Picture of Rebecca Black
Childhood and Early Involvement in Performing Arts
Rebecca Black was born in Anaheim Hills, California. Her parents, John Black and Georgina Marquez Kelly, are both veterinarians. She began to take dance lessons when she was 3 years old up until now. She studied ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop.
When Rebecca was 7 years old, she starred in a local commercial for the building toy Puzzlecraft. She joined in a patriotic performing group, performing at over 50 locations.
She began to take vocal lessons at the age of 10 and continued with it ever since. At age 11, she signed a contract with a modeling management company.
It is her passion to sing. In 2008 and 2009, she was involved in a musical theatre summer camp. When she studied in a local public school, she quickly auditioned for musical theatre and participated with great success.
Rebecca lives in Los Angeles, California, USA. She studied high school in Britannia Secondary School. In college, she went to University of British Columbia. She is currently an actress in Hollywood High School.
Leading to Popularity
In late 2010, Alana Lee, a friend and an artist, introduced her to the Ark Music Factory. Ark Music Factory is a video production company based in California, USA. It was the company who also produced the pop music videos: Alana Lee’s "Butterflies” and Kaya’s "Can’t Get You Out of My Mind.”
With the help of Ark Music Factory, Rebecca created her music single, "Friday". It is a song written by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson. An official music video of "Friday" performed by Rebecca Black was uploaded to youtube on February 10, 2011. During the first few weeks, it received only a few number of views (over 1,000 views)
But in March 31, 2011, from 3,000 views, it jumped-off to over 67 million views for only a few weeks. That's how Rebecca Black became a youtube sensation and gained her popularity. Others are telling that, "It seems people around the world acquired new fever, a "Black Fever".
Criticisms
Amidst the increasing popularity, Rebecca Black's video received several criticisms. Others think that Rebecca was getting more popular not because of the song and the video but because of the cheese factor.
Picture of Rebecca Black with her sweet smile
"I think Rebecca Black’s song is terrible and if I ever heard it on the radio, I would turn it off", said Robert Ostfield, CEO of andPOP, in an interview.
As of March 31, 2011, the Rebecca Black's "Friday" music video surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" in terms of total number of dislikes. "Friday" music video in youtube got a whooping of more than 1.2 million dislikes.
