The Drop: Rebecca Black's "Heart Full Of Scars" Music Video Proves She (& You!) Can Make It Through Anything
Welcome to The Drop, Refinery29's new home for exclusive music video premieres. We want to shine the spotlight on female artists whose music inspires, excites, and (literally) moves us. This is where we'll champion their voices.
If you only know Rebecca Black from the 2011 viral phenomenon "Friday," then you only know half the story. The now-19-year-old was one of the first victims of the internet's proclivity for mass hysteria, for taking something seemingly insignificant and turning it into an international moment, often at the expense of its subject. Now, with her first EP RE/BL out today, Black is one of the first examples of how to turn all that around.
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RE/BL is something she's been working on ever since the fallout from "Friday," and the music video for her latest single, "Heart Full Of Scars," is out now, exclusively premiered by Refinery29.
"Every song has its own meaning, has its own story, has its own message and purpose," Black told us about the album. "But they do all come back to a broader thing that I really want to put out there which is: We all go through our own stories, we all deal with our issues...but what makes us all the same is that none of us are living this perfect life that everyone thinks we are."
When it comes to "Heart Full Of Scars," specifically, this song isn't about "Friday." Black's personal anthem for overcoming that time in her life, "The Great Divide," came out last year. This song is for everyone else, for anyone who needs to hear what Black wishes she had heard six years ago.
That's why the music video is made up of other people, of friends and fans and those the singer admired and reached out to and asked be involved.
"I wanted other people to help me sing this, but be able to experience a little bit of it," she said, adding that she hoped everyone left set feeling like a part of something bigger. This is same reason why she's bringing along YouTubers Miles McKenna (formerly known as Amanda McKenna) and Shannon Beveridge on her "Love Is Love" tour, kicking off October 1 in Chicago.
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"There’s kind of a thread that ties everything I’m trying to do right now together," she explained. "I want people to finally start to feel somewhat okay with who they are, even if that just means accepting the fact that right now they don’t love who they are. That’s something I’ve had to go through myself and it’s something I’m still working on."
This is why Black has no interest in reinventing herself, or trying to make us forget "Friday" ever happened. Sure, it inevitably follows her to every appearance, every interview, every new project, but it's also the reason why those things are happening to her in the first place.
"I’ll never hate that song and I’ll never again be ashamed of that song because I have no idea where I’d be without it," she said. "It gave me a lot of opportunities, and a lot of people have given me a chance because of that song. Some people haven’t. And that’s whatever, you know? It sucks. But I don’t know where I’d be without it."
Rebecca Black's debut EP RE/BL is out now!