Rebecca Black, she of the inescapable 2011 online smash hit “Friday,” has a new dance-heavy EP, “Salvation." For an artist who first emerged at age 13 promising dance-able fuel, she continues deliver — just with a very different approach.
Now 27, the singer, songwriter and DJ has evolved past her early viral days to find new tools to articulate fun: thumping techno, garage revivalism, house bangers.
“Salvation” is Black’s fourth EP. It offers seven well-produced albeit short tracks; in an ideal world, it would've been a full album with more latitude and aural landscape to play with.
Even in its abridged fashion, Black uses “Salvation” as a declaration of autonomy, exploring themes related to the very challenges of her sudden rise more than a decade ago.
The title track “Salvation,” is a hot-and-bothered romance with a nice backbeat atop acid bass and Black delivering a convincing Lady Gaga-inspired sprechgesang.
Three tracks later, during “American Doll,” Black addresses expectations she’s had to endure and combat. “Sit up/Act right/Smile big/Spotlight/Don’t speak/Be nice,” Black sings in the opening. She examines the love-hate relationship that fans have with her and her journey: “Did you like me better then?/Do you wanna hate me now?” she continues. “Playing pretty and pretend/With a pillow on my mouth.”
If there is a standout, it is “Sugar Water Cyanide,” a club-ready song ripe for a deep remix and accessible with pitched-up vocals. The dance floor beckons.
For many years now, Black has been in the driver’s seat of her career, distancing herself from the pressure that arrives with becoming very famous, very fast, while very young. And she may continue to keep both hands on the wheel, as long as she can keep manipulative industry forces at a safe distance.
On this release, her “Salvation” appears to be that freedom. And it makes for a fun listen.
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FILE - Rebecca Black attends Christian Cowan X The Powerpuff Girls Season II Runway Show on March 8, 2020, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is edging back from its all-time high Thursday following mixed profit reports from Tesla and other big companies. Oil prices, meanwhile, are swinging higher on continued uncertainty about what will happen next in the war with Iran.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% following a big rally that erased all its losses because of the war and then carried it to records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 71 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower after setting its own record.
Tesla dragged on the market and fell 4.3% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors may be focusing instead on Tesla’s increased forecast for spending this year, as it builds factories to make robots and other products.
“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital expenditures,” Elon Musk told investors late Wednesday, “but I think well justified for a substantially increased future revenue stream.”
ServiceNow dropped even more, 16.2%, even though its results for the latest quarter matched analysts’ expectations. The company has been under pressure, along with much of the broad software industry, because of worries that rivals powered by artificial-intelligence technology could undercut its business.
Analysts said investors may have also been underwhelmed by its forecast for a declaration in growth for an important measure of revenue.
Texas Instruments helped limit Wall Street's losses after breezing past analysts' expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO Haviv Ilan said the semiconductor company is benefiting from growth led by industrial and data center customers, and it gave forecasts for profit and revenue in the spring that cleared analysts' estimates.
The 16.6% leap for Texas Instrument's stock was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
In the oil market, prices swung higher as uncertainty continues about what will happen with the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire is still in place between the United States and Iran, but oil tankers aren’t able to get through the narrow waterway off Iran's coast to exit the Persian Gulf and reach customers.
The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up the standoff a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the strait. President Donald Trump also said Thursday he ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines to gum up traffic in the strait.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1% to $102.97 after bouncing between roughly $101 and $106 overnight. It’s unclear whether U.S.-Iran peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.
More expensive oil has hurt airlines in particular because of the industry's already big fuel bills, and stocks diverged in the industry following the latest profit reports.
American Airlines Group rose 4% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Even though winter storms hurt its revenue during the first three months of the year, American said demand was strong for flights, and it saw the nine best weeks for revenue intake in its 100-year history.
Southwest Airlines, though, lost 2.2% after reporting weaker quarterly results than analysts expected. It said it would not give an updated forecast for profit this year because of “the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Also on the losing end of Wall Street was IBM, which sank 9.7% despite reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts said investors were focusing on some potentially discouraging numbers underneath the surface, including decelerating growth in trends for its software business.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.7% for two of the bigger losses.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% after the government reported better-than-expected economic growth for the start of the year, boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in the AI boom. Semiconductor supplier SK Hynix said its revenue for the latest quarter jumped more than analysts expected largely because of AI-related demand.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.29% from 4.30% late Wednesday.
A report in the morning said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the number is still at a historically healthy level. A separate, preliminary report on U.S. business output from S&P Global also suggested growth is improving a bit from its near-stagnation seen in March.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The sun rises behind tankers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)
A board above trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person takes a photo of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index outside a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
