No one was really sure what Mr. Lambert was thinking when Rebecca Black's song "Friday" was used for the warning bell music. The only logical explanation was that it was Friday that day, so he decided to play that song. The song that almost all high school students hate. Not only is it annoying, but it also brings back memories of our awkward middle school days, when the song was first released.
The music video, and the song itself, was produced by Ark Music Factory. Nothing Ark has produced has been particularly good. In fact, Ark is now infamous for it's corny music videos produced for kids with parents who have fat checkbooks. There music videos are essentially advertisements for their company. They use, like every music video, techniques used in advertisements/commercials. Their music videos also attempt to satisfy the needs of their teenage audience.
The music video uses repetition They're almost always sitting in cars. I'm assuming that this is an appeal to the teenage novelty of driving a car. Though, these kids don't look old enough to be going to parties or driving cars. More importantly, no one is old enough to be sitting on top of the seats while the car is driving on the freeway. The lyrics are also use repetition. Rebecca Black is considerate enough to sing one word multiple times, in case we didn't get the idea the first time. Her favorite word to repeat is the word fun. I'm not sure why she chooses to repeat that word. It's only one syllable, so easy to hear. Is she describing the how fun the song is, how fun Friday is, or how fun to be in a ridiculous music video? I'm not sure.
In the music video, Rebecca and her friends are driving and going to parties. This music video is therefore targeted towards and about high school teenagers. Unless, that is, middle school students lead an exciting life that I haven't heard about. The music video appeals to those teenagers. It satisfies their needs, or it tries too.
The music video centers around this idea that teens have an obsession with cars and driving. The music video shows several scenes of teens driving together in cars. If there was such thing as a need to drive, this would be the ad for it. Another need that the music video attempts to satisfy is the need for affiliation. Rebecca is driving around with her friends and partying with her friends. They're having fun on a Friday, which is the number one favorite day for most teenagers.
So, does all of that give this music video the wow factor? Unfortunately, it doesn't. Most people who viewed the video, or heard the song disliked it. Why did so many people dislike a music video that uses so many of the same techniques that their favorite commercials use? I found hope for humanity in the answer to this question. People disliked the song because of the corny lyrics and auto tune "She can't sing," they said. "We learned the days of the week when we were in pre-school." At least society has shown that we don't just value and praise anything. We have some measure of what is true talent and passion, not just an attempt to be famous. Rebecca, did get famous. She had about as many death threats as Justin Bieber. Yet, parents still pay thousands of dollars for their children to be in music videos produced by Ark. Why? I don't know, but I do know that the answer would make a great reality TV show.
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