From reputation “Friday” to new music

In HikingThe musicians offer Instruction An exclusive overview, behind the scenes, a weekend in the life of an artist, to repeat a major concert to choose their favorite look on stage. Here, Rebecca Black is backing up the curtain on her new album, Hi.

The youtube generation is adult. It has been 15 years since “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga broke online records with 200 million flows, and almost 20 since we were invited to “leave Britney quiet”. The makeup tutorials were supplanted by GRWM content; Emma Chamberlain is now making more coffee cups than original videos; And Rebecca Black, whose Tween hit in 2011 “Friday” became mega-viral on the platform, is a 27-year critical darling from the nightlife music scene. Yes, really.

If you have not followed the same internet that has become a hyper-pop idol, know that “Crumbs” was probably on the spotify playlist wrapped in your coolest friend in 2023. His latest album, HiWho made his debut on February 27, is already on the way to the celebrity of the club (and definitely plays on a dance floor in Bushwick at the moment). Today, Black has a following cult, closed-looking performance dates, a fringe of cool girls and a wardrobe full of designers from Iykyk like Sam Finger, Laruicci and Sandy Liang. Oh yeah, and she is apparently on tour with Katy Perry soon.

This is a lot to take if you have not kept tabs on the singer, but this “transformation” did not occur suddenly. As Black will tell you, it was long to come and a natural extension to grow alongside his fans. “It is no coincidence that my audience is mainly strange,” said the singer, who was released in 2020. “We have been on this trip for a long time.”

Black’s wild journey in the music industry is underway, but her new her reflects a battle that she finally won: trust her instincts. Although managers and agents (former, non -current) have warned of this type of non -linear career path – one in which a star from the teenage teenage snack decides to start playing boiler room sets and wear t -shirts from a airbrush that read “10% Angel, 90% slut” – he feels right her. And it works. “All this project disputes my comfort zone,” explains Black Hi. But it is also “brilliant, fun and for clubs”.

Read the rest for what Rebecca Black thinks of the future of pop, her personal style and her new album, Hi.

How do you define that Hi era? You can ask this question musically, spiritually, emotionally – everything that means for you.

Hi It was really a time to push my own limits, what I thought was capable and what others thought I would be capable of. It was a light, shiny and impetuous era for me too, which is the antithesis of what I would normally go, especially aesthetically. I love being dark and in a bad mood and all that. This whole project questions my comfort zone.

How would you describe sound to listeners who don’t know you? Or to someone who didn’t see you play?

It is, at the base, the most true form of pop, which was so exciting. In the past year, we saw this Mega Pop Renaissance reaching the fore. It is really nice to release not only pop in a world where people are really broken, but also to be among so many pops of incredibly talented pop artists, motivated and oriented towards detail that create some of the best work that we have obtained for decades. It’s brilliant, fun and for clubs. It is supposed to be played in max volume, do you know?

And with other people, I agree so much.

Yeah, although I love playing alone.

You have developed a cult in recent years. What do you attribute to the way these new and old fans welcomed you on the club stage?

It is no coincidence that my audience is mainly strange. We have been on this trip for a long time together. It makes me feel so confident in what I can bring to the table then because I know they are broken for everything. They want something that will push the limits. They don’t seek me to appease anyone, really, but myself. As a person who likes to surprise people, it really makes him fun.

You said that this album was concerned to find your moral compass. How Hi, Was the album a process of self -discovery?

As an growing adolescent in industry, the trap that is so easy to die for when you are young and malleable is that the elderly are there to guide you because They know better. These people are there because they have years to their credit, and you should follow their traces. I have spent so many years running in the opposite direction of my instinct because I was so convinced that everyone around me knew what to do better than me.

I remember a specific interaction that I had with an old manager. It was almost 10 years ago now. We were in disagreement. I was in a very different part of my career, and she said to me: “What kind of artist do you want to be?” And I remember having quoted a person I have been a fan for years – and someone I have always credited like an inspiration – who was Charli XCX. And she said to me, “I don’t want to manage a Charli XCX.”

What?? Not Kid summer!!

Yeah, girl. The goal of history is that I TO DO I want to be an artist like Charli XCX. Watch someone traveling on the industry in a way that was so obvious for those who obtained it and followed this (vision) for another 10 years later. Now she is in the position where she has completely cropped the industry. This is something that I will always admire, and I think this project was finally the tipping point for me. I had to accept the fears I had to trust my own intuition. And it has become a huge inspiration for this project: to trust me.

Changing the gears a little, what is your process of writing songs?

This project was such a fun thing to write. I did it now, several times – I have some project cycles to my credit. And I feel much less like an impostor entering a session than I did at 18 years old.

I probably wrote more than 40 songs for this project; Seven are there now, and I can say with very confidence that these seven who did this (on Hi) were made in a comfortable environment. I found my collaborators in whom I really trust, who I know how to understand what I am trying to accomplish, and when I am comfortable, I write my best. It was the process. It was different each time in terms of Does it start with an idea of ​​a track? Does it start with an energy? Does it start with a word? Does it start with a story? But I always come with something.

In terms of influences, which is still on your playlist? I know you are a fan of the late Sophie, Lana, Del Rey and Charli, but who else?

I listened to a lot of pop 2006 – a lot of Fergie, a lot of Gwen (Stefani). I listened to a lot of electro-terses in the early 2000s, like Daft Punk … Artists who really paid so much attention to finding a perfect sound and focusing on the use less to pass their point of view.

To what extent is it important for you to present your American Mexican heritage in your music? How does it play in your musical identity?

It is a relationship with which I have been in many different spaces throughout my life. My mother is from Mexico City and moved here when she was about my age to pursue a career. My father is Iowa, and grow up in a conservative city – even if Orange County is prolificly Hispanic – as a half Hispanic person, all the interpersonal connections I have in my life have been complex and complicated. There were moments when I felt less less connected to her of a place of shame or not to feel Mexican enough, without having the impression of having the right to own this piece of myself because of the way in which I was raised.

I played my first show in Mexico about a year ago, and it was the first time that I have returned to Mexico City in adulthood. In recent years, this has been a conscious effort on my part, with my relationship with my mother, my relationship with my brother and my family that is over in Mexico, to reconnect and understand the culture … the places and the parts that I did not have the capacity to (connect) when I was a child. It’s special for me, playing shows there and connect with a Hispanic audience. It was such a good experience.

Let’s talk about fashion and your personal style. I would like you to define your aesthetics. Does it still change? What is your mood right now? Are you in fashion or do you just have a good taste?

I love fashionable Nerd.

I can say how you dress. I was like, I can feel that she is a fashion girl.

I followed him so closely for many years in my twenties, and at the moment of my particular life, I really have my sense of style when I am on And when I’m in the real world. These are both sides of the same medal, but they are definitely influenced by others. When I am specifically in a visual world (on tour, by playing or something like that), I am a maximalist by nature. I work with the stylist Dot Bass, which is based in New York. We met in an editorial a few years ago, and I never worked with someone who understood what I try to accomplish more. At the moment, we are super influenced by post-irononic fashion, by American culture … which lived in the world of Hi And live in ridicule.

Honestly, however, for a large part of my professional life (without playing), I wear the same Jean, like 300 days a year.

You must have a balance.

I like to be comfortable in the way I get dressed day by day. I don’t do well with things that no longer correspond to the right way.

Who is your dream fashion employee?

The ultimate would be like the McQueens and the Margieas of the world. Oh my God, Mugler is definitely historical for me. Throughout my different eras, it’s just a bit of a fashion top.

They are the best, to be honest.

We also like to find smaller designers and brands, as well as smaller creators. I just sent him (dot bass, black stylist) someone I found the other day that dressed one of my friends for grammys. And I said to myself, Who does that? I have so much fun. I’m still in the fashion world.