One year ago today the Internet began to buzz, the music industry gasped and the world was changed forever. It was 365 days ago that Rebecca Black's curiously simply song, "Friday," was uploaded to YouTube.
Little did Black, then 13, know that her life was about to change. Months earlier, Black's parents shelled out $4,000 for Ark Music Factory to write a song for their daughter and shoot a video. What they got in return was priceless.
By mid-March the video went viral and Rebecca Black became an Internet sensation and one of the most hated people on earth.
Responses to the song ranged from kind to downright vicious, even prompting death threats. The combination of the oversimplified lyrics and extreme use of Auto-Tune elicited a dark reaction among listeners.
Thousands of parodies soon hit YouTube and talk show host Jimmy Fallon performed a delightful cover of the song with Stephen Colbert.
Black went from being an average middle schooler to the Internet's favorite punching bag, before she was able to capitalize on what many have called the worst song ever written. Katy Perry covered the song at one of her concerts and later adopted Black as her video sidekick in Perry's ode to the best day of the week, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)."
In July, Black released her follow-up to "Friday" with "My Moment," a slick pop song with a direct message to everyone who thought she'd fade into oblivion.
The message, however, fell short -- without the Auto-Tune and ridiculous lyrics, the song flopped, and things didn't seem to be looking up for Black. In August, it was reported that Black's mother had pulled her daughter from school and is now homeschooling her, so that Black will avoid bullies and focus on her career.
In November, Black released her third single, "Person Of Interest." There's not much to say about it, because few people have listened to it.
That brings us to today, the one-year anniversary of "Friday." Let's celebrate with a look back at all the "fun, fun, fun, fun," because we really are "looking forward to the weekend."
