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09th Jun 2018

Rebecca Black has regrets about singing Friday and looks unrecognisable nowadays

James Dawson

She’s now 20-years-old and has opened up about how fame changed her life

It turns out that recording the greatest pop song of the 21st century might win you internet fame, but it can take its toll on your life.

Rebecca Black was just 13 when she released ‘Friday’ in 2011 – sadly, though, a number of bad eggs were unable to recognise the tune’s quiet genius and raw, evocative lyrics, and subject her to trolling and abuse online. At its worst, she had to be put under police protection due to the death threats she was receiving.

The now 20-year-old has recently revealed the toll the backlash to the song took on her, as she appeared on American reality show The Four: Battle for Stardom. On it, she opened up about her regrets about after releasing the song that made her famous.

She said: “When I was 13, I had a song called Friday. There were so many cool things that came out of it, but it also gave me a lot of setbacks because there were tons of people who didn’t love it.

“After it went on the internet, it blew up in the blink of an eye.

“The hate comments were everywhere. No one can prep you for that kind of thing. There is something so brutal when you’re 13, about people telling you don’t belong here.

“There was definitely a moment where I got really close to giving up on my music. You should never let anyone tell you what you love to do is wrong.”

On the show itself, she performed a cover version of NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye‘ in front of the show’s judges Diddy, Meghan Trainor and DJ Khaled.

If you’re wondering what she looks like nowadays, it’s lot different than you might remember from the infamous video. Watch her recent Battle for Stardom performance here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgqib9aNePg