Rebecca Black Is Back With Epic New Music After Overcoming Bullying From ‘Friday:’ ‘I Was The Weirdo’
Rebecca Black admits that she was bullied to no end after her video ‘Friday’ went viral, and her emotional story about how she overcame it will inspire you. Now, she’s letting her real self-shine with new music!
More than six years after the phenomenon known as “Friday,” Rebecca Black, 20, is finally finding her true self on her EP RE / BL. “I felt like a loser,” she confessed during her visit to HollywoodLife.com of what it was like to show up at the high school after the video went viral. “I felt like the weirdo.” We’ve all been there, if not on such a global scale, right? The good news is that Rebecca is proving time heals: “I’ve grown up and grown into my music.” The singer breaks down her transformation for us below!
For those who don’t know, how did “Friday” come about back in the day?
I was thirteen when “Friday” came out, and I wasn’t thinking, “Let’s do this video, career starts now.” It was like, alright, I know that I love to sing. My dream at that point was to go to high school and do theater and go to NYU! It was a little experiment for me to get into a studio for the first time. I didn’t even know if pop was my thing, but this was something to experiment with and put on a resume.
What’s it like looking back at that time?
It’s like the embarrassing middle school photos phase! You’re trying to figure out who you are and what the world is, and if there’s something more than just your school friends…
And it’s immortalized for you in a video!
Yeah! It’s there. I just thought it was fun. I didn’t listen to it, picking it apart. It was about the experience of it. I didn’t want to sit at home over winter break and I saw people doing cool things and I wanted to try something and put myself out there. Not necessarily for the world to see, but for myself.
Once the video came out, what was the immediate aftermath like?
I don’t think if there’s anyone who can teach you how to handle something like “Friday.” Suddenly, my circle wasn’t just [my town], it was a whole world of people who had an opinion of who I was. When you’re so young, you don’t even have that opinion about yourself yet! When someone’s sending you a hate comment, you start to lose it [before you even have that opinion]. That’s where it gets confusing and scary.
You left school to be homeschooled because of bullying. What was it like once you returned?
I went back to public high school for the junior year, and at that point, I was not only the new girl, but I was the Friday Girl as well. There had been enough time for rumors to spread and it felt like everywhere I went, there were people who had their idea of who Rebecca Black was and there was no fresh start. That was hard going into. I kept to myself and hung with my little friend group and that was that.
Have there been parallels between your past experiences with adversity and your career today?
This is so cliche to say, but there have been crazy highs and crazy lows. As I’ve gotten into music and touring, you’ll be doing something amazing one day and then the next something you were counting on goes away, or something happens that you didn’t expect. There’s a lot of scariness in that.
You’ve had a strong following for so many years. Why wait and release an EP now?
It’s the first full release that I’ve done other than singles in the last seven years. There’s never been a better time than now because I didn’t know myself — not that I don’t still have ways to go! But there was so much I had to go through as a person and there’s only so much you can write about at thirteen or fourteen. Then you start to have your first boyfriend, experience the world and have more to write about.
What’s one thing you want fans to know?
It’s been amazing for people to connect with the EP in real life on this tour. I’m on my way to living a happier life and wearing and saying what I want without feeling guilty about it. Whatever happens to you, happens, but you can come out of it and find yourself and do it! And f*ck anyone who tells you can’t.
Source: https://hollywoodlife.com/2017/10/17/rebecca-black-interview-friday-new-music/
