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cyberbullying
Rebecca Black just cracked the iTunes Top 100 singles chart, a ranking that most amateur singers -- let alone most 13-year-olds -- would kill for. Yet Black's single "Friday" is not exactly a hit, a fact the eighth grader completely understands. In her first interview since making what has been widely called the worst music video of all time, Black says the reaction to "Friday" has been a mixed bag.
"Those hurtful comments really shocked me," Black tells The Daily Beast. "At times, it feels like I'm being cyberbullied."
On Friday, the young singer appeared on Good Morning America and described the worst insults she's received on the internet: "'I hope you cut yourself, and I hope you'll get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty,'" Black said, repeating the harsh words. "When I first saw all the nasty comments, I did cry… I don't think I'm the worst singer, but I don't think I'm the best."
Black has also received some tough critiques from the media (Time called the song and video "a train wreck"), and the Twitterverse can't stop talking about her. Consider this: an unrelated Twitter user who happens to be named Rebecca Black has been getting messages like "Go kill yurself #stopkilling music." That doesn't just feel like cyberbullying, that is cyberbullying.
Fortunately, the real Rebecca Black is a pretty tough cookie. She recorded "Friday" for a vanity label called Ark Music Factory, whose songwriters made the video and provided the song for a $2000 fee. When the video started provoking online ridicule, Ark asked if she wanted it taken down -- and she said no.
"I decided not to give the haters the satisfaction that they got me so bad I gave up," Black says proudly.
The song's producers claim that the reaction to Black is ironic, because despite all that auto-tuning, she is "actually an amazing singer." And Black is out to prove it: she plans on recording an acoustic version of "Friday" to show off her singing chops. She's also got an interview with Ryan Seacrest lined up, and she finally started a Twitter account. On Thursday, she twittered a link to the video below -- which pretty much sums up why we're all obsessed with Rebecca Black's horrible, and horribly catchy, song.
