Where are the massively viral YouTube music stars of 2010 now?

Cast your mind back to a time when memes were literally troll faces and rage comics – a time when YouTube dominated as the main video platform to waste a few hours on watching Shane Dawson or “Shoes” by Kelly for hours on end. Well, although not a lot has changed in terms of stupid internet videos, you must remember that brief and unrepeated period where amateur pop stars took over YouTube. Does Rebecca Black’s Friday ring a bell? Or how about Alison Gold with her hit Chinese Food?

These poor girls would get rinsed by everyone both on the internet and off it, but that didn’t stop Patrice Wilson alleviating more and more parents of their hard-earned money with the promise of making their kids superstars. What actually happened to the girls that made viral YouTube hits, only to fade into obscurity, never to be heard from again? Well, a bit of digging has been done, and you’ll be surprised to find that some of them are still making music!

Rebecca Black

Best line: “Yesterday was Thursday. Today it is Friday…. Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterwards.”

Undoubtedly the biggest victim of the viral YouTube music video scene was Rebecca Black, who well and truly went through the motions with her hit “Friday”. Nothing was off-bounds with tearing into this song, and everyone from the YouTube comments section to celebrities delighted in dissecting the video down to the bone.

Amazingly, Rebecca came out the other side without having let the trolls get to her too much, and she is now a content creator on YouTube and TikTok. She’s worked with David Dobrik and Shane Dawson, and has nearly one and a half million subscribers despite having not posted in the last eight months.

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Over on TikTok, she has over 700,000 followers and seems to have completely moved on from the whole Friday thing which is really great to see.

@msrebeccablackso many have it so much worse than me right now & i am so aware of that. but maybe if any of u are dealing w something like me we can help each other♬ original sound – rebecca black

On Spotify, she has over 250,000 monthly listeners, and although a majority of these may well be from Friday alone, she’s doing well as a proper musical artist.

Alison Gold

Best line: “CHOW MEIN CHOW MUH MUH MUH MUH MEIN”

Alison Gold and her song Chinese Food certainly caused some backlash when it was released, for the fact that there are multiple simplified depictions of Chinese culture including Patrice Wilson (the writer of most of the songs on this list) in a panda suit and dancing geishas.

Gold apparently stated afterwards to claims of racism: “I don’t really understand what that’s all about… I mean, I’m not trying to criticise anyone – I just really love Chinese food!” Alison is now 18 years old, and it doesn’t look like she’s still involved in the whole music thing.

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I’d love to know how much she paid Patrice to write such lyrics as “Get me broccoli, while I play Monopoly. Don’t be a busy bee, ‘cos it’s your fantasy to eat Chinese food.”

Jenna Rose

Best line: “It feels like Heelies are racing on my spine!” or “I bet she’s mad ‘cos I look fab, hahahaha jack my swag!”

This is probably one of my favourite songs produced in this period due to the fact that everything from the lyrics to the dress sense screams 2010 – ASHLEY TISDALE is wearing my jeans!!!!

Jenna Rose, aka Jenna Swerdlow, has been making music consistently since the release of My Jeans, regularly uploading original songs to her YouTube channel.

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Her LinkedIn shows that she currently works as vice president of sales and client relations at CBS’ The Donna Drake Show.

Patrice Wilson

Best line: Patrice singing: “The sun is shining and the day has begun. Everybody’s in a weekend mood!” whilst a couple is arguing and a man is being arrested.

The big dog himself. The one and the only Patrice Wilson. The main culprit of every song (or at least most) on this list is Patrice Wilson, this man succeeded in making a load of children into the stars they always dreamed of being. Well, sort of.

After his early successes, Patrice faded into obscurity for a while. That is, until Ethan and Hila of H3H3 discussed him in several videos. When Post Malone was a guest on their podcast, they revealed that he had returned with an ominous livestreamed countdown.

As the countdown drew to an end, several more cryptic videos were shown before Patrice himself was revealed on camera. In the video, he basically spoke about his life since making the music videos and the accusations, amongst them that people call him a paedophile and accuse him of eating children.

Not a lot has been heard from him since 2017, where he seemed to be fairly active posting clips from music and showing off his incredibly shredded body.

Sydney Forsyth

Best line: “We so lit! Dab like this (dabs). We so lit! Eat like this! We so lit! She’s my best friend!”

As one of the catchier songs on the list, Sydney Forsyth said fuck it and decided to make a song solely about how “lit” her life is going to school and hanging out in Taco Bell.

With a healthy 365k dislikes and 100k likes, it’s fair to say people didn’t take very kindly to Sydney’s tune, but she seems to have grown beyond her 16/17-year-old persona and is now making commentary and lifestyle videos.

She recently reacted to the music video, calling it one of her “biggest regrets” and her “most embarrassing moment ever.” She even said she was inspired by Rebecca Black! The video is actually quite sweet and shows that there are actually normal human beings behind music videos like these, so fair play Sydney!

Just, like… don’t do it again.

Nicole Westbrook

Best line: “December was Christmas. January was New Year. April was Easter. And the fourth of July but now it’s Thanksgiving!”

I actually really like this song. Yes, it follows the same exact blueprint that every other song does on this list, but it’s just good fun and also Patrice doesn’t rap, which is an added bonus.

People still seem to be pretty pumped about her biggest hit, but unfortunately Nicole has set her Instagram to private and we can’t find any information about what she’s up to which is a shame.

Abby Victor

Best line: “I’m watchin’ I’m watchin’ you boy. I don’t know what to do to get you closer.”

This song has every cliche in the book, and remembering the way she looked into the camera while saying “I’m watchin’ you boy” must just make her wake up in cold sweats. Another Patrice Wilson appearance marks this song as one of the less memorable performances on the list.

Another private Instagram, Abby looks as if she’s in the film industry now having been an actress in multiple films as well as a PA on Brooklyn 99, and an intern on Funny or Die.

She said in an interview: “I am proud to say that I wouldn’t have done anything in my life differently. Sure, I have made plenty of mistakes and have regretted certain things, but I believe everything up to this point in time has shaped who I am today. ”

Ellie Soufi

Best line: “He keeps telling me he likes ya!”

Finally is Ellie Soufi’s Hysterical, and if I’m being completely honest, the premise of this is just ridiculous. They literally start with the queen of England watching the music video – why are there so many UK references even though the whole thing is so American? Then Patrice Wilson Headmaster raps, assuring Ellie that the wig-wearing boy fancies her and has told him personally.

Since recording Hysterical, Ellie has gone on to continue singing and she’s actually really good! She also recently starred in a short horror film, and appears to be spending time in St Barth’s currently.

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