00:00It's Friday the 13th, the unluckiest day of the year, but back in 2011,
00:04no one had a worse Friday than a 13-year-old girl named Rebecca Black. You know the song
00:08and you know the memes, but do you know the $4,000 scam that almost destroyed her life?
00:12Well, almost 15 years later, and we're looking at the dark side of her viral fame.
00:22It all reportedly started on February 10th, 2011, when the music video for Friday was first
00:27uploaded to YouTube. But did you know Rebecca's video wasn't linked to a record deal? It was
00:30actually a vanity project. Reports state Rebecca's mother paid a company called ARK Music Factory
00:35$4,000 to produce the track and the video. But ARK was essentially a pay-to-play factory,
00:40one that promised kids a shot at being the next big theme.
00:42They got broccoli, even chicken wings. And after an aspiring artist would pay up,
00:48the label would then write and produce a song. They retained the sales and publishing rights too.
00:52So essentially, they gave Rebecca a song she didn't write, auto-tuned her to high heaven,
00:57and pushed a 13-year-old into the line of fire. It was horrible beyond measure! Mass hysteria!
01:03By the time the song hit streaming platforms on March 14th, 2011, it was a global phenomenon
01:08for the wrong reasons. But as the 3 million dislikes piled up on YouTube, so did the greed.
01:13Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.
01:16Even though Rebecca's mom paid $4,000 for total ownership, ARK Music Factory allegedly tried to
01:22squat on the rights once the song blew up. The label reportedly refused to hand over the original
01:27files and even lied by claiming Rebecca was their, quote, exclusive artist, all to build their own
01:33brand off her viral moment. ARK even tried to charge people $2.99 just to watch the video on YouTube.
01:40And Rebecca's family eventually had to sue to get the master recordings back, leading to the video
01:44being scrubbed from the internet for months in late 2011. The family eventually settled the
01:48dispute with ARK Music Factory outside of court, finally gaining full ownership and control over
01:53the song. Friday was, like, the thing. Like, the big meme. Like, that was the thing when I was a
01:59kid.
01:59And now I get to, like, experience it again, but kind of, like, in a different font. It is both
02:05touching
02:05and kind of funny. And to celebrate winning her rights back, Rebecca re-uploaded Friday to her own
02:10YouTube channel on September 16th, 2011. Since then, she's leaned into the joke,
02:15even collaborating with internet legend Dave Days, for a self-aware sequel titled Saturday.
02:30And the legend only grew from there. On February 10th, 2021, a then-24-year-old Rebecca celebrated the
02:3710-year anniversary by dropping a high-energy hyper-pop remix.
02:41It's Rebecca Blake, the Dory and the Extra, 3rd!
02:46And if you look at where we are now, Friday the 13th, 2026, Rebecca isn't just a punchline.
02:52She's an independent pop powerhouse. Because after reclaiming her masters, the now 28-year-old Rebecca
02:58independently released her second studio album, Salvation, just last year. And it's a hyper-pop
03:04manifesto that proves she didn't just survive the worst song ever. She outlasted the industry
03:08predators who try to use her as a payout.
03:10I don't need you to save me. I'll have to save myself.
03:16And moral of the story, if someone asks for a four grand to tell you you're a star,
03:21the only thing they're probably interested in is your wallet. Happy Friday the 13th, everyone.
03:25Fun, fun, fun, fun. Looking forward to the weekend.
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