Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any bigger, it did. Just when you thought that it was just 15 minutes of fame, it took a left turn and grew into a national phenomenon. Just when you thought that the term “Thank God It’s Friday,” or “T.G.I.F.,” had sole reign on the best day of the week, think again.
Enter Rebecca Black and her dark horse party tune, “Friday:”
Official Rebecca Black "Friday" video on YouTube
Only three weeks ago, Rebecca Black was an unknown 13-year old girl with a dream of musical fame. Little did she know that a scathing review of her song would raise her from obscurity and turn her into a household name. The unrelenting criticism of her trite lyrics and the jarring Auto Tune vocal effects added fuel to the fire.
And what a fire it was. As the flame grew hotter, it turned into a wildfire… a viral phenomenon… a Brainworm™.
A Brainworm™ is a viral parasite that’s virtual in nature. It can begin as an innocent ditty that propagates into a song that you cannot get out of your head. Like it or not, “Friday” and its cheesy hook snagged us all.
Even the late night talk show hosts weren’t excluded from Black’s allure. She was featured on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” where she describes her rapid rise to fame–first tears and now joy:
Rebecca Black appears on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on March 22, 2011
Furthering the proof that the Brainworm™ was propagating, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert sang a hiliarious rendition of “Friday” to raise money for DonersChoose.org. Although the heralded event took place on April 1st, it was no joke. They raised more than twice their goal and reproduced the song in a huge production filled with balloons, confetti, a beekeeper and a Yeti. Even Taylor Hicks chimed in with true soul:
Stephen Colbert sings "Friday" with The Roots on Late Night with "Jimmy Fallon"
According to Wikipedia, Black says that she will be working on her debut album and is being courted by songwriters and record companies. With better songs, Rebecca Black can sell records. She now has the name recognition which is 99.99% of the battle to mainstream success.
It began virally with a “bad” song. Virally it has reached immortality. Congratulations Rebecca Black to your new found success!
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_black
http://www.rebeccablackonline.com/
http://twitter.com/msrebeccablack
Brainworms and The Buzz™ 