Rebecca Black – Age of the Exhibitionist Review

Rebecca Black continues to move beyond the shadow of ‘Friday’ with a second album that makes her reinvention feel increasingly difficult to dismiss.

There’s a real conundrum with Rebecca Black. It’s hard to mention her name without immediately thinking of the internet-breaking viral phenomenon that was her accidental debut song, 'Friday'. Somehow, it turned the world against a teenage girl who never expected anyone outside her immediate circle to hear it, let alone millions of people around the world.

The idea that production companies like ARK Music Factory were enabling spoiled rich kids to cosplay as pop stars enraged people, and Rebecca Black became the prime target. She was wrongly viewed as a broken mirror, reflecting everything that was wrong with the music industry. Of course, none of this was true, and yet, a 13-year-old girl became the internet’s punching bag.

For a while, 'Friday' was the most-disliked video on YouTube. It was frequently called the most hated song of all time and incited the kind of vitriol usually reserved for murderers and politicians. In hindsight, it was really just a bunch of kids having fun and, to be fair, there are far worse pop songs than 'Friday'. Black has even managed to partially reclaim it, releasing a hyperpop version in 2021 and continuing to incorporate the song into her live performances.

Looking back, it was all quite grotesque. The fact that Rebecca Black has not only come out the other side relatively unscathed but has also managed to carve out a respectable music career is something of a miracle. If you’d told me 15 years ago that, in 2026, I’d be sitting in my living room not only listening to Rebecca Black but actively enjoying it, I’d have assumed that, somewhere along the way, I’d suffered some kind of psychotic break.

Her debut album, Let Her Burn, and the excellent Rebecca Black Was Here EP showed that Black was the real deal, and it might finally be time to stop mentioning her and a certain day of the week in the same sentence.

So, how does Black’s second album, Age of the Exhibitionist, fare? Well, it’s not only a step up from her debut, but arguably her finest release to date.

There’s a real sense that Black is having a blast. Self-releasing her music gives her a level of creative control which, over the past decade, has enabled her to refocus the narrative from teen meme to credible artist. It’s a commendable project that, for too long, has slipped under the radar. With Age of the Exhibitionist, it might finally be time for the naysayers to start taking notice.

Age of the Exhibitionist might not be breaking any new ground, but Black has created an impressive set of songs, drawing from a smorgasbord of inspirations including Madonna, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani and even Guns N’ Roses. It’s an album full of ideas, effortlessly fusing genres such as electro-pop, hyperpop, dance and R&B.

It could be argued that artists like Charli XCX, Chappell Roan and Caroline Polachek are doing this kind of thing on a bigger and better scale, but there’s also a whole slew of artists doing it a lot worse and reaching a much larger audience than Rebecca Black.

The conundrum strikes again.

Age of the Exhibitionist is a ball of frenetic energy. Just when you think you know where a song is going, Black pulls up the handbrake and skids off in another direction. On a few occasions, this can become jarring, and you find yourself wishing she’d let some of her ideas breathe a little. On songs like 'Michael' and 'Hot Wet Delirious', it works a charm, but on 'Pistol' and 'Visions Again', it can start to feel a little superfluous.

These are minor gripes, though. When it works, it really works, and Rebecca Black is capable of great things, as demonstrated by the excellent 'Corsetry', a fantastic slice of sensual sophisti-pop that’s up there with the best.

Over the past 15 years, Rebecca Black has fashioned a catalogue of work that is now beginning to eclipse her somewhat unfortunate musical origin story. By my own admission, it’s starting to feel tiresome mentioning 'Friday' and Rebecca Black in the same sentence.

RIP 'Friday'. Long live Age of the Exhibitionist.