Katy Perry Gets Geeky With Rebecca Black In Her Video For Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

It looks like Rebecca Black’s fifteen minutes of fame just got an extension. The thirteen year old singer responsible for “Friday,” hailed by many as the worst song ever, makes a cameo in Katy Perry’s latest video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” The song is the fifth single off Katy Perry’s latest record, Teenage Dream.

Aside from the obvious connection between Black’s and Perry’s songs (that being the day devoted to “fun fun fun”, aka Friday), there is nothing else common between the two songs. Black’s “Friday” is about a young teen’s perspective on partying on Friday, with tame, lame lyrics like “Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday” and “I don’t want this weekend to end.” The only real thing of worry is that the video seems to depict a bunch of thirteen year olds driving. Oh, and Black can’t decide which seat to take in the car. But that’s nothing compared to Katy Perry’s song and video. Perry’s “Last Friday Night” is about partying hard, getting drunk, having threesomes and not remembering what you did on Friday. It’s like an R-rated version of Black’s song, only with better singing.

So why then did Perry have Black in her latest music video? Well, back in April of this year, Perry sang a cover of “Friday” during her concert in Melbourne. While most people probably saw Perry’s cover as making fun of Black’s song, some would now see it as her prepping viewers for what was about to come: a collaboration with the popular (for the wrong reasons) Rebecca Black. Perry may have chosen Black to be in her video because Black is still relevant. It isn’t all that unlikely that in a year or two, people will say “Rebecca who?” when they see the credits for “T.G.I.F.”

Not only did Perry have Black in her music video, she also had several other guest appearances. Hanson is the band playing in the video; Kevin McHale and Darren Criss of Glee also make a guest appearance; Kenny G. plays on the sax; and Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson, of 80s fame, play the parents of “Kathy Beth Terry,” Perry’s geeky alter-ego.

Perry’s video, directed by Marc Klasfel, is a huge throwback to teen movies of the 80s, complete with day-glo earrings, heavy makeup, neon-colored outfits and of course a magical makeover to turn the geek into a hottie. Oddly enough, Black plays the “miss cool for school” version of herself, while the geek is played by Perry. Yet Katy Perry has been known to dress up in her geeky alter-ego every now and then, starting with the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. It may be that Perry is trying to make an anti-bullying statement by dressing up as a geek and having Rebecca Black in her video. "I don't understand the prejudice that people have against works-in-progress,” her alter-ego said in a video posted to YouTube. It seems as though Black, much like Perry’s alter-ego, is also a work-in-progress. A really, really big work-in-progress.