Susan Boyle: Amazingly Good Singer

[sudsmaster]

Her pluck, determination, and towering talent cannot be denied.

And it's a wake up call for shallow people everywhere.

 

[maytagbear]

I think she's wonderful!

Last year, they had Paul Potts, who was the male equivalent....not a polished image, but with amazing talent.

I hope Susan wins BGT.

I bet that Susan won't go unkissed much longer!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[tlee618]

If you read the lyrics to the song she sang it really hits you! I think she has probably had a very unhappy life and I hope that all of that will change now for her. Truly amazing voice!!!

 

[andyelectrolux]

Fantastic. This is so refreshing in a time when the mass public places more value on looks and being a certain size than it does true musical talent such as this lady possesses.

Look at Ella Fitzgerald. One of the best voices there ever was. She was successful simply because of her talent and not due to any certain physical appearance. Or Edith Piaf. She just stood on the stage and sang and that was all that was needed. No pyrotechnics, no dancers, no intricate routines or trashy bootyshaking. Just her.

Now, lot's of todays artists have computers singing for them, but that's apparantly okay because they're blond and thin and hardly wear anything at all onstage. I wish the masses would get back to a place where true talent is appreciated, but I don't have my hopes up.

 

[sudsmaster]

There are plenty of good looking but mediocre singers. For example, Tim McGraw. The guy is buff and handsome but can barely carry a tune.

I'd like to see (and hear) Andrea Bocelli and Susan Boyle sing a duet.

 

[autowasherfreak]

WOW, what a voice! I hope she wins as well.

 

[autowasherfreak]

I would rather watch an average looking person with a great voice and talent, than a great looking singer with no talent.

 

[alr2903]

we are all guilty of having our heads turned by a great body, or fabulous looks. She Nailed the Song, and her talent made me smile. Best of luck to Ms. Boyle, and thanks for posting this suds... alr2903

 

[toggleswitch2]

If the measure of talent is based upon the ability to invoke emotion in others, Susan Boyle is Queen!

Don't know why, but I got all misty-eyed.

 

[autowasherfreak]

Steve, it had the same effect on me before she was even half way through the song.

 

[nmaineman36]

I had goose bumps when she was singing. I was blown away by her.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Never undersestimate the power of a woman who knows how to use her mouth.

I mean, think of a great female lawyer or your grandmother singing to you a lullaby.

 

[toggleswitch2]

...or even one of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren

 

[seeitrun2006]

What a voice!

I have watched her video several times today! Absolutely spell bound! It brings me to tears everytime I watch it. Goes to show you looks aren't everything!

 

[animasinsulinpu]

Hair style

I don't think she's ugly, she just needs a new hair style. I would do it for free as long as she sang to me! BTW, did you see rosanne Barr on Comedy Central called "Blonde and Bitchin"? She was AWESOME!!!! With her blonde hair she looks like Nicki Newman on the Y&R!!!.....Bill in Az...

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Paul gotta voice!

This guy was also a nobody who surprised everyone.

RCD

 

[ronhic]

Susan ROCKS!

I love the song from Les Miserables....and I can also confess to being teary....

Bloody soppy sod

 

[autowasherfreak]

I'm not a big fan of opera, but wow what a powerful voice!

 

[buffster]

On "the meaning of human grace"

From Vacuumland's thread on Susan Boyle...

I thought you might appreciate this post by Aeoliandave

This editorial snippet I found encapsulates the profound shades of humanity this woman represents. You go, Girl.

"Quenten Tarantino was guest mentor on last night's American Idol. In his attempts to get these wobbly singers to communicate the actual meaning contained in their songs, Tarantino hit on a key quality that most American Idol competitors lack. Namely, the awareness that the pop nuggets they perform aren't just some vehicle to show off their latent star quality, but rather compositions that tell stories and convey emotions.

Tarantino's advice got me thinking about another televised reality competition performance that's been making waves recently: Susan Boyle's jaw-dropping, heart-tugging appearance on Britain's Got Talent. By now, most of you are probably familiar with the unassuming bird from Scotland who's become a sudden sensation. The video of 47-year-old Boyle singing I Dreamed a Dream, from the musical Les Miserables, went viral over the weekend; by now, the official clip on the Britain's So Talented YouTube page has received close to six million views.

What's marvelous about Boyle is how she managed to completely challenge not just our preconceived expectations (and those of the Britain's Got Talent judges) but also the collective perception of what an undiscovered star looks like. Watch the initial moments of the clip and you can tell that the producers are salivating over Boyle's potential as a wacky character who'll make great television fodder. An unemployed, eccentric dowager from a small Scottish village who lives alone with her cat, Pebbles? A 47-year-old clad in an unflattering taupe housedress who claims not only that she's never been married, but that she's never been kissed? "This?" they're silently guffawing, "This woman thinks she's got a snowball's chance in hell of becoming a professional singer?"

The set-up is cruel: a collection of spliced-together clips of Boyle making doddering, off-colour comments, snarky tween audience members rolling their eyes and the Britain's Got Talent judges addressing the self-proclaimed singer as though she's a recent escapee from a mental institution. We've seen this character in similar competitions before, most recently in the guise of delusional drama queen Tatiana del Toro on this season of American Idol. This character is usually painfully misguided and sorely lacking in skill. He or she is unattractive by conventional standards and often given to grand proclamations about his or her talent. Producers adore these figures because they make for melodrama, because they're limitless sources of cheap jokes and surefire targets for our own mean-spirited mockery. These shows revel in these characters because laughing at the poor saps on television provides a nice boost to our own self-esteem.

But Boyle screwed all of that up. When she opened her mouth to sing, something exquisite and jarring came out, something that, as Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwartzbaum describes it, "reordered the measure of beauty." Boyle herself underestimated her incredible ability and left us speechless. "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging," says Schwartzbaum, "[with] the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts -- the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms. Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace."

I'd go even further. The reason Susan Boyle's performance has become such a worldwide phenomenon is simple: she genuinely felt and understood the meaning of what she was singing and demonstrated a kind of uncompromised honesty that we rarely witness in popular culture. And the facts of her biography -- she's alone and attached to an impossible hope she's had since the age of 12 -- provided an affecting context for her performance of a song about dreams deferred.

The detached, sheltered pipsqueaks on American Idol would do well to follow Susan Boyle's lead. Who knows -- maybe she'll show up as a guest mentor next season."

-- Sarah Liss

--------------------

Well put indeed!

Dave, thanks for sharing Ms. Liss's comments.

Somehow Ms. Boyle seems to have raised our collective consciousness singlehandedly and taught us all some very valuable lessons in a very beautiful and mighty powerful way. As I was always taught, actions speak much louder than words. And, boy, does Susan's gift speak volumes. The exciting part is that people get it. And, with our current state of affairs--how timely. What blessing she has bestowed upon us. And, how lucky we are for it. (And, I'm not just talking about her voice.)

BTW, as of this writing, the Susan Boyle clips on YouTube have topped 21 million... in six days!

Here's a link to a High Def five-minute version. Click HQ for the high definition version.

 

[spiceman1957]

Shame on Simon and that audience,

for looking down on this women. Of course she had the last laugh in the end. I only wished her mother could have watched her sing on this show. She is going to go far and I can actually see her on Broadway stage someday.

 

[peterh770]

Amazing voice! Real talent like that deserves all the rewards.

 

[nickuk]

I was misty eyed when I saw this live last Saturday and seeing it again was even better - thanks so much for the links!

I'm going to use this as part of a lesson to teach high school kids about prejudice in society. I've just spent two hours putting a plan together, and wow, as a teacher, there is a lot you can do with this!

 

[buffster]

Oops!

Meant to write "hits on the Susan Boyle clips..." but I'm sure everyone figured that out.

 

[sudsmaster]

I first heard Boyle singing on the TV news. I was in another room, not watching, and thought,

"How nice. So finally Celine Dion has learned how to sing without affectation."

Then I saw the screen just as the clip ended and the newscaster mentioned her name and the competition.

After that I googled and found the U-tube copy... and was amazed. If only the audience could have calmed down so she could be heard more clearly... but I'm sure we'll have plenty more opportunities to enjoy her gift.

 

[danemodsandy]

Well...

...I'm glad to hear that people have embraced Boyle, for the moment, but I am seriously reminded of a talent of equal dimensions who got voted off Idol and hasn't gotten the career her voice and talent warrant:

Melinda Doolittle. The first time I heard Doolittle sing, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, a thing that has not happened to me since '63, when I first heard a new singer named Barbra Streisand. Melinda wasn't as pretty as some of the other contestants, but she had the voice, the power, the emotion, and the ability to connect with the meaning of a lyric.

Hasn't equated to the kind of career she deserves, and I think her unprepossessing appearance has a lot to do with that. Pity, isn't it?

 

[JerseyMike]

Ms. Boyle sang a haunting version of Cry Me a River for a charity CD about 10 years or so ago. It's been uploaded onto a Scottish newspaper's website. Enjoy!

Mike

 

[askomiele]

I saw it on youtube, chills ran down my back and had to keep myself up otherwise I would burst into tears. It was so good! And she's goodlooking I mean saw a interview with her and a scottish reporter. The clothes she was wearing really boosted her look up. I think she is a wonderful person who understands more than other people what the meaning of a song and it's performance is rather than show and looks...

 

[58limited]

I like Susan. I liked her spunkiness on stage even before she sang. As far as her appearance, she looks like the average middle-aged women I see day in and day out (in other words, she is normal like the rest of us). It is nice to see a talented person who doesn't look like a Barbie doll receive all of this praise. I am also glad that Simon is trying to get her a recording contract whether or not she wins the contest.

I saw Paul Pott's performance awhile back and was equally impressed. You truly cannot judge a book by its cover.