Surprised they don't have ads on the Youtube...
― oigwheoiqng4g (seandalai), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:24 (thirteen years ago) link
have you read his Cadillacs essay, nakh?
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:18 (1 minute ago)
no, do you know the title?
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Why Rebecca Black's Much-Mocked Viral Hit 'Friday' Is Actually GoodThe teen unknown's surprise internet hit is an unintentional parody of modern pop
By Matthew PerpetuaMARCH 15, 2011 1:15 PM ET
Rebecca Black's "Friday," a song and music video produced by the Los Angeles company Ark Music Factory, has gone viral over the past few days, bubbling up from Tumblr and Twitter to become one of 2011's fastest-growing memes. The clip has already been parodied, covered and remixed many times over, and will likely inspire further variations as it spreads throughout internet communities and pop culture. The fascination with the video mainly comes down to its subpar production values, grating hooks and extraordinarily stupid lyrics. (This is a song that makes a point of explaining the sequence of days in the week.)
But there's something else going on here, something that makes "Friday" uniquely compelling. After all, there's no shortage of insipid failed pop music out there, and Ark Music Factory is responsible for many other music videos by young unknowns that are just as cringe-inducing, if not much worse. When you see this video, you immediately notice everything that it does "wrong," but it actually gets a lot of things about pop music right, if just by accident.
For one thing, Black's voice is totally bizarre. It's not just the processing on her vocals – she has a peculiar tonality that inadvertently highlights the absurdity of boilerplate pop lyrics that may not seem as ridiculous if, say, Katy Perry was singing instead. When she sings the "Friday, Friday" hook or the "fun fun fun fun" refrain, she sounds unlike anything else in pop music. Perhaps the closest comparison is Laraine Newman in Saturday Night Live's Coneheads sketches – pinched and stilted, like an alien attempting to pass an average American girl. Obviously, this isn't the most pleasant sound in the world, but Black comes out sounding like a distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma.
With a voice as strange as this, Black probably doesn't belong in the world's most generic modern pop song, but here she is. "Friday" is exactly what you expect from teen-oriented pop in 2011, from the sing-song melodies on down to a guest spot from an anonymous rapper who's only tangentially related to the rest of the song. If the video was intended to be a parody of teen pop convention, it would be on par with some of the best SNL Digital Shorts by Lonely Island.
And thus Black and Ark Music Factory have made a video that forces its audience to reckon with a particular formula for pop music. It's not as if any of this was ever actually cool, but suddenly it seems as if any legit pop singer goes anywhere near the vibe of "Friday," it will just seem like a joke.
― taco al pastorius (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:28 (thirteen years ago) link
"an alluring sort of anti-charisma", fuck me
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
rich kid karaoke is the new punk rock
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Lo, his writing style is more amateur than Rebecca Black's performance.
― taco al pastorius (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
xxp - i don't remember off the top of my head, but there's also an essay critiquing it called something very close to "Adorno Meets the Cadillacs" that is also worth reading. Both were on the syllabus for Popular Music Criticism class I took in college 15 years ago.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Tracer wasn't in this class, I think I was the only MCM person in it - everyone else was Ethnomusicology grad students iirc
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:33 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah will read that, thanks
users.ipfw.edu/tankel/PDF/Gedron.pdf
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
I said the same shit as Perpetua way, way upthread in like one tenth of the words: Yeah, kinda struggling to find a meaningful, useful difference between these and, e.g., Ke$ha, who is equally as retarded and equally manufactured but doesn't have the excuse of age or ambitious stage parents. It's razor-thin line between "Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy" and "Hannah Montana is wearing my jeans."
― Ian Curtis danced like a tortured chicken DO U SEE (Phil D.), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link
il perpetua anorexico
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:37 (thirteen years ago) link
"Friday" is exactly what you expect from teen-oriented pop in 2011, from the sing-song melodies on down to a guest spot from an anonymous rapper who's only tangentially related to the rest of the song. If the video was intended to be a parody of teen pop convention, it would be on par with some of the best SNL Digital Shorts by Lonely Island.And thus Black and Ark Music Factory have made a video that forces its audience to reckon with a particular formula for pop music. It's not as if any of this was ever actually cool, but suddenly it seems as if any legit pop singer goes anywhere near the vibe of "Friday," it will just seem like a joke.
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:38 (thirteen years ago) link
iow i think everyone is just making up excuses for enjoying a silly catchy novelty song
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:39 (thirteen years ago) link
her voice isn't that distinct.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:39 (thirteen years ago) link
someone should arrange this for big band and do a sinatra impression over it
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
waiting for power metal cover, personally.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm late to the party on this whole thing, but is Ark Music Factory like the 2011 version of those 'Song Poem' records? You know, "we'll set your lyrics to music, just send us money?"
― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
a peculiar tonality
I don't hate on this dude like everybody tends to but I really, really, really, really wish music writers would think twice, or three times, even, before using a word like "tonality" - it's fine to not actually have studied musical terminology (I guess, and even if it isn't fine, the horse has left the barn) but using it like you knew what it meant is a bummer
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
xp essentially
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm late to the party on this whole thing, but is Ark Music Factory like the 2011 version of those 'Song Poem' records? You know, "we'll set your lyrics to music, just send us money?"― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 1:40 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 1:40 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
my old housemates had a business doing this for a while
― FUN FUN FUN FUN (gbx), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:43 (thirteen years ago) link
man aero how many horses are even left in yr barn???
― FUN FUN FUN FUN (gbx), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
gbx, great screen name. I'll research new one stat...
― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
her voice is just funny because it's monotone and slightly worried, like she is nervous about screwing up and this nervousness/the song's general ridiculousness is getting in the way of her connecting to it at all; she is singing the same way you dance when you're hauled on stage during dinner at Uncle Billy's Restaurant in scenic Hilo, Hawaii to learn and dance the Hukilau while everyone laughs and takes pictures of you, which is basically exactly what is happening, except it's happening with an incongruous budget and on youtube
ke$ha is awesome and not remotely like this at all but we don't need to go into that
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I know I flog the hell outta that phrase
you might say I'm flogging a
well you get the general idea
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I feel kinda bad for her tbh, imagine if that fake pop song you recorded in your bedroom when you were 12 was all of a sudden being parodied by 5 million ppl and perpetua was calling you non-charismatic
― I am sorry for my insensitive tweet (Edward III), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
didn't someone do a record/project releasing these Song Poems years after the fact?
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
perpetua was calling you non-charismatic
pretty sure even a 13-year-old can get the irony here
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
hueg lol
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 1:44 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark
haha, no worries, entirely possible i poached it?? the whole song is potential display names imo
― FUN FUN FUN FUN (gbx), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOqn-I5u1MY
xp to sarahel
― I am sorry for my insensitive tweet (Edward III), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
i just really want to know if the other kids in that video were her real friends or not.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
i think i was emotionally scarred by "You Can't Do That On Television" where one of the girls on the show is told that all the other kids were paid by her parents to be her friends, and she doesn't have any real friends. Most of this was due to people in grade school telling me I kinda looked like that girl.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
"the world's most generic modern pop song"
I HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH THIS
actual modern pop songs really don't use this narrating-everything-as-you-go lyrical style? as anyone who actually listens to pop music would know? jesus, perpetua.
― c sharp major, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:44 (1 minute ago)
that shit is the worst, like beyond the guetta principle in terms of 2k10s aesthetic vileness
awkward tween singing silly naive song about the end of the school week having meme fame accidentally foisted upon her vs relentlessly ugly frat hedonist retard anthems
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
you're not supposed to say that!!!
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:50 (thirteen years ago) link
you didn't need to go into that
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost to self:
like if it was a series of generic statements about being in a club: fine, yeah, modern pop.
but this 'now i'm doing this, now i'm doing that, making a statement of fact' super banal stuff is actually more reminiscent of the first robin sparkles song on HIMYM than actual charting pop music.
― c sharp major, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:52 (thirteen years ago) link
no, someone just got yelled at about an hour ago for calling someone retarded.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:52 (thirteen years ago) link
not reading 'that thread' (assuming....)
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link
xp again i'm not gonna do this because what's the point, but without getting into actual value judgments i'd just say that like 65% of the joke with "friday" comes from how stilted and robotic she sounds, like she's just barely clinging to this weird edifice that's been built for her, whereas ke$ha does not sound like that, because she's throwing herself into her relentlessly ugly frat hedonist retard anthems and giggling and preening and doing weird voices and affecting deliberately obnoxious vowel sounds and this is like literally the opposite of what is going on with "friday". that's all.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link
'now i'm doing this, now i'm doing that, making a statement of fact'
read this in rebecca black's voice — actual lols
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link
ke$ha is also an adult whose junk boys want to touch.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm guessing some of the <3 apologists itt have for this track is because, as tweens or former tweens, they empathize with the simple joy of the school week finishing
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
don't forget according to iatee's recent poll, many ilx users are actually 13
― kid 606: the nultness (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:55 (thirteen years ago) link
xxpokay I'm at the club, yeah goin' to the clubgotta get boys, have 'em touch me on my junkordering drinks, gosh look at all these drinkshave to pick a drink, and then I'll get drunk
― SBlendor in the grass (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
(also everything c sharp major is saying about the lyrics to this not actually being anything like any actual pop at all is otm, that is why it is so funny)
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
except the "fun fun fun" part - pretty sure that's been in a pop song before
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
but this 'now i'm doing this, now i'm doing that, making a statement of fact' super banal stuff
'Cause you're hot then you're coldYou're yes then you're noYou're in then you're outYou're up then you're downYou're wrong when it's rightIt's black and it's whiteWe fight, we break upWe kiss, we make up
― Ian Curtis danced like a tortured chicken DO U SEE (Phil D.), Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, but that is about "~feelings~" not eating a bowl of cereal
― sarahel, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
that is a structured description of contrasting abstract states that happen over the course of a relationship
vs an unstructured list of physical things happening in the order that they are happening
like again that is the opposite of "friday"
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:59 (thirteen years ago) link