Rebecca Black brings queer euphoria to Outside Lands with pulsing back-to-back sets
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
Rebecca Black didn't just redeem 'Friday,' she proved she can get the party started any day of the week with her electric back-to-back sets on Outside Lands' final day.
First, the hyperpop singer lit up the San Francisco festival's Sutro stage with an energetic late afternoon performance on Sunday, Aug. 10. Joined onstage by two backup dancers dressed in camouflage print tank tops and brown furry shorts, Black busted out full choreography during most of her songs, bringing an infectious energy that seemed to revive even the most exhausted three-day festivalgoers.
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'Outside Lands is a moment I have dreamed of for years,' Black said of her Golden Gate Park debut.
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Rebecca Black performs with a set meant to contrast signs used by the infamous anti-gay, Westboro Baptist Church, on day three of Outside Lands in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025.
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
Noting that she's 'a California girl myself — I'm from the O.C., so I'm not as cool as any of you,' Black said she remembers 'being in high school and watching my favorite artists and bands play this festival.'
The Mexican American singer rose to internet fame at the age of 13, with her viral song 'Friday' becoming the most disliked YouTube video in 2011. Though Black received intense online hate for the track, she pushed forward, continuing to release music in the years that followed.
But only now has she been able to creep back to the mainstream, with flirty upbeat tunes like 'Worth It for the Feeling' and 'Doe Eyed' topping the playlists of queer Gen Zers.
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Rebecca Black performs with a set meant to contrast signs used by the infamous anti-gay, Westboro Baptist Church, on day three of Outside Lands in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025.
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
'And they tried to call me a one-hit wonder,' she said with a wink while performing a mashup of 'Friday' and her more recent song 'Sugar Water Cyanide,' which was released last December and rapidly gained popularity online.
Black, who was dressed in a ruffle-trimmed lime green-and-black striped mini dress, let her playful personality shine through onstage with her props. The queer artist's set featured a handful of picket signs intended to parody those frequently used by members of the Westboro Baptist Church and others to protest Pride events. Instead of the Bible verses and anti-gay rhetoric, however, hers displayed tongue-in-cheek nods to the LGBTQ+ community such as 'Str8? See Rebecca Black' and 'Homo sex is life.'
Rebecca Black comes to the Dolores stage to perform a DJ set after her show on the Sutro Stage on the third day of Outside Lands in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025.
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
An hour after wrapping at Sutro, Black drew another overflowing crowd onto the Polo Field, where she closed out Dolores' with an equally captivating DJ set.
Hundreds of fans spilled out of the open-air queer dance space, bathed in strobe lights and bouncing along to Black's remixes of party staples like Charli XCX 2016 hit 'Vroom Vroom' and LMFAO's 2011 club banger 'Party Rock Anthem.'
Even when Irish folk singer Hozier hit the nearby Lands End stage for his headlining set 10 minutes before Black wrapped up, many fans stuck around to continue dancing with the 'TRUST!' singer.
San Francisco fans have embraced Black over the years, offering the singer a safe and supportive space for her to flaunt her queer identity onstage. And it's clear that love hasn't waned. Black has consistently drawn enthusiastic crowds throughout the city since she performed Portola Festival 2024 on Pier 80, including for a DJ set at the Downtown First Thursdays block party in December and last month at Chase Center, where she opened for Katy Perry's Lifetimes Tour.
Chronicle Senior Arts and Entertainment Editor Mariecar Mendoza contributed to this report.
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