My Moment
Encyclopedia
"My Moment" is a song by American recording artist Rebecca Black
. It was written and produced by Brandon "Blue" Hamilton and Quinton Tolbert, and co-produced by Charlton Pettus. It was released on the iTunes Store
under the label RB Records, as Black's second single on July 19, 2011. RB Records was established by Rebecca Black herself, after disputes over ownership and distribution of the single "Friday
". The self-empowerment
follow-up song to "Friday" is addressed to the 'haters' who criticized her previous single, "Friday".
"My Moment" received poor reviews from music critics, with some considering the song as very different from Black's previous single, but criticizing the use of Auto-Tune
on Black's vocals. Unlike its predecessor, the song failed to chart on international music markets. An accompanying music video, released the following day, portrays Black having her moments, such as recording a song and making an appearance at the premiere of her own movie. The video garnered more than a million views within 24 hours of its release, and as of October 7, 2011 has over 27 million views.
account. On July 18, 2011, the accompanying music video was uploaded on Black's YouTube
channel, while the single was released digitally at iTunes Store
on July 19, 2011. When asked about "My Moment" in an interview with CBS News
, Black said that, after "Friday", she needed "to find the perfect song that kind of tells off the haters a little bit but stills shows that [she's] a serious artist. It's hard."
song that lasts for three minutes and twenty-five seconds. It is composed in the key of E Major
, simply using three major chords (E, A, and B, respectively). According to Jocelyn Vena of MTV
, the song "is addressing all those haters who didn't necessarily get her last viral smash, "Friday
"". The song opens with addressing lyrics, "Weren't you the one who said that I would be nothing?/ Well, I'm about to prove you wrong/ I'm not the only one who believes in something/ My one wish is about to come true." As the song goes, Black addresses her negative acclaim even more, singing, "Haters, said I'll see you later/Can't talk to you right now/I'm getting my paper". "My Moment" features a simple mid-tempo melody with a prominent uses of garish keyboards on its background. Uses of pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune
on Black's vocals were also noticed.
criticized Black's vocals for being "as heavily processed as it was on 'Friday,' but the work has been done much more artfully, so that you sound much more like a human being." Daniel Kreps of Yahoo! Music
commented that "nobody can even ironically like Rebecca Black's 'My Moment'," while comparing it to Radio Disney
songs. Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly
said the song "it’s not so bad that it’s good, like “Friday” was," while considering Black as "sweet but very self-empowered" in it. A review by The Huffington Post
said, "if you were hoping for "Friday" part two, this certainly isn't it. Gone is the weird nasal, overly auto-tuned voice that made "friday" sound like she was saying "fried egg."" Brittany Talarico of OK!
said, "we have to say, we don’t know if we are “partyin’” over her new ditty," while Adrian Chen of Gawker said "My Moment" "is a "look-at-me-now" love letter to all her haters—an inoffensive, mildly catchy rehash of a dozen Justin Bieber
songs past." Michelle Woo of OC Weekly
commented the song "it's a lot less terrible than "Friday," which makes it less awesome," while Jenni Dunning of Toronto Star
said, "you might find it possible to listen to the whole song without flinching as much at her nasally voice, but that doesn’t make it good." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard
considered "My Moment" as Black's comeback, while commenting that the singer "does offer a bit of vitriol to those who wrote her off as a one-hit Internet wonder."
, Black said the music video tells "the story of her sudden rise to fame. [...] It's a fairy tale story, but it happened in real life." On July 18, 2011, the music video was released through Black's YouTube
channel. The video opens with Black in a studio finishing the song recording with her studio band, Kellen McGee (guitarist), Jeremy Steel (Bass), and Jourdan Steel (keyboard). Director Morgan Lawley intercut scenes of the studio with several footage of Black making TV appearances, walking on red carpets, driving around Hollywood and greeting fans. Next, the singer is seen on a makeup chair, and rehearsing several dance steps, before she actually starts full the choreography with So You Think You Can Dance
finalists Robert Roldan and Kent Boyd. So You Think You Can Dance's Allison Holker and Lauren Gottlieb also appear in the coreography sections of the video. The video ends with Black at the premiere of her fictional movie titled "My Moment".
In less than twenty-four hours after its release, the video already had more than one million views on YouTube
, and as of July 21, 2011 has over 10 million views. Only two days after being posted on YouTube, the video had already received 231,759 "dislikes" compared to 129,446 "likes", according to Chris Cope of AOL UK Music
. Nicole James of MTV
said that, in the music video, "Rebecca's definitely a little sassier than the "Friday" singer we once knew," while Mike Hale of The New York Times
noted, "a lot of people will rip “My Moment” for its relentless self-celebration." On July 19, 2011, a behind the scenes video was also uploaded to Black's YouTube
channel.
and CNN
.
Rebecca Black
Rebecca Renee Black is an American pop singer who gained extensive media attention with the 2011 single "Friday". Her mother paid $4,000 to have the single and an accompanying music video put out as a vanity release through the record label ARK Music Factory. The song was co-written and produced...
. It was written and produced by Brandon "Blue" Hamilton and Quinton Tolbert, and co-produced by Charlton Pettus. It was released on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
under the label RB Records, as Black's second single on July 19, 2011. RB Records was established by Rebecca Black herself, after disputes over ownership and distribution of the single "Friday
Friday (Rebecca Black song)
"Friday" is a song by American recording artist Rebecca Black, written and produced by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson. It was released as a single on March 14, 2011, by Ark Music Factory as Black's debut single. The music video for the song became a viral hit due to criticism of the song's lyrics,...
". The self-empowerment
Empowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
follow-up song to "Friday" is addressed to the 'haters' who criticized her previous single, "Friday".
"My Moment" received poor reviews from music critics, with some considering the song as very different from Black's previous single, but criticizing the use of Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
on Black's vocals. Unlike its predecessor, the song failed to chart on international music markets. An accompanying music video, released the following day, portrays Black having her moments, such as recording a song and making an appearance at the premiere of her own movie. The video garnered more than a million views within 24 hours of its release, and as of October 7, 2011 has over 27 million views.
Background
On July 11, 2011, it was revealed that Black was going to release a new single titled "My Moment", written and produced by Brandon "Blue" Hamilton and Quinton Tolbert, and co-produced by Charlton Pettus. On July 13, 2011, Black unveiled the single artwork through her TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account. On July 18, 2011, the accompanying music video was uploaded on Black's YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel, while the single was released digitally at iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on July 19, 2011. When asked about "My Moment" in an interview with CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, Black said that, after "Friday", she needed "to find the perfect song that kind of tells off the haters a little bit but stills shows that [she's] a serious artist. It's hard."
Composition
"My Moment" is a self-empowermentEmpowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
song that lasts for three minutes and twenty-five seconds. It is composed in the key of E Major
E major
E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....
, simply using three major chords (E, A, and B, respectively). According to Jocelyn Vena of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, the song "is addressing all those haters who didn't necessarily get her last viral smash, "Friday
Friday (Rebecca Black song)
"Friday" is a song by American recording artist Rebecca Black, written and produced by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson. It was released as a single on March 14, 2011, by Ark Music Factory as Black's debut single. The music video for the song became a viral hit due to criticism of the song's lyrics,...
"". The song opens with addressing lyrics, "Weren't you the one who said that I would be nothing?/ Well, I'm about to prove you wrong/ I'm not the only one who believes in something/ My one wish is about to come true." As the song goes, Black addresses her negative acclaim even more, singing, "Haters, said I'll see you later/Can't talk to you right now/I'm getting my paper". "My Moment" features a simple mid-tempo melody with a prominent uses of garish keyboards on its background. Uses of pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
on Black's vocals were also noticed.
Critical reception
My Moment received poor reviews from critics. Mike Hale of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
criticized Black's vocals for being "as heavily processed as it was on 'Friday,' but the work has been done much more artfully, so that you sound much more like a human being." Daniel Kreps of Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
commented that "nobody can even ironically like Rebecca Black's 'My Moment'," while comparing it to Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
songs. Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said the song "it’s not so bad that it’s good, like “Friday” was," while considering Black as "sweet but very self-empowered" in it. A review by The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
said, "if you were hoping for "Friday" part two, this certainly isn't it. Gone is the weird nasal, overly auto-tuned voice that made "friday" sound like she was saying "fried egg."" Brittany Talarico of OK!
OK!
OK! is a British weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, OK! publishers Northern and Shell launched in Australia as a monthly title – the magazine went weekly in October 2006...
said, "we have to say, we don’t know if we are “partyin’” over her new ditty," while Adrian Chen of Gawker said "My Moment" "is a "look-at-me-now" love letter to all her haters—an inoffensive, mildly catchy rehash of a dozen Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
songs past." Michelle Woo of OC Weekly
OC Weekly
OC Weekly, a sister publication of both LA Weekly and The Village Voice, is a free, left-wing weekly paper distributed in Orange County, California and also in Long Beach....
commented the song "it's a lot less terrible than "Friday," which makes it less awesome," while Jenni Dunning of Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
said, "you might find it possible to listen to the whole song without flinching as much at her nasally voice, but that doesn’t make it good." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
considered "My Moment" as Black's comeback, while commenting that the singer "does offer a bit of vitriol to those who wrote her off as a one-hit Internet wonder."
Music video
On July 11, 2011, in an interview with The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
, Black said the music video tells "the story of her sudden rise to fame. [...] It's a fairy tale story, but it happened in real life." On July 18, 2011, the music video was released through Black's YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel. The video opens with Black in a studio finishing the song recording with her studio band, Kellen McGee (guitarist), Jeremy Steel (Bass), and Jourdan Steel (keyboard). Director Morgan Lawley intercut scenes of the studio with several footage of Black making TV appearances, walking on red carpets, driving around Hollywood and greeting fans. Next, the singer is seen on a makeup chair, and rehearsing several dance steps, before she actually starts full the choreography with So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
finalists Robert Roldan and Kent Boyd. So You Think You Can Dance's Allison Holker and Lauren Gottlieb also appear in the coreography sections of the video. The video ends with Black at the premiere of her fictional movie titled "My Moment".
In less than twenty-four hours after its release, the video already had more than one million views on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, and as of July 21, 2011 has over 10 million views. Only two days after being posted on YouTube, the video had already received 231,759 "dislikes" compared to 129,446 "likes", according to Chris Cope of AOL UK Music
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
. Nicole James of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
said that, in the music video, "Rebecca's definitely a little sassier than the "Friday" singer we once knew," while Mike Hale of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted, "a lot of people will rip “My Moment” for its relentless self-celebration." On July 19, 2011, a behind the scenes video was also uploaded to Black's YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel.
Credits and personnel
Credits for "My Moment" adapted from MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
.
- Rebecca Black – lead vocals, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
- Brandon "Blue" Hamilton – songwritingSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Quinton Tolbert – songwriting, production
- Charlton Pettus – production