How Rebecca Black’s new record became her most liberated

Rebecca Black has lived the majority of her life online.

Her name is one that’s hardly escaped the internet’s consciousness since she was 13 — or since she released her 2011 music video for “Friday,” which instantly went viral and became a YouTube classic. Since embarking on this extremely public path of self-discovery, she’s dabbled in acoustic covers, radio-friendly EDM remixes and alternative ballads in search of a sound that sticks.

Now, the 27-year-old says she’s landed that perfect sound on her self-released seven-song project, “Salvation” — a brazen approach to the ever-morphing hyperpop genre.

“Something has been trying to come out of me for a long time now,” says Black. “Over all these years, I just kept hitting a point of burnout and losing myself over and over again. But with [‘Salvation’] I really started to confront and redefine the way I look at myself. I started allowing myself some freedom.”

On an unexpectedly warm December afternoon, I spot Black from across Silver Lake’s Sunset Boulevard. Seated along the sidewalk outside Cafe Tropical, the singer, dressed in dark-wash denim and kitten heels, orders a Diet Coke and a trio of the Cuban cafe’s signature pastelitos. She jokes about being hungover and starts to tell me about how protective she’s become of “Salvation.” Set to release a little over a year after her debut album, “Let Her Burn,” she admits she’s been itching to share these new tracks for quite some time.

“It’s weird because I know this [record] exists and nobody else does. I poured so much into it, and that feels very safe,” says Black. “At the same time, you start to realize I’ve grown and developed artistically, but people haven’t seen it yet. But now that a few singles are out, it’s so special to see people connect the most they ever have at this point in my career.”

Last October, Black shared her first single, “Trust!” — a hard-hitting, techno-driven club anthem. Powered by a steady electric guitar riff, the singer recounts a sexual encounter over a buzzing dance beat. In its accompanying video, Black brings a sense of campy glamour to the courthouse. The singer arrives with her face covered in gauze, a bedazzled ankle monitor and clear lucite heels before breaking into a full dance sequence in front of the judge.

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Since its release, “Trust!” has become one of her most popular tracks on Spotify, counting more than 3 million streams. The track was followed by the single “Sugar Water Cyanide,” a distorted take on Y2K bubblegum pop, which came out in December.

Black credits a cultural shift to the recent appreciation of her maximalist pop sound. At first, she was unsure if her listeners would get it, but with the mainstream rise of artists like Charli XCX and Chappell Roan, she says she felt like her audience was ready for the new sound. As XCX made club pop cool again and Roan brought queer romance to pop’s forefront, Black emphasizes the importance of making a statement — especially in a genre that’s often dismissed as overly flashy and superficial.

“Pop is the best when it’s at its most revealing. It creates a more dynamic song rather than being, like, we’re in the club and we’re talking about being in the club — which is fun — but if there’s something in there that people connect to, it makes the song so much better,” says Black. “All my favorite dance songs are ones that also are deeply depressing.”

She cites songs like FKA Twigs’ ”Tears in the Club” and a majority of Lana Del Rey’s discography for having “this powerful yet heartbreaking energy.”

“Salvation” offers a similar mix of melancholic, empowering and sensual lyricism. Though no matter its lyrical content, the project’s cohesive nature stems from the fact that every track is a dance anthem of sorts. On the title track, Black sings “I don’t need you to save me / I already saved myself” over a dreamy synth soundscape, while on “Do You Even Think About Me?” she details the aftermath of a heartbreak as a choppy, electronic drop takes center stage.

“I was letting go of the idea that I needed to be perfect and polite so that people would like me or I would be successful. All of these things were actually starting to hinder me,” says Black. “Honestly, the reason this project has been so therapeutic is because I’ve finally allowed myself to embrace not being so afraid of everything all the time.”

As she enters her late 20s, the musician says having some hindsight on her adolescence is what allowed her to break through these barriers. In 2011, when Black joined forces with music production company Ark Music Factory to create “Friday,” she didn’t think much of it. To her, it was a small side project that would look good on a college application.

(Sarahi Apaez/For De Los)

But as the 13-year-old became the subject of overnight fame, with one of YouTube’s first viral sensations — garnering 174 million views and at one point having the most-disliked video with 1.17 million thumbs down — her life changed rapidly. Being the subject of constant internet bullying and death threats, the accidental virality made her into a rather “scared, apprehensive and paranoid” person. However, her dreams of being a performer never faltered.

“Post-‘Friday,’ I just wanted to be accepted and liked. I didn’t wanna cause problems. I put so much pressure on being a version of myself I thought people wanted,” says Black. “Then it started to bleed into my life and my relationships. I wondered why I hated everyone, hated myself or why I was always disappointed when I would make a decision. Sometimes I would make a song and then a year later I would hate it.”

Over the years, the internet has seen Black transform from a viral meme and a cameo in Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)” video to a Boiler Room DJ and queer pop star. Her mark on pop culture is undeniable, and with “Salvation” her sense of self is stronger than ever.

“For a long time, I had no idea what I was gonna make. That was my biggest thing for so long. It was like, ‘Who the f— am I? What is my sound? What is it supposed to be like?’“ says Black. “And now it all makes sense.”