Three years ago, 13-year-old Rebecca Black became an internet sensation with her song, 
Friday. I wrote about Ms. Black and the internet’s reaction to her sudden fame back in March 2011. You can find my comments on the unwarranted vitriolic attacks on the then 13 old young lady here (along with her video). On May 30, 2014, 16-year-old Black responded to her critics using the way she knows best – the internet.
What we see in her internet response to her haters is a confident teenager who is at ease with herself. This is amazing considering that her song, Friday, has had 68 million views on YouTube with less than 370 thousand likes and more than 1.3 million dislikes. (The first YouTube video of the song had more than 174 million hits before being pulled by Ark Music in a copyright dispute.) Imagine the pressure on a 13-year-old knowing that 1.3 million people “dislike” you and more than 500,000 have left abusive comments directed at you personally.
Then to prove her critics wrong, Rebecca Black sings a very decent cover of Royals by Lorde without the autotune. It is a hard song to sing for anyone and she does a very good job at it. It is below.
I find the fact that she didn’t let her critics shatter her moment in the sun or crush her dreams satisfying. It’s easy to get your feelings hurt on the internet and in social media, but it’s nice to see Rebecca Black show that all the negativity of the last three years hasn’t crushed her spirit or her world. She gets to have the last word.
