7 AM waking up in the morning >Gotta be fresh gotta go downstairs 'Gotta have my bowl
>Gotta ha. e cereal
Gotta She has no choice. She HAS to do these things As Black sings these lines, she gives a disdainful look to her alarm, obviously wishing she could sleep some more. but dutifully she throws her covers off (does this represent her urge to throw off the comforting but ultimately cloying shackles of childhood? Perhaps.) and we cut to her standing downstairs, dressed and ready to go, where she finishes the verse.
In the downstairs section she stands stone-still. her facial features unmco,ing as she tells us that she must have a bowl of cereal. This is her routine- to break it would be a horrible transgression. And what exactly happens if she breaks her routine? Well. nothing -- but she doesn't know that and she's too terrified to find out. She wants freedom but she isn't strong enough to give it to herself
>Seeing everything
>The time is going. ticking on and on And everybody's rushing
Behind Black, her family goes through their own daily routine in fast-forward. No one has time anymore_ it seems to her, and by extension to the viewer. Everyone's day is firmly regimented planned out months in advance and there isn't any room to allow oneself a peaceful moment. For success we have traded in our very identities Black is disgusted with her family and more importantly with herself
>Gotta get down to the bus stop >Gotta catch my bus
More gottas. Again. Black has no choice in what she does with her time We cut to her at the bus stop where suddenly she notices something off-screen and gives a painfully faked smile: ei sea my inenda
Her smile isn't real. As the camera reveals her 'friends' pulling up in a late-model car neither are theirs She cannot stand these people. Like her they're imposters, trying to live up to some abstract version of what a perfect teenager should be. and she hates them for it. But on the other hand they are nothing less than a mirror into her own empty soul – all the more reason to despise them
>Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat >Gotta make my mind up >Which seat can I take'
A verse absolutely pregnant with meaning. It's gotten a lot of derision. and that's a shame because it's one of the great little moments in this song.
Black surmises the car. Her friends are motioning for her to join them. Why would she do that instead of taking the bus? It's obvious that her friends aren't going to school today. And as she looks at them she realizes that she has to make up her mind: will she continue the daily routine that has become her own personal prison, or will she break free. skip school and taste independence?
Which seat can she take? Will she sit in the back, a passive bystander to her own life? Or will she sit in the front – wrest control of her own destiny and decide for herself what she wants to do?
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down on Friday
We cut to Black in the car with her friends. But she's in the back After all that turmoil, she's still a slave to others, doing not what she wants, but what is suggested to her by her peers. She may have rebelled against the tyranny of schooling but she's still imprisoned and acting without will
"Gotta get down on Friday? Not 'wanna get down on Friday: or "gonna get down on Friday: or any of a number of lines that may have worked Its another -gotta? She is as much under the control of society as ever. In fact, her minor rebellion may itself be part of the act she's been putting on her whole life. What teenager doesn't skip school?
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
>Partying. partying. yeah! >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. hin
>Looking forward to the weekend
Horrible. No one in the car is happy. They bob their heads and smile through gritted teeth as they lie about how much fun they're having, but they all look so desperate, so pained. They look OLD. like world-weary soldiers. Their refrains of 'yeahr are delivered with unenthusiastic fist pumps. the veil on their false joy wearing alarmingly thin.
Black chants 'fun, kin. fun' not like someone who is enjoying themselves but like a Nazi in a concentration camp. She is ordering herself to have fun, as if simply saying the words will make it so. But its not so. and she knows it This isn't fun. This is hell.
>7.45. we're driving on the highway >Crusing so fast,
>I want time to fly
12 hours have passed in an instant. We cut to Black in a completely different car. wearing a completely different outfit with a completely different group of people What happened in the interim? That's left to the viewer's imagination but there is some imagery here that strongly implies Black lost her virginity at some point in the time gap.
Firstly, all the people in her company are noticeably older than the original group of friends She is with adults now, not children This suggests that she too is an adult she has stepped into womanhood.
Secondly in the morning she was wearing a bright purple shirt. symbolic of youth and innocence. Now she wears all black, symbolic of impurity -- and mourning. She has lost her innocence- and she regrets it The car, too. has gone from white to black – pure to impure.
Whatever the case. it's clear Black has had quite the day. But still she sits in the back seat – through it all. she is still not in control.
Why does she vvant time to fly? Isn't she having 'fun. in fun'? Of course not This has been the worst day of her short life and she wants it to be over as soon as possible. This is probably the only time she directly betrays her true emotions in the entire song. Her self-loathing over giving up her virginity – and over myriad other things – bubbles to the surface in that fleeting instant before she tamps it all back down again and continues the pathetic charade of enjoying herself
,Fun fun >Think about fun
Again. ordering herself to have fun. This is reminiscent of lie back and think about England,' the advice given to Victorian-era brides on how to deal with being raped by their husbands. Was her loss of virginity willing? Or did she 'grin and bear it' as part of the ritual she felt she had to endure to cross the rubicon into adulthood?
Now that she has crossed that rubicon. and nothing has changed. she is deeply ashamed Yet still she lies to herself, still she pretends to be having fun.
,You know what it IS'
>I gat this. you got this >My friend is by my right >I gat this. you got this >Now you know it
She smiles, but her eyes tell a different story. They're pleading with you to understand her, her plight. She wants you to understand why she's done this. and to forgive her. But she really wants something else. She wants to forgive herself of what has happened today.
Maybe she never will.
>Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat 'Gotta make my mind up 'Which seat can I take?
We come full circle. She knows that to become a truly free agent she will have to disavow her false friends and live for herself Will she be able to take this step? Will she summon the courage to strike out on her own? Immediately she answers for herself: she hugs her two 'friends' closer. She isn't ready to be her own person yet Not even the loss of her innocence could imbue her with the courage to move forward. She will be a slave to others for the foreseeable future.
>It's Friday, Friday
'Gotta get down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend
Black arrives at a party and waves to a boy about her age. He glances salaciously at her backside – perhaps this is the boy who took her virginity? The party is outdoors and it's pitch black except for the headlights from the cars there. Without her friends. without her peers Black would be in dark_ completely lost. The meaning is obvious.
Again, she's -gotta ° get down. The line has now acquired a disturbing sexual connotation given what has transpired, but its basic meaning is essentially the same.
-Friday Frets.
>Getting down an Friday
Watch closely here, this is around 1:50. Her smile completely drops for an instant as she says the second line. She hates herself
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
The boy from before walks up behind Black and makes an inappropriate sexually-charged grab at her. She swirls around in shock. but then fakes a smile at him. She cannot bring herself to admit how disgusting she finds him.
>Partying. partying yeah' >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. fun
>Loolong forward to the weekend
Black walks backwards here. It's easy to read into that. She's not improving herself, but regressing. For all her bluster and pretending. she's worse off tonight than she was this morning. More of her false friends make unconvincing fist pumps. Once again, no one is happy.
'Yesterday was Thursday. Thursday 'Today it is Friday, Friday
We see Black again as the drawing-monster from the beginning. She recites the progression of the days of the week.
Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday. This transformation and these lyrics validate the suggestion that her rebellions today have been nothing more than yet another piece in the larger act she's been putting on. of being the perfect teenager. The days of the week are set in stone. they always come in the same order. And Black's rebelliousness was equally predictable. It wasn't spontaneous at all.
>We, we, we so excited
'We so excited
'We gonna have a ball today
Black talks in broken English, but it's just an affectation, like everything she's done today. Talking like a stereotypical 'urban" (read: black) person is supposed to be °edgy " for this young white suburban girl, but it's not edgy if everyone in her peer group is doing it. just fired and cliched She's no bohemian or free-thinker or even common punk. she's a mindless drone doing what all the others do.
>Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes afterwards
The predictability of her actions are again hammered home as Black is shown directly turning from the moving drawing into her real life counterpart. The drawing-monster and Black are the same entity: a horrendous, unreal abomination, revolting yet pitiable.
.dorit want this weekend to end
But she does. She trembles with this lie and has to say it with an open-mouthed gape, as if forcing it out of herself.
How long can she go on like this before she cracks?
>RB Rebecca Black
>So chillin' in the front side
A grown man begins to rap. cutting into Rebecca's lyrics (symbolizing her powerlessness?) He calls her by name, then looks down at his crotch as he says the second line. More sexual connotations abound. Has this adult man victimized the young Black?
>In the backseat ›I'm drrving cruising
These lines have caused confusion. but it makes sense if you consider 'So chillin' in the front side, in the backseat' to refer to Black. and -I'm driving, cruising' as referring to himself. He's having sex with her (Black is 'so chillin' in the front sides ie being penetrated). but largely against her will (she is still in the back seat) Rather.
HE is the one in control – HE is in the front seat. driving 'Cruising" here takes on its sexual meaning as well as its more literal one -- he is cruising for underaged girls to abuse
>Fast lanes. sratching lanes >With a car on my side
>Passing by is a school bus >In front of me
>Makes me tick tack. tick lock >VVanna scream
Chilling. This man is a pedophile and the children aboard the school bus arouse him. But let's look closer. The fact that they're on a school bus is very meaningful indeed. Because if Black had followed her usual routine and gone to school, had failed to rebel – she may still have not escaped the fate that befell her tonight. Eventually she would have been sullied by the horrors of the adult world. For her, there is no escape, and there can never be
'Check my time. it's Friday
>It's a weekend
'We gonna have fun 'Come on. come on
The man looks in the rearview mirror but the position of the camera makes it appear as if he's looking directly at the viewer. And he says we gonna have fun: not "I'm gonna have fun.' This is an accusation, a recrimination. We are all complicit in the crimes this man commits. By forcing the image of perfection upon young girls. by sexualizing them, by turning a blind eye to their cries for help. WE are responsible for the -fun' this man has. We are no better than him.
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down on Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend weekend >Friday. Friday
>Getting down an Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
We cut back to Black performing in front of a large crowd. This is really what she's been doing her entire life. of course: performing. None of them seem that interested even as she sways and smiles and shouts about how great everything is What's more. we continually see cuts to Black standing alone in a bizarre darkened room full of strange glowing smoke. where she moans in protest – at one point (around 2:55) yelling out "n00000" as the Black performing in front of an audience announces that everyone is looking forward to the weekend.
This is Black's inner dialogue_ and likely it's been going on for the entirety of the day – this is just our glimpse at it. Outwardly_ she's happy and ebullient but in her mind she's shouting out in horrible pain trapped in a fevered hellscape of her own creation
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend >Partying. partying. yeah!
>Partying. partying. yeah!
>Fun. fun. km
>Looking forward to the weekend
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down an Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend. weekend >Friday, Friday
>Getting down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
As the song draws to a close, we cut back and forth like this – the projection Black gives of herself and the torment within. Finally her inner self isn't even attempting to speak intelligibly. instead just yelling as loud as she can.
eyes wrenched closed. fists balled up. But in the real world she forges on singing and dancing for the crowd_ and the pedophile from before looks on approvingly his prey's spirit fully broken.
And when she stops singing, she looks down at everyone before her embarrassed, disgusted_ kill of nothing but despair.
Now that her performance is done. the crowd will disperse and forget about her and for everything she's endured she will have gained nothing. She has literally become the -poor player that struts and frets her hour upon the stage.'
She has realized that her life is a futile mockery of real happiness a hollow. meaningless simulation.
As Black's day draws to a close, she has stared into the abyss -- and the abyss has stared back.
">
Friday Meanings & Lyrics Discussion | SongMeanings
7 AM waking up in the morning >Gotta be fresh gotta go downstairs 'Gotta have my bowl
>Gotta ha. e cereal
Gotta She has no choice. She HAS to do these things As Black sings these lines, she gives a disdainful look to her alarm, obviously wishing she could sleep some more. but dutifully she throws her covers off (does this represent her urge to throw off the comforting but ultimately cloying shackles of childhood? Perhaps.) and we cut to her standing downstairs, dressed and ready to go, where she finishes the verse.
In the downstairs section she stands stone-still. her facial features unmco,ing as she tells us that she must have a bowl of cereal. This is her routine- to break it would be a horrible transgression. And what exactly happens if she breaks her routine? Well. nothing -- but she doesn't know that and she's too terrified to find out. She wants freedom but she isn't strong enough to give it to herself
>Seeing everything
>The time is going. ticking on and on And everybody's rushing
Behind Black, her family goes through their own daily routine in fast-forward. No one has time anymore_ it seems to her, and by extension to the viewer. Everyone's day is firmly regimented planned out months in advance and there isn't any room to allow oneself a peaceful moment. For success we have traded in our very identities Black is disgusted with her family and more importantly with herself
>Gotta get down to the bus stop >Gotta catch my bus
More gottas. Again. Black has no choice in what she does with her time We cut to her at the bus stop where suddenly she notices something off-screen and gives a painfully faked smile: ei sea my inenda
Her smile isn't real. As the camera reveals her 'friends' pulling up in a late-model car neither are theirs She cannot stand these people. Like her they're imposters, trying to live up to some abstract version of what a perfect teenager should be. and she hates them for it. But on the other hand they are nothing less than a mirror into her own empty soul – all the more reason to despise them
>Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat >Gotta make my mind up >Which seat can I take'
A verse absolutely pregnant with meaning. It's gotten a lot of derision. and that's a shame because it's one of the great little moments in this song.
Black surmises the car. Her friends are motioning for her to join them. Why would she do that instead of taking the bus? It's obvious that her friends aren't going to school today. And as she looks at them she realizes that she has to make up her mind: will she continue the daily routine that has become her own personal prison, or will she break free. skip school and taste independence?
Which seat can she take? Will she sit in the back, a passive bystander to her own life? Or will she sit in the front – wrest control of her own destiny and decide for herself what she wants to do?
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down on Friday
We cut to Black in the car with her friends. But she's in the back After all that turmoil, she's still a slave to others, doing not what she wants, but what is suggested to her by her peers. She may have rebelled against the tyranny of schooling but she's still imprisoned and acting without will
"Gotta get down on Friday? Not 'wanna get down on Friday: or "gonna get down on Friday: or any of a number of lines that may have worked Its another -gotta? She is as much under the control of society as ever. In fact, her minor rebellion may itself be part of the act she's been putting on her whole life. What teenager doesn't skip school?
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
>Partying. partying. yeah! >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. hin
>Looking forward to the weekend
Horrible. No one in the car is happy. They bob their heads and smile through gritted teeth as they lie about how much fun they're having, but they all look so desperate, so pained. They look OLD. like world-weary soldiers. Their refrains of 'yeahr are delivered with unenthusiastic fist pumps. the veil on their false joy wearing alarmingly thin.
Black chants 'fun, kin. fun' not like someone who is enjoying themselves but like a Nazi in a concentration camp. She is ordering herself to have fun, as if simply saying the words will make it so. But its not so. and she knows it This isn't fun. This is hell.
>7.45. we're driving on the highway >Crusing so fast,
>I want time to fly
12 hours have passed in an instant. We cut to Black in a completely different car. wearing a completely different outfit with a completely different group of people What happened in the interim? That's left to the viewer's imagination but there is some imagery here that strongly implies Black lost her virginity at some point in the time gap.
Firstly, all the people in her company are noticeably older than the original group of friends She is with adults now, not children This suggests that she too is an adult she has stepped into womanhood.
Secondly in the morning she was wearing a bright purple shirt. symbolic of youth and innocence. Now she wears all black, symbolic of impurity -- and mourning. She has lost her innocence- and she regrets it The car, too. has gone from white to black – pure to impure.
Whatever the case. it's clear Black has had quite the day. But still she sits in the back seat – through it all. she is still not in control.
Why does she vvant time to fly? Isn't she having 'fun. in fun'? Of course not This has been the worst day of her short life and she wants it to be over as soon as possible. This is probably the only time she directly betrays her true emotions in the entire song. Her self-loathing over giving up her virginity – and over myriad other things – bubbles to the surface in that fleeting instant before she tamps it all back down again and continues the pathetic charade of enjoying herself
,Fun fun >Think about fun
Again. ordering herself to have fun. This is reminiscent of lie back and think about England,' the advice given to Victorian-era brides on how to deal with being raped by their husbands. Was her loss of virginity willing? Or did she 'grin and bear it' as part of the ritual she felt she had to endure to cross the rubicon into adulthood?
Now that she has crossed that rubicon. and nothing has changed. she is deeply ashamed Yet still she lies to herself, still she pretends to be having fun.
,You know what it IS'
>I gat this. you got this >My friend is by my right >I gat this. you got this >Now you know it
She smiles, but her eyes tell a different story. They're pleading with you to understand her, her plight. She wants you to understand why she's done this. and to forgive her. But she really wants something else. She wants to forgive herself of what has happened today.
Maybe she never will.
>Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat 'Gotta make my mind up 'Which seat can I take?
We come full circle. She knows that to become a truly free agent she will have to disavow her false friends and live for herself Will she be able to take this step? Will she summon the courage to strike out on her own? Immediately she answers for herself: she hugs her two 'friends' closer. She isn't ready to be her own person yet Not even the loss of her innocence could imbue her with the courage to move forward. She will be a slave to others for the foreseeable future.
>It's Friday, Friday
'Gotta get down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend
Black arrives at a party and waves to a boy about her age. He glances salaciously at her backside – perhaps this is the boy who took her virginity? The party is outdoors and it's pitch black except for the headlights from the cars there. Without her friends. without her peers Black would be in dark_ completely lost. The meaning is obvious.
Again, she's -gotta ° get down. The line has now acquired a disturbing sexual connotation given what has transpired, but its basic meaning is essentially the same.
-Friday Frets.
>Getting down an Friday
Watch closely here, this is around 1:50. Her smile completely drops for an instant as she says the second line. She hates herself
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
The boy from before walks up behind Black and makes an inappropriate sexually-charged grab at her. She swirls around in shock. but then fakes a smile at him. She cannot bring herself to admit how disgusting she finds him.
>Partying. partying yeah' >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. fun
>Loolong forward to the weekend
Black walks backwards here. It's easy to read into that. She's not improving herself, but regressing. For all her bluster and pretending. she's worse off tonight than she was this morning. More of her false friends make unconvincing fist pumps. Once again, no one is happy.
'Yesterday was Thursday. Thursday 'Today it is Friday, Friday
We see Black again as the drawing-monster from the beginning. She recites the progression of the days of the week.
Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday. This transformation and these lyrics validate the suggestion that her rebellions today have been nothing more than yet another piece in the larger act she's been putting on. of being the perfect teenager. The days of the week are set in stone. they always come in the same order. And Black's rebelliousness was equally predictable. It wasn't spontaneous at all.
>We, we, we so excited
'We so excited
'We gonna have a ball today
Black talks in broken English, but it's just an affectation, like everything she's done today. Talking like a stereotypical 'urban" (read: black) person is supposed to be °edgy " for this young white suburban girl, but it's not edgy if everyone in her peer group is doing it. just fired and cliched She's no bohemian or free-thinker or even common punk. she's a mindless drone doing what all the others do.
>Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes afterwards
The predictability of her actions are again hammered home as Black is shown directly turning from the moving drawing into her real life counterpart. The drawing-monster and Black are the same entity: a horrendous, unreal abomination, revolting yet pitiable.
.dorit want this weekend to end
But she does. She trembles with this lie and has to say it with an open-mouthed gape, as if forcing it out of herself.
How long can she go on like this before she cracks?
>RB Rebecca Black
>So chillin' in the front side
A grown man begins to rap. cutting into Rebecca's lyrics (symbolizing her powerlessness?) He calls her by name, then looks down at his crotch as he says the second line. More sexual connotations abound. Has this adult man victimized the young Black?
>In the backseat ›I'm drrving cruising
These lines have caused confusion. but it makes sense if you consider 'So chillin' in the front side, in the backseat' to refer to Black. and -I'm driving, cruising' as referring to himself. He's having sex with her (Black is 'so chillin' in the front sides ie being penetrated). but largely against her will (she is still in the back seat) Rather.
HE is the one in control – HE is in the front seat. driving 'Cruising" here takes on its sexual meaning as well as its more literal one -- he is cruising for underaged girls to abuse
>Fast lanes. sratching lanes >With a car on my side
>Passing by is a school bus >In front of me
>Makes me tick tack. tick lock >VVanna scream
Chilling. This man is a pedophile and the children aboard the school bus arouse him. But let's look closer. The fact that they're on a school bus is very meaningful indeed. Because if Black had followed her usual routine and gone to school, had failed to rebel – she may still have not escaped the fate that befell her tonight. Eventually she would have been sullied by the horrors of the adult world. For her, there is no escape, and there can never be
'Check my time. it's Friday
>It's a weekend
'We gonna have fun 'Come on. come on
The man looks in the rearview mirror but the position of the camera makes it appear as if he's looking directly at the viewer. And he says we gonna have fun: not "I'm gonna have fun.' This is an accusation, a recrimination. We are all complicit in the crimes this man commits. By forcing the image of perfection upon young girls. by sexualizing them, by turning a blind eye to their cries for help. WE are responsible for the -fun' this man has. We are no better than him.
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down on Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend weekend >Friday. Friday
>Getting down an Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
We cut back to Black performing in front of a large crowd. This is really what she's been doing her entire life. of course: performing. None of them seem that interested even as she sways and smiles and shouts about how great everything is What's more. we continually see cuts to Black standing alone in a bizarre darkened room full of strange glowing smoke. where she moans in protest – at one point (around 2:55) yelling out "n00000" as the Black performing in front of an audience announces that everyone is looking forward to the weekend.
This is Black's inner dialogue_ and likely it's been going on for the entirety of the day – this is just our glimpse at it. Outwardly_ she's happy and ebullient but in her mind she's shouting out in horrible pain trapped in a fevered hellscape of her own creation
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend >Partying. partying. yeah!
>Partying. partying. yeah!
>Fun. fun. km
>Looking forward to the weekend
>It's Friday. Friday
>Gotta get down an Friday
>Everybody's looking forward to the weekend. weekend >Friday, Friday
>Getting down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
As the song draws to a close, we cut back and forth like this – the projection Black gives of herself and the torment within. Finally her inner self isn't even attempting to speak intelligibly. instead just yelling as loud as she can.
eyes wrenched closed. fists balled up. But in the real world she forges on singing and dancing for the crowd_ and the pedophile from before looks on approvingly his prey's spirit fully broken.
And when she stops singing, she looks down at everyone before her embarrassed, disgusted_ kill of nothing but despair.
Now that her performance is done. the crowd will disperse and forget about her and for everything she's endured she will have gained nothing. She has literally become the -poor player that struts and frets her hour upon the stage.'
She has realized that her life is a futile mockery of real happiness a hollow. meaningless simulation.
As Black's day draws to a close, she has stared into the abyss -- and the abyss has stared back.
" />
Rebecca Black's song "Friday is a work of unparalleled genius.
Of course you retards don't see it you may never see it but I'm telling the truth. This is not a troll or whatever the kick you think it is. No. This song and its accompanying video represent one of the greatest works musical art I've ever seen. ranking right alongside anything Radiohead. Neutral Milk Hotel etc has ever done.
Why do I say this? Because underneath its bubbly. faux-happy surface is a seething cauldron of existential dread and despair. You've all missed the forest for the trees, and while you've been busy mocking it you've missed its brilliance. So let me take you through the video step by step and maybe at least a couple of you will begin to see.
Remember that these are just my own observations. after only a few viewings: this video is so multi-layered that unraveling its symbolism and meaning would take years of careful examination
We open with a production card and some building synths. As the music continues. we see a sort of calendar with flipping pages. Before we get to the lyrics. there's a couple things in this sequence worth pointing out. because they set the tone for the rest of the video and establish its overarching motifs.
Firstly. Black appears here as a hideous moving drawing on the pages. moaning "yeah. yeah" in robotic. auto-tuned cadence. This startling image of the singer – and her voice -- both lie snugly in the very nadir of the uncanny valley. Ostensibly we are looking at a human. but it isn't close enough to what we recognize as human to inspire anything other than revulsion.
I think the director was trying to create a vision of the ''hyperreal" here. Like a sports drink with a flavor such as "blue mountain ice berry" that doesn't exist in nature. Black is a simulacra of something that never existed in the first place. Like so many American teens. she is attempting to live up to an ideal that's impossible to attain – outwardly succeeding in many respects. but never achieving self-actualization in any meaningful way. always feeling like an imposter. mired in a cycle of materialism and futile competition that serves no purpose She doesn't feel "rear and so in these opening frames she is presented as just that: an unreal monster. a horrible. ugly outside creation.
The artificiality of the music itself plays into this theme as well – I don't think there's a single
II real instrument in the entire song
Secondly on the pages of the calendar we see some words that we are supposed to assume Black wrote there. On the page for Thursday, she has written "I am Thursday's Child. :(" This is a very clever reference to a nursery rhyme that ascribes personality traits to people born on certain days of the week. The line for Thursday reads, 'Thursdays child has far to go."
There are multiple things going on here. As a young girl Black has far to go before reaching adulthood and the (largely mythical) freedoms she ascribes to it. She also has 'far to go' before she can accept herself for who she is.
She has 'far to go` before she can be the person everyone around her expects her to be -- very. very far -- and she will never get there. These are the main conflicts that are present throughout the song.
Finally, the lyrics start. The monstrous drawing of Black gives way to the flesh-and-blood Black, just waking up with her alarm clock. Her eyes snap open and she starts out of bed instantly, almost mechanically.
7 AM waking up in the morning >Gotta be fresh gotta go downstairs 'Gotta have my bowl
Gotta ha. e cereal
Gotta She has no choice. She HAS to do these things As Black sings these lines, she gives a disdainful look to her alarm, obviously wishing she could sleep some more. but dutifully she throws her covers off (does this represent her urge to throw off the comforting but ultimately cloying shackles of childhood? Perhaps.) and we cut to her standing downstairs, dressed and ready to go, where she finishes the verse.
In the downstairs section she stands stone-still. her facial features unmco,ing as she tells us that she must have a bowl of cereal. This is her routine- to break it would be a horrible transgression. And what exactly happens if she breaks her routine? Well. nothing -- but she doesn't know that and she's too terrified to find out. She wants freedom but she isn't strong enough to give it to herself
Seeing everything
The time is going. ticking on and on And everybody's rushing
Behind Black, her family goes through their own daily routine in fast-forward. No one has time anymore_ it seems to her, and by extension to the viewer. Everyone's day is firmly regimented planned out months in advance and there isn't any room to allow oneself a peaceful moment. For success we have traded in our very identities Black is disgusted with her family and more importantly with herself
Gotta get down to the bus stop >Gotta catch my bus
More gottas. Again. Black has no choice in what she does with her time We cut to her at the bus stop where suddenly she notices something off-screen and gives a painfully faked smile: ei sea my inenda
Her smile isn't real. As the camera reveals her 'friends' pulling up in a late-model car neither are theirs She cannot stand these people. Like her they're imposters, trying to live up to some abstract version of what a perfect teenager should be. and she hates them for it. But on the other hand they are nothing less than a mirror into her own empty soul – all the more reason to despise them
Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat >Gotta make my mind up >Which seat can I take'
A verse absolutely pregnant with meaning. It's gotten a lot of derision. and that's a shame because it's one of the great little moments in this song.
Black surmises the car. Her friends are motioning for her to join them. Why would she do that instead of taking the bus? It's obvious that her friends aren't going to school today. And as she looks at them she realizes that she has to make up her mind: will she continue the daily routine that has become her own personal prison, or will she break free. skip school and taste independence?
Which seat can she take? Will she sit in the back, a passive bystander to her own life? Or will she sit in the front – wrest control of her own destiny and decide for herself what she wants to do?
It's Friday. Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
We cut to Black in the car with her friends. But she's in the back After all that turmoil, she's still a slave to others, doing not what she wants, but what is suggested to her by her peers. She may have rebelled against the tyranny of schooling but she's still imprisoned and acting without will
"Gotta get down on Friday? Not 'wanna get down on Friday: or "gonna get down on Friday: or any of a number of lines that may have worked Its another -gotta? She is as much under the control of society as ever. In fact, her minor rebellion may itself be part of the act she's been putting on her whole life. What teenager doesn't skip school?
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
Partying. partying. yeah! >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. hin
Looking forward to the weekend
Horrible. No one in the car is happy. They bob their heads and smile through gritted teeth as they lie about how much fun they're having, but they all look so desperate, so pained. They look OLD. like world-weary soldiers. Their refrains of 'yeahr are delivered with unenthusiastic fist pumps. the veil on their false joy wearing alarmingly thin.
Black chants 'fun, kin. fun' not like someone who is enjoying themselves but like a Nazi in a concentration camp. She is ordering herself to have fun, as if simply saying the words will make it so. But its not so. and she knows it This isn't fun. This is hell.
7.45. we're driving on the highway >Crusing so fast,
I want time to fly
12 hours have passed in an instant. We cut to Black in a completely different car. wearing a completely different outfit with a completely different group of people What happened in the interim? That's left to the viewer's imagination but there is some imagery here that strongly implies Black lost her virginity at some point in the time gap.
Firstly, all the people in her company are noticeably older than the original group of friends She is with adults now, not children This suggests that she too is an adult she has stepped into womanhood.
Secondly in the morning she was wearing a bright purple shirt. symbolic of youth and innocence. Now she wears all black, symbolic of impurity -- and mourning. She has lost her innocence- and she regrets it The car, too. has gone from white to black – pure to impure.
Whatever the case. it's clear Black has had quite the day. But still she sits in the back seat – through it all. she is still not in control.
Why does she vvant time to fly? Isn't she having 'fun. in fun'? Of course not This has been the worst day of her short life and she wants it to be over as soon as possible. This is probably the only time she directly betrays her true emotions in the entire song. Her self-loathing over giving up her virginity – and over myriad other things – bubbles to the surface in that fleeting instant before she tamps it all back down again and continues the pathetic charade of enjoying herself
,Fun fun >Think about fun
Again. ordering herself to have fun. This is reminiscent of lie back and think about England,' the advice given to Victorian-era brides on how to deal with being raped by their husbands. Was her loss of virginity willing? Or did she 'grin and bear it' as part of the ritual she felt she had to endure to cross the rubicon into adulthood?
Now that she has crossed that rubicon. and nothing has changed. she is deeply ashamed Yet still she lies to herself, still she pretends to be having fun.
,You know what it IS'
I gat this. you got this >My friend is by my right >I gat this. you got this >Now you know it
She smiles, but her eyes tell a different story. They're pleading with you to understand her, her plight. She wants you to understand why she's done this. and to forgive her. But she really wants something else. She wants to forgive herself of what has happened today.
Maybe she never will.
Kicking in the front seat >Sitting in the back seat 'Gotta make my mind up 'Which seat can I take?
We come full circle. She knows that to become a truly free agent she will have to disavow her false friends and live for herself Will she be able to take this step? Will she summon the courage to strike out on her own? Immediately she answers for herself: she hugs her two 'friends' closer. She isn't ready to be her own person yet Not even the loss of her innocence could imbue her with the courage to move forward. She will be a slave to others for the foreseeable future.
It's Friday, Friday
'Gotta get down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend
Black arrives at a party and waves to a boy about her age. He glances salaciously at her backside – perhaps this is the boy who took her virginity? The party is outdoors and it's pitch black except for the headlights from the cars there. Without her friends. without her peers Black would be in dark_ completely lost. The meaning is obvious.
Again, she's -gotta ° get down. The line has now acquired a disturbing sexual connotation given what has transpired, but its basic meaning is essentially the same.
-Friday Frets.
Getting down an Friday
Watch closely here, this is around 1:50. Her smile completely drops for an instant as she says the second line. She hates herself
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
The boy from before walks up behind Black and makes an inappropriate sexually-charged grab at her. She swirls around in shock. but then fakes a smile at him. She cannot bring herself to admit how disgusting she finds him.
Partying. partying yeah' >Partying. partying. yeah! >Fun, fun. fun
Loolong forward to the weekend
Black walks backwards here. It's easy to read into that. She's not improving herself, but regressing. For all her bluster and pretending. she's worse off tonight than she was this morning. More of her false friends make unconvincing fist pumps. Once again, no one is happy.
'Yesterday was Thursday. Thursday 'Today it is Friday, Friday
We see Black again as the drawing-monster from the beginning. She recites the progression of the days of the week.
Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday. This transformation and these lyrics validate the suggestion that her rebellions today have been nothing more than yet another piece in the larger act she's been putting on. of being the perfect teenager. The days of the week are set in stone. they always come in the same order. And Black's rebelliousness was equally predictable. It wasn't spontaneous at all.
We, we, we so excited
'We so excited
'We gonna have a ball today
Black talks in broken English, but it's just an affectation, like everything she's done today. Talking like a stereotypical 'urban" (read: black) person is supposed to be °edgy " for this young white suburban girl, but it's not edgy if everyone in her peer group is doing it. just fired and cliched She's no bohemian or free-thinker or even common punk. she's a mindless drone doing what all the others do.
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes afterwards
The predictability of her actions are again hammered home as Black is shown directly turning from the moving drawing into her real life counterpart. The drawing-monster and Black are the same entity: a horrendous, unreal abomination, revolting yet pitiable.
.dorit want this weekend to end
But she does. She trembles with this lie and has to say it with an open-mouthed gape, as if forcing it out of herself.
How long can she go on like this before she cracks?
RB Rebecca Black
So chillin' in the front side
A grown man begins to rap. cutting into Rebecca's lyrics (symbolizing her powerlessness?) He calls her by name, then looks down at his crotch as he says the second line. More sexual connotations abound. Has this adult man victimized the young Black?
In the backseat ›I'm drrving cruising
These lines have caused confusion. but it makes sense if you consider 'So chillin' in the front side, in the backseat' to refer to Black. and -I'm driving, cruising' as referring to himself. He's having sex with her (Black is 'so chillin' in the front sides ie being penetrated). but largely against her will (she is still in the back seat) Rather.
HE is the one in control – HE is in the front seat. driving 'Cruising" here takes on its sexual meaning as well as its more literal one -- he is cruising for underaged girls to abuse
Fast lanes. sratching lanes >With a car on my side
Passing by is a school bus >In front of me
Makes me tick tack. tick lock >VVanna scream
Chilling. This man is a pedophile and the children aboard the school bus arouse him. But let's look closer. The fact that they're on a school bus is very meaningful indeed. Because if Black had followed her usual routine and gone to school, had failed to rebel – she may still have not escaped the fate that befell her tonight. Eventually she would have been sullied by the horrors of the adult world. For her, there is no escape, and there can never be
'Check my time. it's Friday
It's a weekend
'We gonna have fun 'Come on. come on
The man looks in the rearview mirror but the position of the camera makes it appear as if he's looking directly at the viewer. And he says we gonna have fun: not "I'm gonna have fun.' This is an accusation, a recrimination. We are all complicit in the crimes this man commits. By forcing the image of perfection upon young girls. by sexualizing them, by turning a blind eye to their cries for help. WE are responsible for the -fun' this man has. We are no better than him.
It's Friday. Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend weekend >Friday. Friday
Getting down an Friday
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
We cut back to Black performing in front of a large crowd. This is really what she's been doing her entire life. of course: performing. None of them seem that interested even as she sways and smiles and shouts about how great everything is What's more. we continually see cuts to Black standing alone in a bizarre darkened room full of strange glowing smoke. where she moans in protest – at one point (around 2:55) yelling out "n00000" as the Black performing in front of an audience announces that everyone is looking forward to the weekend.
This is Black's inner dialogue and likely it's been going on for the entirety of the day – this is just our glimpse at it. Outwardly she's happy and ebullient but in her mind she's shouting out in horrible pain trapped in a fevered hellscape of her own creation
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend >Partying. partying. yeah!
Partying. partying. yeah!
Fun. fun. km
Looking forward to the weekend
It's Friday. Friday
Gotta get down an Friday
Everybody's looking forward to the weekend. weekend >Friday, Friday
Getting down on Friday
'Everybody's looking forward to the weekend
As the song draws to a close, we cut back and forth like this – the projection Black gives of herself and the torment within. Finally her inner self isn't even attempting to speak intelligibly. instead just yelling as loud as she can.
eyes wrenched closed. fists balled up. But in the real world she forges on singing and dancing for the crowd_ and the pedophile from before looks on approvingly his prey's spirit fully broken.
And when she stops singing, she looks down at everyone before her embarrassed, disgusted_ kill of nothing but despair.
Now that her performance is done. the crowd will disperse and forget about her and for everything she's endured she will have gained nothing. She has literally become the -poor player that struts and frets her hour upon the stage.'
She has realized that her life is a futile mockery of real happiness a hollow. meaningless simulation.
As Black's day draws to a close, she has stared into the abyss -- and the abyss has stared back.
You know, I only looked at the reviews to this analysis to see if anybody actually took this seriously. I was thinking... surely nobody... there's no way...
You know, I only looked at the reviews to this analysis to see if anybody actually took this seriously. I was thinking... surely nobody... there's no way...
wow whoever wrote this is like 55 years old, divorced, and does a lot of drugs.
wow whoever wrote this is like 55 years old, divorced, and does a lot of drugs.
cause u know what, this song isnt actually about all this crap that you pulled out of your ass. why do u think she is fake? or has no actual genuine feelings, about being excited about the weekend. and you call her a genius. she's far from that, but she makes one hell of a catchy song.
cause u know what, this song isnt actually about all this crap that you pulled out of your ass. why do u think she is fake? or has no actual genuine feelings, about being excited about the weekend. and you call her a genius. she's far from that, but she makes one hell of a catchy song.
her voice in the chorus is the only thing suggesting nerdy-ism, it's all nasally and shit. but all her expressions in this video seem genuine to me, what drugs are u smoking? the song may suck, but her emotions about it are not.
It's just a song. Calm. Down. And dpat256 I think you're the one who's trying to sound smart. I mean if you think this persons interpretation of the song is so horrible, then why would you even comment like a whole long paragraph? I think that we should all interpret this song the way we want to and the way that's meaningful to us. It doesn't have to have one meaning.
It's just a song. Calm. Down. And dpat256 I think you're the one who's trying to sound smart. I mean if you think this persons interpretation of the song is so horrible, then why would you even comment like a whole long paragraph? I think that we should all interpret this song the way we want to and the way that's meaningful to us. It doesn't have to have one meaning.
I didn't read a word past the first line, but that is easily the best commitment I have ever seen. You, my friend, should be the one getting attention.
I didn't read a word past the first line, but that is easily the best commitment I have ever seen. You, my friend, should be the one getting attention.
Ps Colbert and Fallon not only made this song legit, but their rendition was great! If you haven't seen it go watch it's actually awesome. The song itself isn't good obviously, but the way they perform it is fantastic.
Ps Colbert and Fallon not only made this song legit, but their rendition was great! If you haven't seen it go watch it's actually awesome. The song itself isn't good obviously, but the way they perform it is fantastic.
Pss you guys all know he was kidding the entire time right? An incredibly long essay that seems to not have been worth the trouble, but a joke all along. Not one person actually thinks this song has any musical value.
Pss you guys all know he was kidding the entire time right? An incredibly long essay that seems to not have been worth the trouble, but a joke all along. Not one person actually thinks this song has any musical value.
Almost half of the people who posted replies thus far don't know the meaning of the word 'satire'. Clearly this is what's wrong with our society today. Too many people can't take a joke...or recognize a joke when it pokes them in the face.
Almost half of the people who posted replies thus far don't know the meaning of the word 'satire'. Clearly this is what's wrong with our society today. Too many people can't take a joke...or recognize a joke when it pokes them in the face.
okay what you need to understand is that it's not satire, Rebecca was interviewed on abc and she is actually serious about this song. Even if you didn't see that interview, Do you really think someone would spend the thousands of dollars on a music video for a joke? Use your head thegitsfan. And madisonx22 I analyzed something roughly 3 pages long in a paragraph. I'd say thats pretty good. Also, There is no meaning to interpret here. This song doesn't have any metaphors or allusions or any deep underlying meaning. It's a bad song end of story.
okay what you need to understand is that it's not satire, Rebecca was interviewed on abc and she is actually serious about this song. Even if you didn't see that interview, Do you really think someone would spend the thousands of dollars on a music video for a joke? Use your head thegitsfan. And madisonx22 I analyzed something roughly 3 pages long in a paragraph. I'd say thats pretty good. Also, There is no meaning to interpret here. This song doesn't have any metaphors or allusions or any deep underlying meaning. It's a bad song end of story.
this is literally pointless. youre seeing things that arent there and the fact that you can means your probably a 12 year old girl, which is fine. But it doesnt make the song have any validity or meaning besides that.
this is literally pointless. youre seeing things that arent there and the fact that you can means your probably a 12 year old girl, which is fine. But it doesnt make the song have any validity or meaning besides that.
@dpat256
Okay what YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan is referring to the post to which he is replying as satire, not Rebecca Black's effortful attempt at a legitimate music video.
I dare say it is you, sir, who needs to use his head.
@dpat256
Okay what YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan is referring to the post to which he is replying as satire, not Rebecca Black's effortful attempt at a legitimate music video.
I dare say it is you, sir, who needs to use his head.
@dannyboy808
What YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan's response was ambiguous so i made the most sensible assumption, due to the fact that other people on this thread were saying Rebecca Black's song is satire. So I dare say it is you who needs to pull your head out of your ass.
@dannyboy808
What YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan's response was ambiguous so i made the most sensible assumption, due to the fact that other people on this thread were saying Rebecca Black's song is satire. So I dare say it is you who needs to pull your head out of your ass.
This is a joke, obviously, quite funny, though a bit on the long side. And of course this song has no deeper meaning, whatever even Rebecca Black herself might say.
This is a joke, obviously, quite funny, though a bit on the long side. And of course this song has no deeper meaning, whatever even Rebecca Black herself might say.
Of the 19 people who've commented so far on this, I counted only 6 who definitely understood the satire behind it. Everyone else fell into two camps: they either 1) completely missed it, were somehow offended by it, and sometimes gave inane (albeit passionate), insult-laden arguments against lyricsforever's analysis or 2) they still completely missed it but felt that the song was open to interpretation and gently reminded those in camp 1 that more than one legitimate meaning may exist. I can't decide which camp I hate more.
Of the 19 people who've commented so far on this, I counted only 6 who definitely understood the satire behind it. Everyone else fell into two camps: they either 1) completely missed it, were somehow offended by it, and sometimes gave inane (albeit passionate), insult-laden arguments against lyricsforever's analysis or 2) they still completely missed it but felt that the song was open to interpretation and gently reminded those in camp 1 that more than one legitimate meaning may exist. I can't decide which camp I hate more.
As Facimusic put it, this is a work of art beyond comparison. It's consistently thoughtful and hilarious yet it never openly bashes the song, maintaining its tongue-in-cheek objectivity to perfection. It really is a shame that so few of its readers can appreciate it.
By the way, if the statement "ranking alongside anything Radiohead or Neutral Milk Hotel etc has ever done" didn't tip you off then you must be braindead. Cmon..
WOW. Haha, wowee. You, lyricsforever, are either an incredibly astounding genius or an old maid with too much time on your hands. And I don't care which one you are...
Hahahaha, I agree ihmsawtd, this is just so constantly thoughtful and delves so deep...I just can't believe more than 12 people misunderstood it.
Anyway....you made quite a few people laugh with your incomparable satire, congrats dude. I adore you, lyricsforever! xD keep up the good work ♥♥♥
WOW. Haha, wowee. You, lyricsforever, are either an incredibly astounding genius or an old maid with too much time on your hands. And I don't care which one you are...
Hahahaha, I agree ihmsawtd, this is just so constantly thoughtful and delves so deep...I just can't believe more than 12 people misunderstood it.
Anyway....you made quite a few people laugh with your incomparable satire, congrats dude. I adore you, lyricsforever! xD keep up the good work ♥♥♥
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound.
Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Hahahaha. Brilliant. I agree that this song reveals the tragedy of our human condition, especially the whole 'front seat-back seat' dilemma - too many choices, got to make our minds up. Poor Rebecca Black is consumed by her indecision!
Hahahaha. Brilliant. I agree that this song reveals the tragedy of our human condition, especially the whole 'front seat-back seat' dilemma - too many choices, got to make our minds up. Poor Rebecca Black is consumed by her indecision!
It's so annoying when people look at someone making a joke and don't realise it's a joke.
The person who wrote this never once called the song horrible, he simply mocked it in a satirical manner.
Secondly, he might actually have a life to all of you people who make such blatant accusations. In fact, I'm almost certain that for him to have typed this, he would have in fact had a pulse, and a regular breathing pattern, two things I feel contribute to a 'life.'
But, seeing as I assume you all weren't interested in the literal interpretation of 'having a life'...
It's so annoying when people look at someone making a joke and don't realise it's a joke.
The person who wrote this never once called the song horrible, he simply mocked it in a satirical manner.
Secondly, he might actually have a life to all of you people who make such blatant accusations. In fact, I'm almost certain that for him to have typed this, he would have in fact had a pulse, and a regular breathing pattern, two things I feel contribute to a 'life.'
But, seeing as I assume you all weren't interested in the literal interpretation of 'having a life' but more likely, the pop culture slur, you may not have noticed the multitude of grammatical and spelling errors throughout the piece.
I'm not saying the author did a bad job, but perhaps he was procrastinating an assignment, or he was just bored and felt like entertaining a mass of internet surfers in one place he felt that many people would be.
Nevertheless, I found this piece amusing, and the only thing more amusing were the moronic comments about how this person has no life, when physically he would have at the time of writing this.
Rebecca Black's song "Friday is a work of unparalleled genius.
Of course you retards don't see it you may never see it but I'm telling the truth. This is not a troll or whatever the kick you think it is. No. This song and its accompanying video represent one of the greatest works musical art I've ever seen. ranking right alongside anything Radiohead. Neutral Milk Hotel etc has ever done.
Why do I say this? Because underneath its bubbly. faux-happy surface is a seething cauldron of existential dread and despair. You've all missed the forest for the trees, and while you've been busy mocking it you've missed its brilliance. So let me take you through the video step by step and maybe at least a couple of you will begin to see.
Remember that these are just my own observations. after only a few viewings: this video is so multi-layered that unraveling its symbolism and meaning would take years of careful examination
We open with a production card and some building synths. As the music continues. we see a sort of calendar with flipping pages. Before we get to the lyrics. there's a couple things in this sequence worth pointing out. because they set the tone for the rest of the video and establish its overarching motifs. Firstly. Black appears here as a hideous moving drawing on the pages. moaning "yeah. yeah" in robotic. auto-tuned cadence. This startling image of the singer – and her voice -- both lie snugly in the very nadir of the uncanny valley. Ostensibly we are looking at a human. but it isn't close enough to what we recognize as human to inspire anything other than revulsion.
I think the director was trying to create a vision of the ''hyperreal" here. Like a sports drink with a flavor such as "blue mountain ice berry" that doesn't exist in nature. Black is a simulacra of something that never existed in the first place. Like so many American teens. she is attempting to live up to an ideal that's impossible to attain – outwardly succeeding in many respects. but never achieving self-actualization in any meaningful way. always feeling like an imposter. mired in a cycle of materialism and futile competition that serves no purpose She doesn't feel "rear and so in these opening frames she is presented as just that: an unreal monster. a horrible. ugly outside creation.
The artificiality of the music itself plays into this theme as well – I don't think there's a single II real instrument in the entire song
Secondly on the pages of the calendar we see some words that we are supposed to assume Black wrote there. On the page for Thursday, she has written "I am Thursday's Child. :(" This is a very clever reference to a nursery rhyme that ascribes personality traits to people born on certain days of the week. The line for Thursday reads, 'Thursdays child has far to go."
There are multiple things going on here. As a young girl Black has far to go before reaching adulthood and the (largely mythical) freedoms she ascribes to it. She also has 'far to go' before she can accept herself for who she is.
She has 'far to go` before she can be the person everyone around her expects her to be -- very. very far -- and she will never get there. These are the main conflicts that are present throughout the song.
Finally, the lyrics start. The monstrous drawing of Black gives way to the flesh-and-blood Black, just waking up with her alarm clock. Her eyes snap open and she starts out of bed instantly, almost mechanically.
Black surmises the car. Her friends are motioning for her to join them. Why would she do that instead of taking the bus? It's obvious that her friends aren't going to school today. And as she looks at them she realizes that she has to make up her mind: will she continue the daily routine that has become her own personal prison, or will she break free. skip school and taste independence?
Which seat can she take? Will she sit in the back, a passive bystander to her own life? Or will she sit in the front – wrest control of her own destiny and decide for herself what she wants to do?
Black chants 'fun, kin. fun' not like someone who is enjoying themselves but like a Nazi in a concentration camp. She is ordering herself to have fun, as if simply saying the words will make it so. But its not so. and she knows it This isn't fun. This is hell.
Firstly, all the people in her company are noticeably older than the original group of friends She is with adults now, not children This suggests that she too is an adult she has stepped into womanhood. Secondly in the morning she was wearing a bright purple shirt. symbolic of youth and innocence. Now she wears all black, symbolic of impurity -- and mourning. She has lost her innocence- and she regrets it The car, too. has gone from white to black – pure to impure.
Whatever the case. it's clear Black has had quite the day. But still she sits in the back seat – through it all. she is still not in control.
Why does she vvant time to fly? Isn't she having 'fun. in fun'? Of course not This has been the worst day of her short life and she wants it to be over as soon as possible. This is probably the only time she directly betrays her true emotions in the entire song. Her self-loathing over giving up her virginity – and over myriad other things – bubbles to the surface in that fleeting instant before she tamps it all back down again and continues the pathetic charade of enjoying herself
,Fun fun >Think about fun
Again. ordering herself to have fun. This is reminiscent of lie back and think about England,' the advice given to Victorian-era brides on how to deal with being raped by their husbands. Was her loss of virginity willing? Or did she 'grin and bear it' as part of the ritual she felt she had to endure to cross the rubicon into adulthood? Now that she has crossed that rubicon. and nothing has changed. she is deeply ashamed Yet still she lies to herself, still she pretends to be having fun.
,You know what it IS'
She smiles, but her eyes tell a different story. They're pleading with you to understand her, her plight. She wants you to understand why she's done this. and to forgive her. But she really wants something else. She wants to forgive herself of what has happened today. Maybe she never will.
-Friday Frets.
'Yesterday was Thursday. Thursday 'Today it is Friday, Friday We see Black again as the drawing-monster from the beginning. She recites the progression of the days of the week.
Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday. This transformation and these lyrics validate the suggestion that her rebellions today have been nothing more than yet another piece in the larger act she's been putting on. of being the perfect teenager. The days of the week are set in stone. they always come in the same order. And Black's rebelliousness was equally predictable. It wasn't spontaneous at all.
How long can she go on like this before she cracks?
HE is the one in control – HE is in the front seat. driving 'Cruising" here takes on its sexual meaning as well as its more literal one -- he is cruising for underaged girls to abuse
'Check my time. it's Friday
We cut back to Black performing in front of a large crowd. This is really what she's been doing her entire life. of course: performing. None of them seem that interested even as she sways and smiles and shouts about how great everything is What's more. we continually see cuts to Black standing alone in a bizarre darkened room full of strange glowing smoke. where she moans in protest – at one point (around 2:55) yelling out "n00000" as the Black performing in front of an audience announces that everyone is looking forward to the weekend.
This is Black's inner dialogue and likely it's been going on for the entirety of the day – this is just our glimpse at it. Outwardly she's happy and ebullient but in her mind she's shouting out in horrible pain trapped in a fevered hellscape of her own creation
eyes wrenched closed. fists balled up. But in the real world she forges on singing and dancing for the crowd_ and the pedophile from before looks on approvingly his prey's spirit fully broken.
And when she stops singing, she looks down at everyone before her embarrassed, disgusted_ kill of nothing but despair.
Now that her performance is done. the crowd will disperse and forget about her and for everything she's endured she will have gained nothing. She has literally become the -poor player that struts and frets her hour upon the stage.'
She has realized that her life is a futile mockery of real happiness a hollow. meaningless simulation. As Black's day draws to a close, she has stared into the abyss -- and the abyss has stared back.
I'd say tl;dnr, but I actually read this whole thing. I concur. It is truly a work of art beyond comparison.
I'd say tl;dnr, but I actually read this whole thing. I concur. It is truly a work of art beyond comparison.
You are awesome.
You are awesome.
This analysis is as great as the song itself.
This analysis is as great as the song itself.
@MPS186282: certain humans are remarkably bad at finding humour where it is intended.
@MPS186282: certain humans are remarkably bad at finding humour where it is intended.
You know, I only looked at the reviews to this analysis to see if anybody actually took this seriously. I was thinking... surely nobody... there's no way...
You know, I only looked at the reviews to this analysis to see if anybody actually took this seriously. I was thinking... surely nobody... there's no way...
@MPS186282, good job. snorts
@MPS186282, good job. snorts
6/10.
6/10.
wow whoever wrote this is like 55 years old, divorced, and does a lot of drugs.
wow whoever wrote this is like 55 years old, divorced, and does a lot of drugs.
cause u know what, this song isnt actually about all this crap that you pulled out of your ass. why do u think she is fake? or has no actual genuine feelings, about being excited about the weekend. and you call her a genius. she's far from that, but she makes one hell of a catchy song.
cause u know what, this song isnt actually about all this crap that you pulled out of your ass. why do u think she is fake? or has no actual genuine feelings, about being excited about the weekend. and you call her a genius. she's far from that, but she makes one hell of a catchy song.
her voice in the chorus is the only thing suggesting nerdy-ism, it's all nasally and shit. but all her expressions in this video seem genuine to me, what drugs are u smoking? the song may suck, but her emotions about it are not.
It's just a song. Calm. Down. And dpat256 I think you're the one who's trying to sound smart. I mean if you think this persons interpretation of the song is so horrible, then why would you even comment like a whole long paragraph? I think that we should all interpret this song the way we want to and the way that's meaningful to us. It doesn't have to have one meaning.
It's just a song. Calm. Down. And dpat256 I think you're the one who's trying to sound smart. I mean if you think this persons interpretation of the song is so horrible, then why would you even comment like a whole long paragraph? I think that we should all interpret this song the way we want to and the way that's meaningful to us. It doesn't have to have one meaning.
OMG. I can't believe someone actually wrote an entire essay about this dreck.
OMG. I can't believe someone actually wrote an entire essay about this dreck.
I didn't read a word past the first line, but that is easily the best commitment I have ever seen. You, my friend, should be the one getting attention.
I didn't read a word past the first line, but that is easily the best commitment I have ever seen. You, my friend, should be the one getting attention.
Ps Colbert and Fallon not only made this song legit, but their rendition was great! If you haven't seen it go watch it's actually awesome. The song itself isn't good obviously, but the way they perform it is fantastic.
Ps Colbert and Fallon not only made this song legit, but their rendition was great! If you haven't seen it go watch it's actually awesome. The song itself isn't good obviously, but the way they perform it is fantastic.
Pss you guys all know he was kidding the entire time right? An incredibly long essay that seems to not have been worth the trouble, but a joke all along. Not one person actually thinks this song has any musical value.
Pss you guys all know he was kidding the entire time right? An incredibly long essay that seems to not have been worth the trouble, but a joke all along. Not one person actually thinks this song has any musical value.
Almost half of the people who posted replies thus far don't know the meaning of the word 'satire'. Clearly this is what's wrong with our society today. Too many people can't take a joke...or recognize a joke when it pokes them in the face.
Almost half of the people who posted replies thus far don't know the meaning of the word 'satire'. Clearly this is what's wrong with our society today. Too many people can't take a joke...or recognize a joke when it pokes them in the face.
okay what you need to understand is that it's not satire, Rebecca was interviewed on abc and she is actually serious about this song. Even if you didn't see that interview, Do you really think someone would spend the thousands of dollars on a music video for a joke? Use your head thegitsfan. And madisonx22 I analyzed something roughly 3 pages long in a paragraph. I'd say thats pretty good. Also, There is no meaning to interpret here. This song doesn't have any metaphors or allusions or any deep underlying meaning. It's a bad song end of story.
okay what you need to understand is that it's not satire, Rebecca was interviewed on abc and she is actually serious about this song. Even if you didn't see that interview, Do you really think someone would spend the thousands of dollars on a music video for a joke? Use your head thegitsfan. And madisonx22 I analyzed something roughly 3 pages long in a paragraph. I'd say thats pretty good. Also, There is no meaning to interpret here. This song doesn't have any metaphors or allusions or any deep underlying meaning. It's a bad song end of story.
this is literally pointless. youre seeing things that arent there and the fact that you can means your probably a 12 year old girl, which is fine. But it doesnt make the song have any validity or meaning besides that.
this is literally pointless. youre seeing things that arent there and the fact that you can means your probably a 12 year old girl, which is fine. But it doesnt make the song have any validity or meaning besides that.
@dpat256 Okay what YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan is referring to the post to which he is replying as satire, not Rebecca Black's effortful attempt at a legitimate music video. I dare say it is you, sir, who needs to use his head.
@dpat256 Okay what YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan is referring to the post to which he is replying as satire, not Rebecca Black's effortful attempt at a legitimate music video. I dare say it is you, sir, who needs to use his head.
@dannyboy808 What YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan's response was ambiguous so i made the most sensible assumption, due to the fact that other people on this thread were saying Rebecca Black's song is satire. So I dare say it is you who needs to pull your head out of your ass.
@dannyboy808 What YOU need to understand is that thegitsfan's response was ambiguous so i made the most sensible assumption, due to the fact that other people on this thread were saying Rebecca Black's song is satire. So I dare say it is you who needs to pull your head out of your ass.
This is a joke, obviously, quite funny, though a bit on the long side. And of course this song has no deeper meaning, whatever even Rebecca Black herself might say.
This is a joke, obviously, quite funny, though a bit on the long side. And of course this song has no deeper meaning, whatever even Rebecca Black herself might say.
Of the 19 people who've commented so far on this, I counted only 6 who definitely understood the satire behind it. Everyone else fell into two camps: they either 1) completely missed it, were somehow offended by it, and sometimes gave inane (albeit passionate), insult-laden arguments against lyricsforever's analysis or 2) they still completely missed it but felt that the song was open to interpretation and gently reminded those in camp 1 that more than one legitimate meaning may exist. I can't decide which camp I hate more.
Of the 19 people who've commented so far on this, I counted only 6 who definitely understood the satire behind it. Everyone else fell into two camps: they either 1) completely missed it, were somehow offended by it, and sometimes gave inane (albeit passionate), insult-laden arguments against lyricsforever's analysis or 2) they still completely missed it but felt that the song was open to interpretation and gently reminded those in camp 1 that more than one legitimate meaning may exist. I can't decide which camp I hate more.
As Facimusic put it, this is a work of art beyond comparison. It's consistently thoughtful and hilarious yet it never openly bashes the song, maintaining its tongue-in-cheek objectivity to perfection. It really is a shame that so few of its readers can appreciate it.
By the way, if the statement "ranking alongside anything Radiohead or Neutral Milk Hotel etc has ever done" didn't tip you off then you must be braindead. Cmon..
WOW. Haha, wowee. You, lyricsforever, are either an incredibly astounding genius or an old maid with too much time on your hands. And I don't care which one you are... Hahahaha, I agree ihmsawtd, this is just so constantly thoughtful and delves so deep...I just can't believe more than 12 people misunderstood it. Anyway....you made quite a few people laugh with your incomparable satire, congrats dude. I adore you, lyricsforever! xD keep up the good work ♥♥♥
WOW. Haha, wowee. You, lyricsforever, are either an incredibly astounding genius or an old maid with too much time on your hands. And I don't care which one you are... Hahahaha, I agree ihmsawtd, this is just so constantly thoughtful and delves so deep...I just can't believe more than 12 people misunderstood it. Anyway....you made quite a few people laugh with your incomparable satire, congrats dude. I adore you, lyricsforever! xD keep up the good work ♥♥♥
Genius. You life has not been in vain.
Genius. You life has not been in vain.
hmmm... guess i don't see it.
hmmm... guess i don't see it.
PMSL at the people who think lyricsforever was actually being serious.
PMSL at the people who think lyricsforever was actually being serious.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Your sheer ingenuity and insight into what will be referred to now as the Great Extestinetial movement in Philosphy 100 years from now as "Blackism", something that will be on par with Freud and Niezchte, is profound. Bless you and your interpretation of this noble poet.
Hahahaha. Brilliant. I agree that this song reveals the tragedy of our human condition, especially the whole 'front seat-back seat' dilemma - too many choices, got to make our minds up. Poor Rebecca Black is consumed by her indecision!
Hahahaha. Brilliant. I agree that this song reveals the tragedy of our human condition, especially the whole 'front seat-back seat' dilemma - too many choices, got to make our minds up. Poor Rebecca Black is consumed by her indecision!
It's so annoying when people look at someone making a joke and don't realise it's a joke. The person who wrote this never once called the song horrible, he simply mocked it in a satirical manner. Secondly, he might actually have a life to all of you people who make such blatant accusations. In fact, I'm almost certain that for him to have typed this, he would have in fact had a pulse, and a regular breathing pattern, two things I feel contribute to a 'life.' But, seeing as I assume you all weren't interested in the literal interpretation of 'having a life'...
It's so annoying when people look at someone making a joke and don't realise it's a joke. The person who wrote this never once called the song horrible, he simply mocked it in a satirical manner. Secondly, he might actually have a life to all of you people who make such blatant accusations. In fact, I'm almost certain that for him to have typed this, he would have in fact had a pulse, and a regular breathing pattern, two things I feel contribute to a 'life.' But, seeing as I assume you all weren't interested in the literal interpretation of 'having a life' but more likely, the pop culture slur, you may not have noticed the multitude of grammatical and spelling errors throughout the piece. I'm not saying the author did a bad job, but perhaps he was procrastinating an assignment, or he was just bored and felt like entertaining a mass of internet surfers in one place he felt that many people would be. Nevertheless, I found this piece amusing, and the only thing more amusing were the moronic comments about how this person has no life, when physically he would have at the time of writing this.
epic troll is successful! 2 internets for you.
epic troll is successful! 2 internets for you.
hey minilikeaboss. why don't you just shut your whore mouth.
hey minilikeaboss. why don't you just shut your whore mouth.
I created a profile just to tell you that you're a genius.
I created a profile just to tell you that you're a genius.
The best. Everybody else, go home.
The best. Everybody else, go home.
I genuinely wasn't sure how to react to this, then you mentioned losing her virginity. I was laughing for the rest of the review. Kudos.
I genuinely wasn't sure how to react to this, then you mentioned losing her virginity. I was laughing for the rest of the review. Kudos.
tl ; dr
tl ; dr
I hail thee, sir.
I hail thee, sir.
lyricsforever, you win fifty internets.
lyricsforever, you win fifty internets.
can i repost this in my blog :D, really love this :D
can i repost this in my blog :D, really love this :D
This interpretation is simultaneously the stupidest and most genius thing i have ever read.
This interpretation is simultaneously the stupidest and most genius thing i have ever read.
@lyricsforever Fuck that must have been some baller ass coke you were on my dude.
@lyricsforever Fuck that must have been some baller ass coke you were on my dude.