![]() ![]() ‘Being a young woman in the face of the internet, people are always going to try to take that from you and this was the first time that I was really harnessing that on my own terms‘ – Rebecca Black Being a young woman in the face of the internet, people are always going to try to take that from you and this was the first time that I was really harnessing that on my own terms.” “The thing that wrapped it up for me was the moment where I finally felt like I had let go of so many of the things that I felt had limited me from people I knew, from this previous version of myself that didn’t know how to go out and explore and experiment and create and try. A lot of people come to terms with the differences in the ways that they viewed what happened to me now versus then, but none of that would have mattered if I didn’t also do that work on myself,” Black says. ![]() “This album would have never existed if I didn’t do the work on myself and for a long time, I watched the internet grapple with my story. “It’s like that scene in the Minions when the yellow guys break into the tower,” her manager remarks, and we all laugh, stepping onto the indoor conveyor belt that takes us on a mechanical tour through royalties past and present. We’re on a tight schedule – she’s performing at Heaven later that night for her sold-out album launch party – but our guide tells us the Crown Jewels is a must-see, so we dutifully comply. Following on from a string of singles, including the reclamatory “Rebecca Black Was Here” and euphorically queer anthem “Girlfriend”, the album name is a reference to leaving behind past selves, and embracing new beginnings: “Let the versions of myself that have held me back, let the people in my life that never allowed me to be who I really wanted to be, let all of those burn and also let this new version of myself really burn brightly.” With stories of break-ups and bad romances rendered in chaotic 808s and confessional pop songs, the album is sexier than past releases, with Black flexing her pop chops across a string of leftfield music videos such as the 80s-inspired “Sick To My Stomach” and the Cronenberg-esque “ Crumbs”.ĭuring our time together, Black is characteristically cheerful. On her debut album Let Her Burn, Black has reemerged as a bonafide internet icon – and an alt popstar keen to set the record straight. “It’s an interesting thing to watch the way that this whole side of the world or the internet has changed their tune over time, because it definitely felt like it happened in these interesting little tiny increments,” she expands. Simultaneously, internet culture, which was still in its infancy ten years ago, has matured too, and we’ve all become hyper-aware of the IRL impact of online spaces. Aside from working as an anti-bullying advocate, she publicly came out as queer in 2020, and with the help of Extremely Online artists like Dorian Electra and 100 gecs, found friendship in the hyperpop community – her 2021 anniversary remix of “Friday”, produced by 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady, featured the likes of Big Freedia, Dorian Electra, and bro-tronica duo 3OH!3. Over a decade on from her first foray into music, the 25-year-old has not only grown up, but grown into herself. I found so much of myself on the internet as a kid before ‘Friday’ ever existed.” “But, the reality is, I’m of the generation that grew up with the internet, and I love the internet. “I felt like somebody that had been outcast by the internet or who was exiled from the internet in some way or capacity,” she confides. At 13 years old, she became a target for online bullying a prototype for manufactured celebrity and an example of how the internet exploits young people. We gawk at the site and shuffle onwards into the tower the irony of a woman wrongly convicted of a bogus crime isn’t lost on us.Īs one of the earliest examples of a viral moment with her ridiculed internet hit “Friday” (the infamous Kony campaign came out the following year), Black is the poster child for someone who’s endured the wringer of internet trolling, and come out the other side. As we make our way through the fortress, our tour guide informs us that Anne Boleyn entered through Traitor’s Gate in the days leading up to her beheading. ![]() Historically, the entrance was used by the Tudors to escort prisoners into the Tower of London, but today we’re here on a Dazed Day Out. It’s a sunny Friday morning and Rebecca Black is standing at the foot of Traitor’s Gate. ![]()
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