Would-be tween pop star Rebecca Black is having a good news/bad news situation. The good news: her song “Friday” is one of the internet’s most widely distributed and watched videos. She has become an instant celebrity.
The bad news: that’s because it is so awful.

It has inspired parodies, covers, many tweets, and lots of commentary about the state of the music business today — even some backlash to the backlash.
The song is bad. Her voice is painfully auto-tuned and she looks uncomfortable — no one has ever sung the words “fun fun fun fun” so unconvincingly. The lyrics are dreadful, and I say that keeping in mind that we are talking about a pop song, a category that has produced lyrics like “da doo ron ron,” “yummy yummy yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy,” and many, many unsuccessful efforts to rhyme “girl” and “world.”

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today

Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after…wards
I don’t want this weekend to end

And don’t forget this one:

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend!

Worst of all, the production values look like they were put together on a Commodore 64. It reminds me of the wonderful “Robin Sparkles” video from “How I Met Your Mother” — except that one was supposed to be awful, and it really was adorable. If you’ve suffered through “Friday,” watch this one to cleanse your memory.