I tend to think, what would happen if someone said this about my little sister or to me? Everyone has been so negative that I am forced to applaud her for her fortitude. I really have gained respect for her with her decision to work with funnyordie.com and to keep the music video on youtube.

Average Homeboy

Denny Blaze is my argument for worst song ever. Another song that got the Tosh.0 bump, just like Rebecca Black. Comedy shows and media are the new reasons for songs getting known and recognized. Blaze was the receiver of a “Web Redemption”, whereas Black was featured in a new segment called “Song Writing isn’t for Everyone.” “Average Homeboy” is very racist, accompanied by terrible dance moves, and is an all around terrible production. It makes Black’s music video look good. The only problem is, Denny Blazin’ Hazen has only received 1.5 million views. Black’s video has more dislikes than that alone. So in the title of worst song of all time,Black wins. We (everyone who has watched her video) have found her so mockable, so interesting, and such an entertaining storty. I feel bad for her, she followed her dreams when she was 13 and has been humiliated by multiple shows, websites, and all over social networking websites.

Denny Blaze is from a different time when people where not mocked over the internet or made overnight celebrities for the wrong reasons. Black has become a part of this new culture that mocks and at the same time worships people for the wrong reasons. The Kardashians, Jersey Shore Roommates, and many other people have become the focal point of pop culture, even though they have no real talent. We find entertainment in watching other people’s lives and mocking people. Black for a time was at the center of attention, she was the focus of news networks and talk shows for weeks. Drawing out the mockery and using her for everything she was worth. Its through that process that I have really grown to respect Black and her composure.

What I Have Learned From Black

I didn’t really know where to start with this project and know I don’t even know where I want to close it off. This project has grown to a critique on more than just Black’s song “Friday”. In the beginning, I wanted to bash her, to destroy her, and to mock her. But in the end I feel compassion for her, she is following her dreams, something few are brave enough to actually stand up and do. My whole life I have let opportunities pass by, chances to melt away. Black went out and attacked her dreams, even though they where far fetched, she attained them. She has become a wildly known and highly listened to singer. You have to admit, she is courageous for a thirteen year old girl. The amount of abuse she has taken for following her dream is astounding. Chances pass people by and they leave regret behind, I know that I need to take more chances. Not a day goes by that I don’t regret decisions and missed opportunities. Black was presented with an opportunity and attacked it, she chased her dreams with courage and commitment. Thats what I choose to take from her experience, with the amount of adversity she faces, I find it fascinating to see how she continues to conduct herself after this experience.

New Take From “Friday”

This my critique and personal view on pop culture as we see it, whether its the movies, shows, or songs that define our generation. They are misleading representations of lives we will never live (yet we try to replicate them everyday)…
My generation have been led astray and shown false societal norms, that everyone has sex, drinks (heavily), and does drugs. (And because we see it on television, somewhere down the line those activities are acceptable). Binge drinking and pre-gaming have become the foundation of the college weekend experience. We have been taught and shown what we should be doing. (One of the most influential websites for Miami in the last year has been totalfratmove.com where students share stories of their “frattiness”. Its been influential behind a lot of lifestyle changes on campus and is an overall negative impact because it shows kids what they should be doing, almost like the stories are nightly incidences at other colleges. College is one of those experiences that is portrayed so negatively-positive. By which I mean that movies and television portray us with the negative image of being drunk and disorderly, but as college students we look on that positively. And thats when you realize that Black is a satire of pop culture, that her ridiculous song and actions make fun of our entire culture. We look at her and think, no 13 year old does that, but we never look at ourselves and realize that our own experiences differ from what we are shown. So Black’s song is powerful, it shows us how ridiculous our views have become. We approach our dreams asymptotically, we will never live the life of Brother Bluto from Animal House or Van Wilder no matter how we try to replicate there lifestyles.

Writers Letter

Dear Readers,

This project was really fun and was enjoyable for me from the start. I know that I tend to do better work on pieces that I’m interested in. It was also the first time this year that I picked a super broad topic with a lot of information, so I had a lot of freedom associated with this project. The other great thing about this project is I learned a lot more idea development, had more ideas going throughout the project that didn’t really need to closely tie in to the overall project. Normally I have to come up with one major theme for a much longer paper, but through this I could have a series of loosely connected blogs, which also gave me more freedom since I could move in any direction I choose, and not a linear path.

The major thing that I realized was, I gained respect for Black from her actions. That made me feel worse about the negative comments and realize that she’s just a normal teen. This project really changed my perspective seeing all the negative comments which I found funny the first time, and now I see them as “cyber-bullying” and atrocious under new light. The more I read, the more it changed the way I wanted to respond.

I did some major revisions since my original writing was less than academic and free flowing, which lead to some major deleting. Whole posts and ideas where scrapped during the actual revision process in order to greater emphasize the points I wanted. Major ideas like the pathetic career of Patrice, who needs to appear in teenage music videos. I really cleaned up the ideas making it a more straight forward project. I also completely changed my direction, realizing that my current blogs could be used to portray an entirely different conclusion.

I feel as though my blogs reach a younger (by younger I mean >30) audience, but then again so did the videos that I drew a lot of my information from. For me, everything went well, wordpress and the internet decided to work well for me which I think resulted in a clean end project. WordPress gave me the option of setting the publishing date, which I set for the past ten fridays at seven a.m.

Earlier today I was stressing out about this project, but as of right now I am very happy with the overall outcome.

Sincerely,

Zach Simon