Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 03/14/2011 at 1:19 PM News

The Popdust Files: rebecca black

Sometimes, it’s just not possible to properly appreciate a song until you watch ten different acoustic covers of it in a row. BuzzFeed has done us the favor of compiling the first wave of YouTube takes on 13-year-old Rebecca Black’s insta-classic viral video “Friday.”

It’s quite remarkable watching so many of our nation’s best and brightest attempt to imbue this soulless mess with legitimate humanity, and even more remarkable watching one or two of them actually sort of succeed. Witness our favorite, a wispy, wistful one-minute version form by user rustandrepair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwKsQpDDjdc

Maybe the most frightening thing about all of this is how young some of these kids are. Kalie here can’t possibly be out of middle school (can she??), and yet she’s already cracking wise (with a straight face, mostly) about how she “thought [she] was the only one who vigorously debated which seat to sit in in the car.” Isn’t it a little pre-mature for these tweeners to be embracing irony and sarcasm so wholeheartedly? What do their parents think about this?

UPDATE: We’ve located a couple more “Friday” renditions that are worth your time. There’s this bitchin’ rock cut from from user Xtothemins1:

A rap version courtesy of Ace of Basss, impressively loyal to the original thematically. (Sample lyric: “I bought a watch today / So I could tell every day / Which day is today”):

And of course, the original version of the song, performed by one Robert Zimmerman: