Rebecca Black says she received death threats over Friday

The teenage voice behind Friday, playfully dubbed the world’s most annoying song, has revealed the more sinister abuse she received after sweeping the internet in 2011. 

Rebecca Black was just 13 when she appeared in the amature video. 

Her mother had paid a production company $2,000 to give her a song and produce an accompanying music video for it. 

The result was Friday, a painfully repetitive pop song which has been viewed on YouTube more than 113million times over the last six years. 

Within days of being uploaded, it swept the internet and Black became the target cruel jokes and the subject of endless memes. 

Now 20 and eager to launch a career as an adult star, Black has revealed that she was also the victim of vicious internet trolls and received death threats that had to be investigated by police in her hometown of Orange County, California.

Rebecca Black has revealed the ‘intense’ abuse she received after releasing her 2011 song Friday on YouTube (above) when she was 13 

Rebecca Black, now 20, said the vitriolic comments included death threats which police in her hometown of Orange County, California, investigated 

Rebecca Black, now 20, said the vitriolic comments included death threats which police in her hometown of Orange County, California, investigated 

In an article for NBC’s Think published today, Black tells how she did not know if she would ‘survive’ the hatred she received. 

‘When Friday went up on the internet, it went crazy — and the onslaught of negative attention I receive was so sudden and so intense that I wasn’t sure I would survive. 

‘One minute, I was a normal girl and then, in the next, millions of people know who I was and they were ruthless in hurling the most vile words my way. It was open season and I was the target.

‘In my life, there were people I personally knew at school and in my inner circle who verbally abused me. 

‘But then there were also complete strangers from all around the world using social media to deride me, degrade me and even worse; some people threatened my life.’   

Black's song swept the internet and achieved 100million views within weeks of being uploaded to the internet 

Black’s song swept the internet and achieved 100million views within weeks of being uploaded to the internet 

The then 13-year-old rode the wave of attention and attended award ceremonies and film premieres (above in 2011)

The then 13-year-old rode the wave of attention and attended award ceremonies and film premieres (above in 2011)

The then 13-year-old rode the wave of attention and attended award ceremonies and film premieres (above in 2011)

Among the vitriolic comments were jibes about her weight and appearance. Many of the trolls seemed to forget that she was just a young teenager at the time, she said.

‘The fact that there was a human, a person – a 13-year-old girl – on the other side of the screen seemingly escaped so many people’s attention. 

Black said her response to the abuse was to ‘shut down’ and described it as a ‘sensible way’ to cope with the ‘stress’. 

‘Pretending that the bad things were not that bad and easy to shake off, was the only way I knew to handle it.’ 

Her mother nonetheless took her out of classes and decided to homeschool her.  

Black rode the media wave the song created to attend award ceremonies and meet some of her idols, treats she described as ‘a break in the clouds’. 

Her experience with trolls inspired her to create positive material for her new album, she said. 

‘In the music I write now, I talk about feeling good about yourself because I finally learned that I cannot control any single other person’s behavior. 

‘What I can control is my ability to love myself and to take care of myself,’ she said.  

In 2015, Black released her second song - another pop number predictably titled Saturday and released its video on YouTube (above). It has since been viewed 30million times but failed to reach the same fame as Friday 

In 2015, Black released her second song – another pop number predictably titled Saturday and released its video on YouTube (above). It has since been viewed 30million times but failed to reach the same fame as Friday 

Black has since been promoting brands like Protein World on Instagram and has written an album

Black has since been promoting brands like Protein World on Instagram and has written an album

Black has since been promoting brands like Protein World on Instagram and has written an album 

In 2015, she released Saturday, a predictably scripted song and video but it failed to gain the same attention as her debut. 

Since then, she has been seen sporadically at industry events. On social media, she has spent the last few months detailing her travel plans which included a trip to Norway to ‘write and perform’. 

She has recently completed her own album RE/BL and is now selling it on iTunes. 

Friday was the result of a collaboration between Black, the aforementioned production company Ark Factory, and two L.A.-based producers. 

Her mother had paid Ark Factory to create the song and the video and it was uploaded to YouTube under Rebecca’s name and on her account. 

When it began to gain attention, the two producers who were hired for it filed a copyright claim to the video in court in an effort to make themselves the only ones who could monetize the footage. 

This year she has been touring small venues in the US to sing material from her album RE/BL

This year she has been touring small venues in the US to sing material from her album RE/BL

Rebecca said her experience with online bullies has inspired her to write more positive material 

Rebecca said her experience with online bullies has inspired her to write more positive material 

It sparked a dispute between Rebecca, Ark Factory and the producers, with each party claiming they owned the rights to the song and the video.

Exactly how much money the video has raised online remains unclear. It hosts ads and, if by standard YouTube rates ($1 per every 1,000 views, the lowest rate) would now have grossed  around $113,000.  

Black’s representative did not respond to DailyMail.com’s questions over who owns the rights to her videos and how much money she has made out of them on Friday.

In addition to Friday, she has gained tens of millions of views on other videos and has 1.3million subscribers. 

She has also been making money out of paid partnerships on Instagram with brands including Protein World who are eager to profit from her following of 890,000.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk