Black's mother, Georgina Kelly, recalls how a classmate of Black informed her of Ark Music Factory, a Los Angeles record label that allowed young singers to gain experience in the industry by recording a track for a fee. Kelly paid Ark Music $2,000 for a package that included a choice of two pre-written songs.
Black herself chose the song "Friday", as "the other song was about adult love – I haven't experienced that yet. 'Friday' is about hanging out with friends, having fun. I felt like it was my personality in that song." Ark Music handled the video's production, and also made heavy use of the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune. Kelly had some doubts over the quality of the lyrics, but was told by Black that "I sang it as they wrote it, Mom."
The song's co-writer and producer Clarence Jey said that "the concept we feel seems to have crossed a lot of boundaries, for the better or worse." The participants in the video were all real-life school-friends of Rebecca Black.
