Rebecca Black's new single.

[lacktheknack]

Still not as much of a cancer to music as Design the Skyline is.

Oh god...anything besides Design the Skyline is good.

For those of you who don't know who they are, here's the abortion that is Design the Skyline:

OT: Her new song is still bad, but it's good compared to Friday.

What in God's name...?

It's like they removed everything good about Attack Attack!, cut the tempo in half, and set it in the streets of Silent Hill...

As for Rebecca Black: Six out of ten. The "Screw the haters" bit did NOT work (Rebecca isn't nearly vicious enough for it), but at least she left it in the bridge. Her voice still sounds pinched, but that can be fixed with a bit of training. The songwriting itself is solid enough (minus the bridge), and the chorus is catchy. It's certainly better than some other stuff I've heard on the radio...

EDIT: May as well toss in that the video is much better as well.

And she DOES have a good voice. She can accurately hit any given chord, and can stay on one pitch. She was autotuned in "Friday" "because it was the 'in' thing to do".

"But wait!" you say. "She still is painful to listen to!" Either it's the pinchedness that can be fixed with training, or you have a mental block from her last song and need to get over it. Or (and this is very rare) her voice has a resonance that annoys you. I'm guessing it's one of the first two.

 

[Hagi]

she is not a professional artist though...
she is little more then a figure head, a face attached to something imagined, produced, and paid by some one else. Infact, she can't even sing, she has a horrible voice for the type of notes these songs are written in... Instead, she just tries her best and they Auto-Tune (use a computer program to adjust pitch and tone) her voice so that it matches the notes.

in your example of a video game, it would be like a 13 year old opening up GECK for Fallout 3 and changing Numbers around so that the 10mm Pistol at the start of the game does 9999 damage.
but because a huge number of the NPC's also use the 10mm pistol, They too do 9999 damage.

Any one can make a video and upload it to youtube...
the only reason she is getting 'famous' is because she is so universally Bad that people can't stop talking about how horrible it is. and this drums up two camps of support... people that watch this because of the before mentioned 'Social Torture' which it is just funny to watch others react to it so negatively, and the 'Supporters' which think it is amazing that she is finding the strength to stand up in the face of such negative adversity.

She was making 24.900$ per week. She was #33 on iTunes. [http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/rebecca-black-s-first-week-sales-not-bad-1005084972.story]

You're a professional artist if you can make a living from your music. I'm pretty sure 24.900$ per week is enough to make a living off.

FO3 mods that change the starting pistol in the GECK don't earn you that kind of money. FO3 mods like that don't rank #33 in one of the most popular download services.

Not everyone can make a youtube video earning them 20.000$ [http://blogs.forbes.com/chrisbarth/2011/03/21/mock-rebecca-black-all-you-want-shes-laughing-to-the-bank/] from a revenue sharing program.

Like it or not she has one of the highest incomes in the world from all 13 year-olds. She's as professional an artist as you can possibly be at 13.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i refuse to watch it and give the video more views. the more views the more money she gets and the more attention she gets.

from what i read in the comments it's just a generic pop song and i heard enough of that crap in my life

 

[C95J]

Better, but still not worth listening too. Maybe, in a few years, she will have some god songs out. Not likely, but you never know.

 

[Mark Flanagan]

It's good to see that shes kept the same weirdo friends in her videos.

Songs not that bad but its not good either

 

[Adam Galli]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OxWD85Ngz4 (IDK embedding)



Discuss.

embedding youtube vids: take the numbers and letters in the url after the = and insert into this format: youtube= (make sure to start and end it with [ ]).


Quote me and look if you're still not sure what it should look like.

 

[MarsProbe]

She's fucking impressive in my book. She's 13 and she's a professional artist. She's 13 and has been on various huge TV shows. What did you do at 13?

Honestly? This response is the response we should all be having. I don't understand why we hate her so much.

Well, I'm not leaping to the defence of Rebecca Black like a fan or anything like that (well, not entirely), but yeh, instead of getting all mad, why not just leave her be? It's not that hard to ignore the song/artist if you don't like it.

That, and she's obviously enjoying herself. Is it too much to begrudge some kid having a good time and likely making a comfortable sum of money in the process?

This reminds me of all the publications that go on about how much they dislike "Lord Sugar" everytime a new series of The Apprentice comes on. Hate all you want, he's still more successful than you and probably doesn't really care about your smalltown views...

 

[Pyro Paul]

she is not a professional artist though...
she is little more then a figure head, a face attached to something imagined, produced, and paid by some one else. Infact, she can't even sing, she has a horrible voice for the type of notes these songs are written in... Instead, she just tries her best and they Auto-Tune (use a computer program to adjust pitch and tone) her voice so that it matches the notes.

in your example of a video game, it would be like a 13 year old opening up GECK for Fallout 3 and changing Numbers around so that the 10mm Pistol at the start of the game does 9999 damage.
but because a huge number of the NPC's also use the 10mm pistol, They too do 9999 damage.

Any one can make a video and upload it to youtube...
the only reason she is getting 'famous' is because she is so universally Bad that people can't stop talking about how horrible it is. and this drums up two camps of support... people that watch this because of the before mentioned 'Social Torture' which it is just funny to watch others react to it so negatively, and the 'Supporters' which think it is amazing that she is finding the strength to stand up in the face of such negative adversity.

She was making 24.900$ per week. She was #33 on iTunes. [http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/rebecca-black-s-first-week-sales-not-bad-1005084972.story]

You're a professional artist if you can make a living from your music. I'm pretty sure 24.900$ per week is enough to make a living off.

FO3 mods that change the starting pistol in the GECK don't earn you that kind of money. FO3 mods like that don't rank #33 in one of the most popular download services.

Not everyone can make a youtube video earning them 20.000$ [http://blogs.forbes.com/chrisbarth/2011/03/21/mock-rebecca-black-all-you-want-shes-laughing-to-the-bank/] from a revenue sharing program.

Like it or not she has one of the highest incomes in the world from all 13 year-olds. She's as professional an artist as you can possibly be at 13.

the company that holds the rights to the Song got $25,000 a week.
her royalties as per contract for the song just about makes out to $40,000 over all, give or take which is paid out to her Mother as being the signtary for the song.

a disagreement Over this contact is what lead to the 'Friday' video being pulled from Youtube in june. As of last month, she did not see a Single cent of royalties paid out to her, and as of today there is still argument over who exactly has the rights to the song itself.

Professional is not a title earned just because you make money off of something you do. To be a professional you must have a degree of practice and skill either earned or taught in your specific trade. Working at a fast food resturant does not make you a Professional cook... nor does being a camera man for a news cast make you a professional videotographer... And just because you're a professional pianist/violinist/artist does not mean that you're wealthy or can even scrape together a living off of your trade.

i have a friend that is a professional classically taught pianist. She could, in theory, play at concerts halls and galla events for a good sum of money... unfortunatly for her, those events in our area do not occur in great abundance. so inspite of being a professional pianist, she is not making a living off of it.

Rebecca Black, like it or not, is not Professional at all.
infact, if you take her out of the song and replace her with Real professionals the 'Friday' song isn't acctually bad.

 

[Hagi]

the company that holds the rights to the Song got $25,000 a week.
her royalties as per contract for the song just about makes out to $40,000 over all, give or take which is paid out to her Mother as being the signtary for the song.

a disagreement Over this contact is what lead to the 'Friday' video being pulled from Youtube in june. As of last month, she did not see a Single cent of royalties paid out to her, and as of today there is still argument over who exactly has the rights to the song itself.

Professional is not a title earned just because you make money off of something you do. To be a professional you must have a degree of practice and skill either earned or taught in your specific trade. Working at a fast food resturant does not make you a Professional cook... nor does being a camera man for a news cast make you a professional videotographer... And just because you're a professional pianist/violinist/artist does not mean that you're wealthy or can even scrape together a living off of your trade.

i have a friend that is a professional classically taught pianist. She could, in theory, play at concerts halls and galla events for a good sum of money... unfortunatly for her, those events in our area do not occur in great abundance. so inspite of being a professional pianist, she is not making a living off of it.

Rebecca Black, like it or not, is not Professional at all.
infact, if you take her out of the song and replace her with Real professionals the 'Friday' song isn't acctually bad.

You might want to check the definition of professional:
"following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder. "

Professional is exactly a title you earn when you make money (AKA a livelihood) with something you do. Practice and skill only matter in so far as someone will hire you.

Working at a fast food restaurant does make you a professional cook. Cook is your profession. Therefore you're a professional cook. What it doesn't make you is a good cook.

If your friend isn't able to make a living out of being a pianist then she is NOT a professional pianist. She may be a very good pianist, but she isn't a professional pianist. Pianist is not her profession, thus she is not a professional pianist.

Rebecca Black is a professional artist. What she isn't is a good artist. But those are two very very different things. But you know, she's 13 so who cares whether she's good or not.

 

[Rooster893]

WHY? Why does she, a no-talent, autotuned, stupid little brat getting spotlight while actual skilled musicians like Our Lady Peace and Alter Bridge aren't getting enough praise? This music generation truly does suck.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Improvement over friday. 8 more songs, and I'm sure her music will actually be good!
It's just like the resident evil movies!

 

[kaveradeo]

That design the skyline reminds me of attack attack
Its like techno pop mixed with screamo metal.

 

[anthony87]

Still not as much of a cancer to music as Design the Skyline is.

*Youtubes "Design the Skyline"*

.....The shit is this???

Is this honestly considered good by groups of people?

 

[anthony87]

I don't get what's so wrong about it?

Sure, it's not a great song and she's not a great artist. We already knew that.

But she's a 13 year old and she's actually a professional artist. How many 13 year old can say that they're professional artists, even if bad ones?

Let's put that into a video game comparison:

She's a 13 year old making video games. It's a cover-based third person shooter featuring a male Caucasian space marine. Every time you kill an enemy you have to go through a long quick time event or you die. Your space marine can only carry a single weapon at a time. As soon as you duck behind cover you become invulnerable and totally healed. To spice things up there are random additional quick time events that can kill you. You gain an achievement for every single button you press.

Now if you're a sane person there's only one sentence in the above that you paid real attention to: "She's a 13 year old making video games".

She's 13! It doesn't matter if it's good! It's not supposed to be good! Nothing you do at 13 can possibly be 'good' when compared to professional adults! It's not about being good, it's about just doing it!

When I was 13 I spend my time playing video games, watching TV, doing some sports and occasionally paying attention at school. I think I drooled a bit at times. I may or may not have collected pokémon cards.

She's fucking impressive in my book. She's 13 and she's a professional artist. She's 13 and has been on various huge TV shows. What did you do at 13?

Honestly? This response is the response we should all be having. I don't understand why we hate her so much.

Because way back when, singers, songwriters and musicians were people with actual talent. Who practised and worked hard at their craft. Hell that's still what they are nowadays. But rather than see them, we see nothing but autotuned shite churned out by people who can afford to have a music video made.

People like Rebecca Black.

 

[anthony87]

I don't get what's so wrong about it?

Sure, it's not a great song and she's not a great artist. We already knew that.

But she's a 13 year old and she's actually a professional artist. How many 13 year old can say that they're professional artists, even if bad ones?

Let's put that into a video game comparison:

She's a 13 year old making video games. It's a cover-based third person shooter featuring a male Caucasian space marine. Every time you kill an enemy you have to go through a long quick time event or you die. Your space marine can only carry a single weapon at a time. As soon as you duck behind cover you become invulnerable and totally healed. To spice things up there are random additional quick time events that can kill you. You gain an achievement for every single button you press.

Now if you're a sane person there's only one sentence in the above that you paid real attention to: "She's a 13 year old making video games".

She's 13! It doesn't matter if it's good! It's not supposed to be good! Nothing you do at 13 can possibly be 'good' when compared to professional adults! It's not about being good, it's about just doing it!

When I was 13 I spend my time playing video games, watching TV, doing some sports and occasionally paying attention at school. I think I drooled a bit at times. I may or may not have collected pokémon cards.

She's fucking impressive in my book. She's 13 and she's a professional artist. She's 13 and has been on various huge TV shows. What did you do at 13?

You're aware that she basically paid to have the song and music video for "Friday" made for her right? That's not being an artist. That's just paying for fame, horribly horribly undeserved fame.

 

[Hagi]

You're aware that she basically paid to have the song and music video for "Friday" made for her right? That's not being an artist. That's just paying for fame, horribly horribly undeserved fame.

You are aware that she actually made money from those videos?

http://blogs.forbes.com/chrisbarth/2011/03/21/mock-rebecca-black-all-you-want-shes-laughing-to-the-bank/

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/rebecca-black-s-first-week-sales-not-bad-1005084972.story

That is exactly being a professional artist? Making money with an artistic medium.

Mind you, I didn't say she was a good artist. She's a horrible artist. But she's also 13, so who cares about that? Just don't listen to her if you're not her mother.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

That design the skyline reminds me of attack attack
Its like techno pop mixed with screamo metal.

But Attack Attack! can do it good.
Example:

 

[SadakoMoose]

She's kind of like A younger American Yuki Saito, but with LESS singing ability.
Give her some outrageous costumes, more dance mixes, some more Eurobeat and Hardstyle influence and you'll have a halfway decent pop starlet.
I mean she's cute enough, and has what we call a "Winning Smile".
Besides, she can kind the backlash against annoying youtube commentators and trolls.
The important thing is not to push her on people TOO hard just yet, and not let her image get TOO stale.
The problem with previous starlets is that they were pushed toward celebrity so hard that they saturated the market with their face and made people sick of them. Like Tiffany, or Robin Smiles.

I'd try to market as sort of the "Synthpop Girl Next Door", with the innocent smile and awesome dance mixes.
Maybe add a TINGE of Yoko Oginome to her image

 

[Pyro Paul]

You might want to check the definition of professional:
"following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder. "

Professional is exactly a title you earn when you make money (AKA a livelihood) with something you do. Practice and skill only matter in so far as someone will hire you.

Working at a fast food restaurant does make you a professional cook. Cook is your profession. Therefore you're a professional cook. What it doesn't make you is a good cook.

If your friend isn't able to make a living out of being a pianist then she is NOT a professional pianist. She may be a very good pianist, but she isn't a professional pianist. Pianist is not her profession, thus she is not a professional pianist.

Rebecca Black is a professional artist. What she isn't is a good artist. But those are two very very different things. But you know, she's 13 so who cares whether she's good or not.

sigh...

Look at the Word professional.
notice, it is comprised of a word and a suffix.
Profession -al

now, as with most all words in the english language, adding '-al' as a suffix will mean 'of' or more accuratly 'pertaining to'

so Professional would litterally mean
Profession of.

and because it is an adj. it would be placed before a noun.
Professional Artist = Profession of someone that does art*
(the ist suffix denotes 'someone that (does)')

so now that we've properly disected 'Professional Artist'
lets look at it.

Profession of someone that does Art

now lets define the word 'Profession'

although there are multiple definitions, Most of which are tied to religion (profess- to announce/declare, ergo profession- is the act of announcement/declaring 'his profession of the end of days could be heard clear across the square')

Profession (when describing work)
a vocation(job) founded upon specialized skill and/or educational training

so a professional artist is:
someone of a job founded upon specialized skill and/or educational training for art.
-or-
someone with specialized/taught in making Art.

contrast to Professional builder:
some one specialized/taught in Building.
to Professional Killer:
some one specialized/taught in Killing.

You see a dictionary is ment to help you quickly understand the basic meaning behind a word so that you can understand them in the context they are probably used... from there you can then clarify the meaning through the context it is found in. As such, a Professional Criminal from your definition would be a person that is capable of making a living off of Crime. Yet in the context of the liturature it is found in, for instance Sherlock Holmes, it would mean a Criminal able to ply is trade and gain enough money off it to live comfortably with out getting caught... a feat of great skill.

Reading all this...
would you really still call Rebecca Black a Professional Artist?

 

[Hagi]

sigh...

Look at the Word professional.
notice, it is comprised of a word and a suffix.
Profession -al

now, as with most all words in the english language, adding '-al' as a suffix will mean 'of' or more accuratly 'pertaining to'

so Professional would litterally mean
Profession of.

and because it is an adj. it would be placed before a noun.
Professional Artist = Profession of someone that does art*
(the ist suffix denotes 'someone that (does)')

so now that we've properly disected 'Professional Artist'
lets look at it.

Profession of someone that does Art

now lets define the word 'Profession'

although there are multiple definitions, Most of which are tied to religion (profess- to announce/declare, ergo profession- is the act of announcement/declaring 'his profession of the end of days could be heard clear across the square')

Profession (when describing work)
a vocation(job) founded upon specialized skill and/or educational training

so a professional artist is:
someone of a job founded upon specialized skill and/or educational training for art.
-or-
someone with specialized/taught in making Art.

contrast to Professional builder:
some one specialized/taught in Building.
to Professional Killer:
some one specialized/taught in Killing.

You see a dictionary is ment to help you quickly understand the basic meaning behind a word so that you can understand them in the context they are probably used... from there you can then clarify the meaning through the context it is found in. As such, a Professional Criminal from your definition would be a person that is capable of making a living off of Crime. Yet in the context of the liturature it is found in, for instance Sherlock Holmes, it would mean a Criminal able to ply is trade and gain enough money off it to live comfortably with out getting caught... a feat of great skill.

Reading all this...
would you really still call Rebecca Black a Professional Artist?

sigh... right back at you...

"someone of a job founded upon specialized skill and/or educational training for art."

Rebecca Black has a job, namely singer. She sings, and she makes money with it. It's her job.

Her job is founded on the specialised skill of singing. Note that specialised does not mean good. It means:
"To pursue a special activity, occupation, or field of study."
"To concentrate on a particular activity or product."

Rebecca Black is pursuing and concentrating on her activity of singing. As such it's a specialised skill.

Singing is an artistic skill. It's part of an artistic medium, music.

As such Rebecca Black has a job founded on a specialised skill for art. Thus she is a professional artist.

Having a profession means you focus yourself on a particular skill in order to make a livelihood from that skill (it in no way or form has to be a difficult or otherwise challenging skill, you have to be just good enough to make a livelihood out of it).

Rebecca Black is specialising in her skill of singing, she's no good at it but that's irrelevant, and she's making a livelihood out of it.

ps. You suddenly, out of nowhere introduce "someone with specialized/taught in making Art." if you want to go by that definition I suggest you explain it. Professional still means you have to have a job. If you have just the skill and no job then it's not professional and you do not have a profession.