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Is the Internet ready for a younger Rebecca Black?

Nine year old Madison Bray is growing an audience for her "Girl Swag"

 

Fruzsina Eördögh

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Posted on Aug 4, 2011   Updated on Jun 3, 2021, 3:36 am CDT

Ark Music Factory, the same vehicle that brought us Rebecca Black, is back with a new girl — this time it’s a nine year old blond named Madison Bray.

Bray steals a soccer ball from boys, dances with her posse while eating ice cream under a “No Trespassing” sign, and sings through autotune about haters and friends in her music video “Girl Swag.”

The lyrics to “Girl Swag” seem a bit preposterous coming from the lips of one so young: “People wanna call me a diva, zoom zoom got the keys to my bimmer”.  Like Ark Music Factory’s last project Rebecca Black’s “Friday”, the Internet hasn’t taken too kindly to Bray.

As of August 4, “Girl Swag” has less than about 50,000 views, almost eight times as many dislikes as likes and more than 3,000 comments. YouTubers have many issues with “Girl Swag” — either poking fun at the lyrics , the video itself, comparing her unkindly to Rebecca Black, and one vlogger was “terrified” by a “ginger” kid dancing in the background.

seanboyize writes “What did she say? You don’t have swag at 9. That’s sad.”

Some YouTubers were clearly disturbed by how young Bray was. shagg187 wrote “Dear FBI: I stumbled upon this accidentally. I was not aware that YouTube promotes pedophilia.”  shagg187 was just one of many YouTubers making references to the dangers of pedophiles on the web.

Others questioned Bray’s parents; “you have HORRIBLE parents” wrote RyanASweetman.

In “I’ve got my girl swag on,” YouTuber CreeperWithACamera said in her response video  “it seems like they’re trying to make a white Willow Smith.” She wondered what girl swag was.

hunterfrederick explains swag as a sense of style in his “GIRL SWAG – Madison Bray lyric translation,” providing a lyrical interpretation of “Girl Swag.”  hunterfrederick explains Bray will be “the next big YouTube thing we make fun of.”

MrRepzion says in his video he didn’t think Ark Music Factory could get any worse until he watched “Girl Swag”. MrRepzion would rather listen to Rebecca Black’s “Friday” for a hundred years in prison than listen to “Girl Swag” again.  MrRepzion took issue with Bray holding up five fingers when she said she was nine years old, and mentions how she is not lipsyncing properly to the song.

YouTuber HannahDoesVlogs finds Bray’s song and video “ just heartbreaking.”

“This song brought tears to my eyes. It’s this girl expressing the fact that she doesn’t need friends… I think 9 year olds need friends.”

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*First Published: Aug 4, 2011, 2:39 pm CDT