Emily Brown
Rebecca Black has claimed only two people 'genuinely tried to life her up' when she was facing criticism and judgement following the release of 'Friday'.
There's no denying it: 'Friday' is a great song.
It was true in 2011 and it's still true 12 years later, when people across the globe belt out, "it's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday," at the end of each working week.
In spite of all the people who continue to sing along now though, Black received a lot of flack when the song was released.
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The singer was only 13 when she dropped 'Friday', but she became subject to online hate and bullying which she's since said took a 'toll' on her life.
Speaking to NPR more than a decade later, Black said: "Having so much intake of information when you're a child – and having not even a semblance of self, really, to bounce that off of.
"Everything passes through it – there is no filter that you have built within yourself to able to say, like, "I don't know if I agree with that."
"If somebody says "you don't belong here, you're bad at this, you're a disgrace for even trying to do something like this," those words have such a different intensity when you're a child because you just believe them."
Black has since released a debut album titled Let Her Burn, but her work as a young star hasn't been forgotten.
This week, one Twitter user recalled how 'Friday' had led Black to make a cameo in Katy Perry's music video for her hit track, 'Last Friday Night'.
They praised her appearance, writing: "Rebecca Black’s cameo in the last friday night music video is still the smartest idea Katy Perry ever had."
Black then responded to the post to credit Perry with being nice to her at what was a tough time, noting she was was among a very small group of people to do so.
She wrote: "when katy and gaga become the only 2 people to genuinely try to lift u up as a kid when the rest of the world is sh**ng on u, u have no choice but to serve c*** when u grow up there i said it!"
Lady Gaga also showed her own support for Black back in 2011, when she described 'Friday' as 'fantastic'.
Speaking at a Musicians@Google event, Gaga said: “I say Rebecca Black is a genius and anyone that’s telling her she’s cheesy is full of sh*t."
Black told NPR that the period after the song was released was 'a crazy time of incredible highs and incredible lows', adding: "Like, I would spend the morning reading everything that was being said about me on the internet, and then I would get picked up and driven to somewhere in the Valley to shoot the Katy Perry music video."
Now 25 years old, Black has come a long way since 'Friday', and she's now hopeful that her experience will be used as a lesson for any other young stars dealing with fame.