We’ve got three words for you: Lexi. Saint. George.
Though the snotty name makes her sound like she could be the worst nightmare of the Babysitters’ Club (right up there with Cokie Mason!), ABC’s “Good Morning America” declared 14-year-old Lexi St. George its very own bubblegum pop star during a special entitled “One Week to Make it Big.”
“Good Morning America” and the devilish geniuses behind Ark Music Factory auditioned crowds of pre-teens at to see how fast they could make the quintessential “girl next door” into a YouTube sensation. After selecting its winner, “GMA” put the hopeful through rounds of voice and dance lessons, followed by the recording of her single and filming of her music video, “Dancing to the Rhythm (With Me)” in just one week.
Seems like a cute idea, until you remember Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and the viral hit that spiraled out of control, resulting in many tears, 167 million views and more hilariously comical .gifs than the Internet could keep track of. But wait … is a reincarnated Rebecca Black what “GMA” wanted all along? To turn a sweet little girl (really, Lexi is sweet — watch the video) into a jaded high school freshman with no self-esteem due to endless strings of nasty message board commentary? Pretty dismal objective, even for a network that brought us far too many seasons of “The Bachelorette.”
Though one of the first things Lexi tells us in “Dancing to the Rhythm” is that she’s “gonna press send, and text all her friends!” The song only gets better from there. Yes, it’s still made by Ark Music Factory. It’s premeditated, super-produced and looks and sounds like it belongs on MTV in 1987 (think Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”), but the song really isn’t that bad. I’m not ashamed to say I think it’s pretty catchy — and I’m having hard time detecting any autotune. About 30 seconds in, after noticing the Emma Watson resemblance and the strands of glitter in Lexi’s hair (is she already establishing new trends?), I actually anticipated hearing a nasally, repetitive chorus along the lines of “Friday,” but it never came.
The bottom line? The lyrics aren’t as silly, the kids aren’t as awkward, and Lexi looks like she’s having the time of her life. After the “GMA” premiere of her video, . She just seems so happy, there’s no way the Internet could bring her down as fast as they did Rebecca Black, and that’s why the masses aren’t buying what Lexi (or “GMA”) is selling- at least not yet.
One week on ye olde YouTube and Lexi’s only got 160,000 views. However cheesetastically ’80s “Dancing to the Rhythm” may be, Lexi proved to us all that Internet memes aren’t spawned by a news program or meticulously thought out by a set of producers….they just happen. Go ahead, ask Rebecca Black.
P.S. If you really want RB V2.0, which was actually posted to YouTube months before anyone knew who Rebecca Black was, check out Jenna Rose’s and then close your laptop and go outside.
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Allison Berger is a Philadelphia-based writer and a pop music columnist for Reverb. Check out more of her writing
