Rebecca Black's career might be over by Friday

Rebecca Black's career might be over by Friday

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OK, it’s a terrible song, with rubbish lyrics, and she can’t really sing. As the old joke goes, “It’s a hit!”

In the case of Rebecca Black, a very palpable hit. As I write, the 13-year-old’s debut has had over 29 million views on YouTube, reaching the giddy heights of number 25 on the iTunes chart. The latter is the most significant statistic because people are paying for those downloads. YouTube is full of a kind of virtual rubber-necking, where traffic briefly pauses to watch the latest car crash before moving swiftly on. But while Black’s almost comically enthusiastic ditty about the teenage joys of Friday fun may have attracted initial attention because of its hubristic levels of gaucheness and naivety (this is a not some DIY karaoke special but a professional recording and producing job paid for by her parents), it has stuck because, like so many irritating jingles before it, once heard you can’t get the damn hookline out of your head. It is, in that sense at least, a perfect pop song.

There is nothing new about the Rebecca Black phenomenon, except perhaps that it has happened so fast, and without the involvement of a major record company marketing department and a sinister svengali. Black is the 21st century equivalent of Alma Cogan, Helen Shapiro, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and every other schoolgirl who traded a hairbrush for a microphone and suddenly hit the big time. ‘Friday’ is gimmicky teen pop: fluffy, cute and insubstantial but polished, upbeat and catchy. Black’s gamine gauchness is perfect, because there is nothing arch about her performance, she is genuinely just thrilled to have her moment in front of the lens. Many boys will have come to laugh and had their hearts stolen. Many girls will have come to sneer but seen themselves reflected back in her innocent glamour. And so, a teen pop star appears in the length of time it takes to upload a clip to YouTube.

Pop has always had a bulletin board quality, but the technology of the internet means fads and fancies are operating at a hyper accelerated pace, where instant responses really are instant. Black’s success makes even the Justin Bieber campaign seem old fashioned, because from the moment his DIY video performances started attracting traffic, he was groomed and developed by marketing and music professionals deliberately maintaining an amateur ethos while they signed him with a major record company and built his fan base. Black just posted the video and became an overnight sensation. Right now, svengalis and record companies will be scrabbling to catch up with her, and find ways to capitalise on the interest, before the phenomenon fades, and the net traffic moves on to the next happy accident. One hit wonders have always been an aspect of the pop business, but for Black, unless someone finds a way to manage this fast moving story, it really could be all over by Friday.

This may be the most interesting aspect of the Black phenomenon, that it was essentially unpredictable and remains uncontrollable, because it has more to do with the ways in which mass attention moves laterally and organically through the world wide web, briefly congregating at one spot before dispersing. Black herself may be a fairly standard wannabe pop star, but there are millions of them out there posting their efforts to no discernible response at all. It is difficult to manufacture accidents, or construct business models on haphazard successes. If record companies want to make money from this new kind of pop phenomenon (as they have been able to do rather spectacularly with Justin Bieber) they will have to become adept at superfast exploitation, with all career building taking place after the freak hit.

What are the implications for genuine musical talent, people who can actually sing, play instruments, or write interesting songs? Singers who can’t sing are certainly nothing new, even if autotune has become ubiquitous in covering up their faults. Talented musicians have been making less talented performers look good throughout the history of pop. This kind of freakshow has practically taken centre stage following the karaoke cabaret success of TV talent shows (it is no surprise that Simon Cowell has spoken up on Black’s behalf, though he would have been less kind if she had actually auditioned for him).

One thing that is perhaps being overlooked here is that someone did actually write and produce this song, and shoot a very professional video (if you think the lyrics are rubbish, it is worth remembering that Ark Music Factory were only paid $2000 to write and produce a song for a local dentist’s daughter. Even in pop music, you get what you pay for). At least those were real musicians and film makers, exploiting a widening gap in the market. There’s a lot of unemployed musicians about, and no one’s going to be complaining if they suddenly find themselves in demand from pushy parents with ambitions for their own precocious kids.

Tags: Friday, Rebecca Black, teen pop