The Shuffle: Fade to Black

"It's Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday. Everybody'slookin' forward to the weekend, weekend."

When was the last time you heard a lyric that cut so deep to thebone? That shook your soul to its very core? That summed up what youshould do because, well, it's Friday?

In case you haven't been around a computer in the last two weeks,what I'm talking about is the wildly successful, 13-year-oldInternet sensation Rebecca Black. A wannabe pop star of questionabletalent, the video for her song "Friday" hit the Web two weeks agoand went viral soon after. As I'm writing this column, it has morethan 35 million hits on YouTube. Immediately after writing thiscolumn, I burned my iPod and computer since my ears and eyes havebeen forever tainted.

All kidding aside, there's plenty of stuff in the song and videoto make fun of. The horrible lyrics that present the commonconundrum of whether to "kick it in the front seat" or "kick it inthe back seat" with friends. Black's gratingly auto-tuned chipmunkvoice. There is a random cameo by a 30-something rapper who has nobusiness driving his pimped out ride to a teenager's party unlesshe's chaperoning.

But instead of focusing on the obvious, let's talk aboutsomething slightly fascinating and disturbing the video revealsabout the formulaic nature of pop music.

First of all, have you listened to Top 40 radio lately? You cantalk about Black's bad lyrics ad nauseam but chances are you've alsofound yourself singing along to the Black Eyed Peas "I GottaFeeling," with its vapid repeat-until-you-want-to-bludgeon-yourselfchorus and verses that also occasionally rattle off the days of theweek. And aside from a difference in talent, what separates Black'schoice to get a mostly anonymous MC to make an unlikely cameo on hersong from what is done countless times by other artists -- likeJustin Bieber snagging Ludacris for "Baby" or Katy Perry snatchingup Snoop Dogg for "California Gurl?" The answer: Very little.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's the vessel underwhich Black's track was delivered that had an impact on how it wasaccepted. Because it's an Internet video, there's an inherent amountof assumed ridicule that is expected, since this is also whereyou've seen such musical gems as the "Keyboard Cat" and the"Trololo" song. Who's to say if you dropped "Friday" on commercialradio or MTV it wouldn't be accepted as just another mindless, funpop song? Who's to say if Black didn't have a major label backing orher pick of big-name producers that Britney, Katy, Rihanna, Ke$ha ora dozen other artists have that she wouldn't be rubbing elbows withthem as a pop star peer?

Of course, we'll never know the answer to this question and timewill tell how long Black's 15 minutes of fame will last. But theearworm known as "Friday" has unintentionally served as a strangemirror for what we are willing to accept as credible pop music. Eventhough "Friday" is ranked as a Top 40 hit on iTunes -- and gaining -- I'd like to believe this joke we're all in on means better tasteshave prevailed. But it's a bit too close for comfort.