Rebecca Black Says She's Learned to 'Trust My Instinct' 14 Years After 'Friday': 'I Feel Really Vindicated' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Rebecca Black in 2011; Rebecca Black in 2025.Photo:Michael Tran/FilmMagic; Ella Margolin

Michael Tran/FilmMagic; Ella Margolin

At age 13,Rebecca Blackwas choosing between “kickin' in the front seat” and “sittin' in the back seat” in the lyrics of her viral hit, “Friday.” Today, she’s most certainly in the driver’s seat of her career.

While there was a time when the 27-year-old singer may have wanted distance from the version of herself that recorded “Friday,” she now feels quite connected to the young girl who was simply “looking forward to the weekend.”

“The way I approach everything is actually the same as deranged,Glee-obsessed 13-year-old me in middle school,” Black tells PEOPLE. “I was annoying asf—. I was often disliked because I took it so seriously. I was so passionate, and I was always pushing myself.”

Such dedication led her to where she is today as an independent, openly queer artist making electro-pop bangers so high-energy they’ll not only make listeners move but potentially shatter the dance floor underneath them, likeSalvationtracks “Sugar Water Cyanide” and “TRUST!”

Rebecca Black.Davis Bates

Davis Bates

As for how the teenager who made “Friday” would feel aboutSalvation? “I think she’d be scared,” she quips. “But I think she would recognize this version of herself.”

“She would get it, and she would gag for it,” continues Black. “She would learn the choreography immediately. That is something I’m really proud of, is to have come back to this version of myself.”

Part of the reason she’s been able to this point in her life and career is through self-trust. When she first started working onSalvation, several people around her didn’t necessarily click with the musical direction she was going in — but she stuck to her guns.

“I knew that I just needed to fight to the finish line and then once people sat there one day, they would hear it. I just knew,” says Black. “That was a learning lesson for me throughout the process of the [project] as well, was learning how to really trust my instinct and trust my gut.”

She didn’t want to give any part of the process less than 100% effort, even when it came to making high-production, choreography-forward music videos for tracks like “TRUST!” and the title track.

“No one wants an independent artist to make a music video these days because it’s expensive, it’s really difficult and the timing is so difficult to work through,” explains Black. “I knew it was necessary, and I feel really vindicated in what we’ve done so far.”

source: people.com