00:00For a long time, I thought that the best thing to do was just,
00:04OK, I'm going to run as far away from this thing as I can
00:07and not mention it.
00:09And maybe if I don't talk about it, people will forget.
00:12But nobody forgets.
00:14The farther you try to run away from something,
00:16the faster it's going to just catch you.
00:18When I was 13, I made this song called Friday.
00:23I don't even know if I knew what to expect.
00:25Friday hit 167 million views on YouTube.
00:29I didn't think that that was going to be the thing that started everything.
00:33Nobody wants to feel like the entire world is laughing at them.
00:37Then I shaved my legs, just kidding, I'm a bird.
00:40Which one is my right hand? Which one is my left hand?
00:44It's Saturday, Saturday. Yesterday was Friday.
00:48Have you cried at all throughout all of this, or are you just strong?
00:52I think I was just so much more sad than I wanted to admit
00:55that that was what had happened.
00:57I'm gonna give myself an opportunity to write my own story now.
01:04Okay, let's go.
01:15We started one, actually, before you guys got here, and it's fucking sick.
01:18Oh, really?
01:19Yeah, it's really, really cool.
01:20Yeah.
01:25Ooh!
01:26Hi, my name is Rebecca Black, and I'm a singer, songwriter, actress.
01:31I've been actually really wanting to write something that's, like, fun and, like, a bop.
01:36I started performing when I was three years old.
01:40I think my parents were really just trying to find something for me to do,
01:43and it turned into something that I happened to really, really love.
01:46I started in dance class, which turned into performance groups and singing and music,
01:51and I just never stopped.
01:53A friend of mine had done this song and music video whole thing, and she gave me the info.
01:58I mean, the concept was kind of came up with by them.
02:01I basically just went in and recorded my vocals, and then they did what they wanted with them.
02:05And same thing with the video.
02:07To me, it was like, oh, this is something to do over winter break, and, like, you know,
02:10I'm lucky enough to be able to do it with my parents supporting me,
02:13and basically they gave me a song called Friday.
02:16Without me really hearing anything, it went online.
02:20Partying, partying, yeah.
02:21Everybody in the video, all the kids, are people that were friends of mine at school.
02:26I rounded up 10 or 15 of them, and, I mean, it was truly filmed at my dad's house in,
02:30like, the driveway, so.
02:31I didn't see a single version of the video before it went out.
02:35I was super critical of myself.
02:37I just remember the first thing that I saw was, like, this huge zit on my face,
02:41and I just remember thinking, like, hmm, okay, so that's what I look like on camera.
02:46Interesting. Don't know how I feel about that.
02:48I had no expectations for what the video was going to do.
02:53The most that I expected was that, like, it'll go out, and then my grandma will maybe see it,
02:57and then I'll move on with my life.
02:58And then about a month after the video went up one day, it was a Friday,
03:04I was on my way home from school, and I remember getting, like, an email.
03:08Somebody had commented, hey, I just saw this on Tosh.0.
03:12This song sucks, but you're going to be big, or it's going to be big, or something like that.
03:19I just remember I, like, sprinted home and got on my computer immediately to see what the hell was happening.
03:26I see the views on this video. There's this huge spike in them.
03:29And then, obviously, you see views, you keep scrolling, and you look at the comments.
03:32When I saw the comments on the video was immediately when I knew what was happening.
03:37And as soon as I saw those comments was when I knew what kind of attention the video was getting,
03:44which wasn't necessarily at all good.
03:48Nobody wants to feel like the entire world is laughing at them, no matter what age you're at.
03:54I think I was just so much more sad than I wanted to admit that that was what had happened.
04:01Rebecca Black has everyone and their mother talking to—
04:03Her music video went viral after it was blasted as the worst song ever.
04:07It's Thursday, Thursday.
04:09Pretty immediately all different kinds of media outlets were like—
04:15I mean, the only thing that they could do was really email my mom.
04:18It's like feeling like this naive little, little girl in a world of adults that fully knew what they're doing.
04:24Me trying to navigate that with no experience as to how that goes, I was just so malleable.
04:30How do you handle that? Is it tough?
04:31I cried, you know, but I'm 13.
04:34At the same time, there were so many cool, legitimately awesome things that were happening.
04:40That totally helped the entire experience.
04:44Being able to work with people who are my idols still.
04:48I was in the Katy Perry music video for last Friday night, which was one of the most fun experiences
04:53of my life.
04:54Your choice action movie!
04:56I got to be a part of the Teen Choice Awards and go to places like the Grammys.
05:00When something so extreme happens at such a young age, the first thing you try to make sense of it.
05:07And I've always been able to laugh at myself.
05:10Well, the choice between the front seat and the back seat is actually a metaphor for American foreign policy.
05:15At that point, I had let go of any sort of manager or agent or whatever I had had, and
05:20I was doing it on my own.
05:22I started my YouTube channel when I was 16 and decided, like, okay, I'm going to take matters into my
05:28own hands here.
05:28I'm going to give myself an opportunity to write my own story now.
05:34I'm just so grateful for that song. It's amazing what that song and I have been through emotionally over the
05:42past decade.
05:43I think kids of my generation really connect with that more than anything, is they want to know what's coming
05:49from you, not what has, you know, been warped through rounds and rounds of notes and edits.
05:54Over the years, I've been able to build an audience for myself. That has definitely taken a lot of time
06:00to build.
06:03For me, one thing that I've found that I kind of bring through all of the music I've been doing
06:08is I have really found that being as honest as I can and not sugarcoating things really helps.
06:14I've definitely had a lot of shit to get out of my system, whether it has to do with Friday
06:18or not.
06:20Hi guys!
06:21Hello, nice to meet you.
06:22How are you, Katie? Good to see you.
06:23I'm good, good to see you.
06:26Okay.
06:27Snacks and water.
06:30Yeah.
06:32I fuck.
06:33She fuck with it.
06:35She fuck with it.
06:36I think it can be cool.
06:37It's hard for people in general, but, like, taking a second, like, I don't know.
06:45It'd be cool.
06:46Like, let me take a fucking minute here.
06:47Give me a fucking minute.
06:49Yeah.
06:49Give me a minute.
06:50Yeah.
06:53Yeah.
06:54Anything that I was trying to do would just get cut so short or would never fully happen because
07:00people, for whatever reason, didn't want to work with me.
07:03But, I mean, the only answer that I can give to why didn't you just stop is shit.
07:12Like, why don't we all just stop then?
07:15Why doesn't anyone just stop?
07:17I've never really stopped writing, but I came out with, in 2019, Anyway, and Do You,
07:23I'd come out with some songs that I really, really love.
07:25Do you, do you know the things you do to me?
07:32I just put out two songs called Self-Sabotage and Closer.
07:37These are songs that were built from the ground up by ideas that were my own and my own physical
07:45experiences and sound ideas.
07:48They were a very big turn in the way that I was able to make my own music because I
07:55finally
07:55felt like I had enough under my belt to be able to take charge in my own way.
07:59Recently, something that I've been trying to do a lot more is be as honest with what my actual
08:06mental health journey looks like because I've seen how people being open with it has helped me.
08:12These songs that are about to come out and the songs that are coming after, it feels like I've
08:16finally found what I have to say and the position that I am coming from.
08:22I like some, I don't want it to be like a cute cat eye, like I like a bitchy.
08:28Okay.
08:28Like your, I mean your eyeliner is perfect.
08:30I was a 13 year old girl who like tried something and I was trying to be creative.
08:34I think that's what all kids should be able to do.
08:37Rolling Stone and Billboard, as they did their decade wrap ups for the 2010s,
08:43time after time again, Friday was mentioned along with like the creation of Spotify
08:48being another big music moment.
08:50What day is it?
08:53Friday is something that I still perform because everybody knows the lyrics,
08:59whether they'd like to admit it or not.
09:00I hear it and people have fun with it.
09:03It's now something that is nostalgic.
09:06It's cool!
09:09Do you like this bra with it?
09:11I kinda do actually.
09:11I think it's cool.
09:13You can't really pick out like one thing in your life that has caused everything.
09:19There's so many aspects.
09:20And so for me, yeah, I had this crazy viral thing happen,
09:24but there's things that I have to deal with that many other people have to deal with.
09:27Oh, hello!
09:28There's a body.
09:29Okay, I'm sorry.
09:31That's a weird shot.
09:31Body though hottie, yeah.
09:32That's really good.
09:33Go ahead and star that right now.
09:35I already did.
09:36The ironic thing throughout all of this for me has been music started as my safe space.
09:44And then of course this crazy thing happened that really shook some things up.
09:48And I knew as soon as I had turned 18 and graduated high school that I would be out of
09:57the house and I was gonna figure out music for myself.
10:00And I think if you have some line that you're driven to, you should have a right to be able
10:06to do it as long as it's something that isn't hurting anybody.
10:09If somebody won't see, you know, past Friday for the rest of their lives, okay, that's okay.
10:15I can't do anything about that.
10:17I just hope to continue to release music that I'm really, really proud of and that people resonate with.
10:25And to just continue to push myself to make it 10% better every time.
10:48Bye.
10:49Bye.
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