Dear Lord. Teen ‘sensation’ Rebecca Black’s pop video has become an internet smash this week with 16 million hits on YouTube and the dubious honour of out-trending the Japanese earthquake on Twitter.

Friday, which follows fresh-faced young Rebecca through her day as she gets up, eats a bowl of cereal and waits at the bus stop, while featuring such insightful lyrics as ‘yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday, we we so excited', is either a witty parody of manufactured pop or a horrorshow of what happens when wealthy parents stump up cash to turn their little darlings into popstars.

Black’s video is the product of Ark Music Factory, a Hollywood company which claims to “make it possible for an emerging artist to be discovered, defined and delivered to advance in their chosen career and be successful.” Hmmm. Which do we think it is then?

The scary news is that despite Black’s auto-tuned, monotonous vocals, and the song’s “grating hooks and extraordinarily stupid lyrics,” (as slated by Rolling Stone magazine), Friday is fast building a fan base; leaping into the official iTunes chart yesterday.

We shudder to think...

Watch it for yourself, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.