Rebecca Black, for anyone who needs a refresher, is the same Rebecca Black who was catapulted into early internet virality as a 13-year-old with the 2011 music video for earworm “Friday.” It was catchy and cringey in equal measure, and it won her exactly zero votes for the era’s “Most Likely to be a Successful Pop Star” superlative.

But here we are, 14 years later, confronting the existence of Black’s EP “Salvation,” a brazen, colorful hyper-pop album that oozes Y2K aesthetics, queer dance anthems and plenty of hard-won self-confidence. And this much is clear: The 27-year-old isn’t looking backward to reclaim her story — she’s too busy making art that meets the moment.

Let’s get you caught up. For years after bursting into the pop culture zeitgeist with the video that would ultimately accrue 174 million YouTube views (and the online bullying, harassment and threats that accompanied them), she dabbled in acoustic covers and original, alternative pop singles before hitting her stride around 2021. By then, she had come out publicly as queer, had remixed a hyper-pop version of “Friday” with Dylan Brady of 100 gecs and was mid-production on her first album, “Let Her Burn” — a debut that, by the time it was released, was over a decade in the making.

Now, with her sophomore effort, Black returns to a varied electronic landscape ready to dance, bolstering a deeper trust of her own intuition. It’s paying off. Her recent work landed her an opening spot on Katy Perry’s upcoming tour (a reunion for the pair, after Black’s cameo in Perry’s “Last Friday Night” music video in 2011). She’s also returning to D.C. on the heels of another viral moment: her Boiler Room set here in September, which started with techno samples of Hannah Montana songs before blending into pumped-up Ethel Cain choruses.

Black spoke to The Washington Post via Zoomfrom a tour stop in Dublin about “Salvation,” her campy live shows and her new outlook on fame. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was going on in your life when you were writing “Salvation” in 2023?

At the beginning of a pop career, there’s always the question of what’s digestible and this kind of commercialism within it. I don’t think there’s any pop artist that doesn’t have some type of relationship with that, because it’s in the bones of what pop is. But I really started to build some conviction in myself. I was coming off the release of my debut album and getting into the weeds of touring for the first time.I really felt like I was starting to understand my audience and the relationship I have with what my audience pulls from within me, and also what I want from them. And like, where do those two things sit?But my main kind of takeaway was that my audience, if anything, was like, “Girl, just go harder. Just take the risk. Always, always, always.”

Compared to your debut, it sounds like you trusted your instincts more when crafting this album. Were there ways that you felt blocked from your own intuition before?

Something I’ve spent a lot of therapeutic hours [on] is really developing a strong sense of self. Due to my own experience of moving through this industry as a child and constantly being surrounded by older people who are very good at convincing you that the reason you have anything is because of their intuition, because of their guidance. I really sipped that tea because I was at such a tender moment of my life, beginning with “Friday.” Everything that happened in that trajectory of events, the most obvious option was that I would become a person who did not trust herself in her decision-making. I’ve come to a point in my life where I’ve really reconciled with that, and I’ve shaped my world to include people who push me to trust myself. That has allowed me to, finally, take a leadership role in my career.

What do you hope listeners get out of “Salvation”?

I hope that they have fun with it, and that they can feel the way that these songs have me feel, which is full of conviction, and confidence, and maybe my own sense of God complex.

What, to you, makes a good dance song?

Dance music is all about tapping into a version of yourself that’s able to let go. That was really the inspiration for everything that [“Salvation” single] “Sugar Water Cyanide” became. It was born on a pressureless day. It’s about a feeling and it’s about an experience. But at the same time, I think it was one of the most successful writing sessions of being able to capture something without it being a beginning-to-end story.

The D.C. stop on your tour was upgraded from the 450-person-capacity Atlantis to the 1,200-capacity 9:30 Club — and it still sold out. What should people expect from your live show?

I’ve always found it really fun to challenge the production that we can bring into the size of the venue that we are in. I just love arena energy, and I want to get as close to that as I can in a tiny venue. Ultimately, it’s a camp show. It’s a theater show. It’s a show that’s made by people who really love to perform.

How is it theatrical? No spoilers, but do you have examples?

Like, weaponry. That was really fun to get tested out by the Irish Customs and Immigration agents at 6:30 this morning. There is a lot of really fun presong interludes that tell the story of what we want to do. We have a fan come onstage [for a bit].

You became famous as a young teen. Now, at 27, what’s your relationship to fame?

There will always be, with anyone who has had a viral moment, an exciting narrative for other people to experience of reclaiming that moment. For a while as a teenager, I definitely felt that pressure of like, “Oh, have I reached this certain thing in my life at this very early point that will never quite feel the same?” That can be a very scary and hopeless feeling. I’ve definitely been surrounded by many people in my life who it’s been in their best interest to get me to recapture that essence of what I had. And I’m really disinterested in recapturing that essence.The whole point of virality is that it is unpredictable. But in my world and in my shows and in my corner of the internet, I’m so surrounded by people who are also not concerned with me recapturing that moment for myself.

Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. Sold out.