From “Friday” Fame to New Music

In Camera Roll, musicians offer InStyle an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse at a weekend in the life of an artist, from rehearsing for a major gig to choosing their favorite onstage look. Here, Rebecca Black peels back the curtain on her new album, Salvation.

The YouTube generation is all grown up. It’s been 15 years since Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” broke online records with 200 million streams, and almost 20 since we were urged to “leave Britney alone.” Makeup tutorials have been supplanted by GRWM content; Emma Chamberlain now makes more coffee mugs than quirky videos; and Rebecca Black, whose 2011 tween hit “Friday” went mega-viral on the platform, is a 27-year-old critical darling of the nightlife music scene. Yes, really.

If you haven’t been following the internet meme turned hyper-pop idol, just know that “Crumbs” was probably on your coolest friend’s Spotify Wrapped playlist in 2023. Her latest album, Salvation, which debuted on February 27, is already on its way to club scene stardom (and is definitely playing on some dance floor in Bushwick right now). Today, Black has a cult following, sold-out performance dates, cool-girl bangs, and a wardrobe full of IYKYK designers like Sam Finger, Laruicci, and Sandy Liang. Oh yeah, and she’s apparently touring with Katy Perry sometime soon.

It’s a lot to take in if you haven’t kept tabs on the singer, but this “transformation” didn’t happen all at once. As Black will tell you, it’s been a long time coming and a natural extension of growing up alongside her fans. “It’s no coincidence that my audience is predominantly queer,” the singer, who came out in 2020, explains. “We’ve been on this journey for a long time together.”

Black’s wild ride through the music industry is ongoing, but her new sound reflects a battle she’s finally won: trusting her instincts. Though managers and agents (former, not current) warned against this type of nonlinear career path—one in which a squeaky clean teen star decides to start playing boiler room sets and wearing airbrush slogan tees that read “10% angel, 90% bitch”—it feels right to her. And it’s working. “This whole project is challenging my comfort zone,” says Black of Salvation. But it’s also “bright, fun, and for the clubs.”

Read on for what Rebecca Black thinks about the future of pop, her personal style, and her new album, Salvation.

How would you define this Salvation era? You can take that question musically, spiritually, emotionally—whatever that means to you.

Salvation has really been an era of pushing my own boundaries, of what I thought I was capable of and what other people thought I would be capable of. It’s been a light, bright, and brash era for me, too, which is the antithesis of what I would normally go towards, especially aesthetically. I love to be dark and moody and all that. This whole project is challenging my comfort zone.

How would you describe the sound to listeners who aren’t familiar with you? Or to someone who hasn’t seen you perform?

It is, at its core, the truest form of pop, which has been so exciting. For the last year, we’ve seen this mega pop renaissance come to the forefront. It’s definitely nice to not only release pop in a world where people are really down for it, but also to be amongst so many incredibly talented, driven, and detail-oriented pop artists right now who are creating some of the best work we’ve gotten in decades. It’s bright, fun, and for the clubs. It’s meant to be played at max volume, you know?

And with other people, I so agree.

Yeah, although, I do love to play it alone.

You have developed a cult following over the past few years. What do you attribute to the way these new and old fans have welcomed you on the club scene?

It’s no coincidence that my audience is predominantly queer. We’ve been on this journey for a long time together. It makes me feel so confident in what I can bring to the table next because I know that they are down for any and everything. They want something that will push the boundaries. They’re not looking for me to appease anyone, really, but myself. As someone who loves to surprise people, that makes it really fun.

You said this album was about you finding your moral compass. How has Salvation, the album, been a self-discovery process?

As a teenager growing up in the industry, the trap that is so easy to fall into when you’re young and malleable is that the elder people are there to guide you because they know better. Those people are there because they have years under their belt, and you should follow in their footsteps. I spent so many of my years running in the opposite direction of my gut because I was so convinced that everybody else around me knew what to do better than I did.

I remember a specific interaction that I had with a former manager. This was close to 10 years ago now. We were in disagreement. I was in a very different part of my career, and she was like, “What kind of artist do you want to be?” And I remember citing a person who I’ve been a fan of for years—and someone who I’ve always credited as being an inspiration—which was Charli XCX. And she told me, “I don’t want to manage a Charli XCX.”

What?? Not Brat summer!!

Yeah, girl. The point of the story is that I do want to be an artist like Charli XCX. Watching somebody move about the industry in a way that was so obvious to those who got it and followed that [vision] for another 10 years down the line. Now, she’s in the position where she has completely reframed the industry. That is something I will always admire, and I think that this project was finally the tipping point for me. I had to come to terms with the fears I had about trusting my own intuition. And that became a huge inspiration for this project: trusting myself.

Switching gears a little bit, what’s your songwriting process?

This project was such a fun thing to write. I’ve done this now, a few times—I have a few project cycles under my belt. And I feel way less like an imposter walking into a session than I did when I was 18.

I wrote probably 40-plus songs for this project; seven are on it now, and I can say very confidently that those seven that made it [onto Salvation] were made in an environment that was comfortable. I found my collaborators that I really trust, who I know understand what I’m trying to accomplish, and when I am comfortable, I write my best. That was the process. It was different every time in terms of Does it start with a track idea? Does it start with an energy? Does it start with a word? Does it start with a story? But I always come in with something.

In terms of influences, who’s always on your playlist? I know you’re a fan of the late Sophie, Lana, Del Rey and Charli, but who else?

I was listening to a lot of 2006 pop—a lot of Fergie, a lot of Gwen [Stefani]. I was listening to a lot of electro stuff from the early 2000s, like Daft Punk… Artists who have really paid so much attention to finding a perfect sound and focus on using less to get their point across.

How important is it for you to showcase your Mexican American heritage in your music? How does that play into your musical identity?

It’s a relationship that I have been in so many different spaces with throughout my life. My mom is from Mexico City and moved over here when she was about my age to pursue a career. My dad is from Iowa, and growing up in a conservative town—even though Orange County is prolifically Hispanic—as a half-Hispanic person, all the interpersonal connections I have in my life have been complex and complicated. There were moments where I definitely felt less connected to it out of a place of shame or not feeling Mexican enough, not feeling like I had the right to own that piece of myself due to how I was raised.

I played my first show in Mexico about a year ago, and that was my first time going back to Mexico City as an adult. Over the past few years, it’s been a conscious effort on my part, with my relationship with my mom, my relationship with my brother, and my family that’s over in Mexico, to reconnect and understand the culture… the places and the pieces that I didn’t have the ability to [connect with] as a kid. That’s been special to me, playing shows over there and getting to connect with an audience who’s Hispanic. It was such a beautiful experience.

Let’s talk about fashion and your personal style. I would love for you to define your aesthetic. Is it always changing? What’s your mood right now? Are you into fashion, or do you just happen to have good taste?

I love to nerd out on fashion.

I can tell from the way you dress. I was like, I can feel that she’s a fashion girl.

I followed it so closely for many years in my 20s, and in this moment of my life in particular, I definitely have my sense of style when I’m on and when I’m in the real world. It’s two sides of the same coin, but they’re definitely influenced by each other. When I’m specifically in a visual world (touring, performing, or anything like that), I’m a maximalist by nature. I work with the stylist Dot Bass, who is New York-based. We met on an editorial a few years ago, and I’ve never worked with someone who has understood what I’m trying to accomplish more. Right now, we’re super influenced by post-ironic fashion, by Americana culture… just living in the world of Salvation and living in the ridiculousness.

Honestly, though, during so much of my work life [not performing], I wear the same jeans, like 300 days out of the year.

You’ve got to have balance.

I like to be comfortable in how I dress day-to-day. I just don’t do well with things that don’t fit in the right way anymore.

Who’s your dream fashion collaborator?

The ultimate would be like the McQueens and Margielas of the world. Oh my God, Mugler definitely is a historic one for me. Throughout all of my different eras, those are just kind of the apex of fashion.

Those are the best ones, to be honest.

We also love finding smaller designers and brands, as well as up-and-coming ones. I just sent her [Dot Bass, Black’s stylist] someone I found the other day who dressed one of my friends for the Grammys. And I was like, Who the fuck is doing this? I have so much fun. I’m always in the world of fashion.