Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that on Friday, March 11th, 2011 a powerful earthquake measuring 9.0 rattled the Japan coast, creating destruction on a scale almost unimaginable. The disaster was covered in real-time by citizen journalists and broadcasted live to the web through every possible news outlet. At the same time, halfway around the world, the Libyan political and civil system was being battered by a delusional dictator and a population demanding change, and again, footage from the frontlines made its way to the web almost as soon as it was recorded. Extraordinary events like these are often sensationalized by big media, and perhaps rightfully so in some cases. More recently though, through social channels like Twitter, the perpetual stream of updates often demands the constant attention of a connected audience.

It can be challenging to even consider directing attention towards anything less critical. While these events continue to dominate big media, it’s astonishing that at the very same time another sensation is rapidly spreading through the social web. This time, like many times of the past, it’s driven by the entertainment business – and in complete opposition to the tragic events gaining so much of our collective attention – this sensation is simply a pop song.

More after the jump.

The song ‘Friday’ was written for Rebecca Black by a commercial writer/producer team who were paid about two thousand dollars to provide both the original song and recording services. The video was later shot at Black’s father’s house, with friends and family as extras, over 12 hours. Before March 11th, I suspect Rebecca Black was a relatively normal, unknown, 13-year-old from Anaheim, California, with arms-length access to the music industry simply through proximity, and a dream of stardom. But somehow, in the shadow of massive tragic world events, this 13-year-old would go from complete obscurity to an Internet sensation.

The music video for ‘Friday’ became a viral hit on Friday March 11th when YouTube views went from about 3,000 to over 36.5 million (as of March 22nd), less than two weeks later. The spike was attributed to a blog post titled “Songwriting Isn’t for Everyone” by Tosh.0, an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online videos, society, celebrities, and other forms of pop culture.

Subjectivity aside, the pedestrian quality of the songwriting and the video perhaps sheds some light into what exactly made Rebecca Black an overnight star. Or more specifically, this may gleam insight into what motivates social sharing online. This isn’t exactly a hit song by any stretch of the imagination, but rather, an awkwardly produced and juvenile attempt at pop music; one that begs the viewer to share it simply for amusement sake. That’s right, content like this is shared online purely for the novelty of it. So-called ‘viral’ hits go viral not because they are great, but because of shock value or qualities that intrigue. But most often it’s humor that triggers that knee-jerk reaction to share the experience through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or good old-fashioned email. Since the song’s rapid growth in popularity, Forbes has stated that ‘the notoriety of the song is another sign of the power of social media – specifically Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, in this instance – in the ability to create “overnight sensations.”’

So do YouTube views of this measure equate to commercial success? Not always. But Rebecca Black managed to gain the #19 spot on the iTunes sales chart within a week, auto-tune and all. Her Facebook page shows over 36k fans. And reports of revenue from the song range from about $25k up to ‘several hundred thousand dollars’ just weeks after its release. Not bad for unrefined talent matched with poor production quality. Have our entertainment expectations really declined to this level? As Rolling Stone writer Matthew Perpetua described it, the vocals have “a peculiar tonality that inadvertently highlights the absurdity of boilerplate pop lyrics,” adding that her tone “sounds unlike anything else in pop music.” He then goes on to say that Black ultimately ends up “sounding like a distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma.” It’s a pretty lackluster review, but hey, Rolling Stone coverage can’t be a bad thing at the start of a recording career.

Considering how a song like this could simultaneously share the spotlight with real world humanitarian issues is perplexing. With the events in Japan and Libya demanding such a volume of media attention, maybe a song like this almost benefits by being a polar opposite; a 5-minute break from the serious issues at hand. Perhaps it’s true and timing is everything. Quite simply, Friday was released at precisely the right time, as the global social graph was completely immersed in the events unfolding in Japan and Libya, drawing an even bigger Internet audience than an average Friday. In any case, it proves there is no formula for going ‘viral’, considering Friday achieved this at the height of online media congestion. It’s an outcome that cannot be predicted, and is almost always influenced by any number of things.

Ending this post on a positive note, Rolling Stone’s Perpetua gave Black praise after her interview with ABC News, noting that “she is actually a pretty decent singer…she is a total sweetheart… Black comes off as a well-adjusted, happy and grateful kid.” He also acknowledged her honorable intention to donate part of the profits from the song to school arts programs and relief efforts in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami.

It pains me to embed the Friday video below, however, to fully comprehend the absurdity of the contradiction of media priorities; it just has to be seen.

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