I just saw this video this afternoon.....I was in tears.
But to me, the most interesting part of the video is the way the judges and audience at first jauntily dismiss her on the basis of her appearance and age, and then have to rethink their prejudices once she starts singing.
There's lots of lessons to be learned here. Hopefully some people will catch on. :)
I ran across this fantastic column from Glasgow's Herald:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php (http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php)
I ran across this fantastic column from Glasgow's Herald:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php (http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php)
The beauty that matters is always on the inside
12:01am Tuesday 14th April 2009
By COLETTE DOUGLAS HOME
A tangential aside--not giving anything away from the article itself, I hope--possibly for Americans who are not aware: the writer's surname, Douglas Home (or Douglas-Home, pronounced Hume ) is an old and distinguished one in the UK, and in Scotland. (And now all the world knows Susan Boyle is a Scot!) Collete Douglas Home (as she styles herself) is the wife of Mark Douglas-Home, former editor of The Herald; he left the paper in 2005 as he was unhappy (it was believed) because of management's budget cuts. His uncle was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, British Prime Minister 1963-1964. For anybody is interested, google and wikipedia awaits.
Very nice article.
She has a beautiful voice. I'm surprised that it hasn't been discovered before. She was funny with the judges. I hope she wins. I don't know why they were so amazed. Paul Potts wasn't "the norm" in looks when he got his chance on the show either. And he won (I think).
If Paul Potts married Susan Boyle, they could be Potts-Boyle. And then we could watch Potts-Boyle.
If Paul Potts married Susan Boyle, they could be Potts-Boyle. And then we could watch Potts-Boyle.
I ran across this fantastic column from Glasgow's Herald:
It tickles me that you are quoting from the Glasgow Herald... :)
Have you guys never heard I dreamed a Drem before? Its prety well known in the UK. Hae you guys heard of Elaine Paige?
I thought you might like that! ;);D
It tickles me that you are quoting from the Glasgow Herald... :)
Have you guys never heard I dreamed a Drem before? Its prety well known in the UK. Hae you guys heard of Elaine Paige?
I just checked my email, and my mother just sent me a link to the Susan Boyle YouTube. Jesus H! I didn't even know my mother knew about YouTube. Quite a phenomenon.
Another song by our wee Susie Boyle..
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/2009/04/16/exclusive-susan-boyle-s-first-ever-song-release-revealed-listen-to-it-here-86908-21283564/
It emerged last night that Susan, whose Britain’s Got Talent triumph has made her an instant superstar, is being lined up for an appearance
on the Oprah Winfrey show which would give her the chance of a number one album in the US.
But the Record can reveal she made her first recording back in 1999, when she sang blues ballad Cry Me A River for a charity CD.
Only 1000 copies of the disc were ever produced, but we’ve got hold of the long-forgotten recording and it’s now on our site. A showbiz insider said: “This is a real coup for the Record. The whole world would have wanted to find this.
“People will be scrambling to get their hands on this CD. They will be like gold dust soon.”
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI2DxkrgpgQ[/youtube]
Do you know its weird.. the accent almost always goes when we sing.. I know of only maybe two bands that I can think off the top of my head who sound scottish when they sing..
The proclaimers
Have you guys never heard I dreamed a Dream before?
We Dreamed A Dream
Susan Boyle Has Come To Save Us From Our Shallowness!
By Sadie, 3:00 PM on Thu Apr 16 2009
Sadie seems to be a little cynical. And overanalytical maybe.
I have heard that song, Kelda. I love Les Mis--I have seen performances of it at the Orpheum in Memphis at least 3 times, and I have the CD. Lots of good stuff in that musical. Makes me want to go again! ;)
It's a beautiful song.. but I have to say Ive never been interested in going to see Les Mis... I'm more of an upbeat musical fan..
Well, yeah. It has a lot of sad in it with some happy. But there is a really upbeat song in it--"Master of the House" -- funny and lots of action in the dance number. :)
That 10th anniversary collage of Les Mis doesn't show the dances--just the song performances. The performer standing at the mic. During the actual play--there is a lot going on during that song. Must be just for a special. The ones I have seen have had the subtitles---maybe so people can sing along.
Sure, Elle. Who doesn't love a rags-to-riches story, an Eliza Doolittle, a Pocketful of Miracles?
She's presented to us as a naive, but, a listen to her sultry "Cry Me a River" belies that. Again, my cynical side says the producers chose her to be the next "it". And it worked.
It's both real and contrived.
What makes me wonder is how the camera happens to capture audience members' eyes rolling at just the right moment. Do they have a million cameras, or was that just extreme serendipity, or what?
Actually I think they do, Katherine. Not a million of them though. I think they have several cameras pointed in different directions and they then piece everything together in the editing department. I'd hate to think of this as some sort of set-up. I really hope it isn't true. My heart tells me it isn't true. Either way, I'm very happy for Ms. Boyle and I'll be anxiously awaiting the release of her first album. :)
You're right. There are several cameras all over the hall while the show is being shot. At any given point in time, the show's director is in a booth monitoring what's going on with each camera, and telling the camera operators where to point the lens, and how to frame the shots. Its actually pretty formulaic. The director and camera crew can expect to get shots of the audience as each contestant takes the stage.
In case anyone is interested, there has been plenty of chatter about Susan Boyle over on the opera boards. My fellow opera singers agree that this "Boyle Bubble" is all about age and looks. They're saying that the voice is just unexpected coming from someone who looks like Boyle. Hence the novelty.
As far as the voice itself, Boyle doesn't suck. She actually has a good strong instrument, with a consistent vibrato. Her low notes are pretty weak. We agree that with some training, she could turn into a viable musical theatre singer. Can she act or dance? Who knows?? What we don't hear is a voice that is yet ready for a recording contract.
Same goes for Paul Potts.
You're right. There are several cameras all over the hall while the show is being shot. At any given point in time, the show's director is in a booth monitoring what's going on with each camera, and telling the camera operators where to point the lens, and how to frame the shots. Its actually pretty formulaic. The director and camera crew can expect to get shots of the audience as each contestant takes the stage.
In case anyone is interested, there has been plenty of chatter about Susan Boyle over on the opera boards. My fellow opera singers agree that this "Boyle Bubble" is all about age and looks. They're saying that the voice is just unexpected coming from someone who looks like Boyle. Hence the novelty.
As far as the voice itself, Boyle doesn't suck. She actually has a good strong instrument, with a consistent vibrato. Her low notes are pretty weak. We agree that with some training, she could turn into a viable musical theatre singer. Can she act or dance? Who knows?? What we don't hear is a voice that is yet ready for a recording contract.
Same goes for Paul Potts.
I would imagine also that they would pick out people to focus on that are pretty, have been expressive, have something that will catch their eye. It would be second nature after a bit of practice wouldn't it, Milo?
I mean if one group or person is really getting excited or emotional about ONE act, wouldn't it make sense to focus on that group again in hopes of catching a usable moment?
Plus, I *think* (I'm not certain) that likk American Idol, they probably have a panel before the real panel in secret, so they have an idea whos really bad or mad (makes good tv) whos medeocre and whos really good (makes good tv) or who has that compelling story (makes for good tv).
Well, they must have known something was up, because you wouldn't think they'd spend THAT much time beforehand with every single contestant. And when the backstage host guy goes, "You weren't expecting that, were you?" it could be read as a tiny hint that HE was.
The judges did look pretty genuinely surprised, but maybe they're kept out of the loop to keep their reactions more sincere ...
She, in fairy-story terms, is the ugly old lady, despised by all, who turns out to be a beloved and powerful princess; the spell that sets her free and makes her great is her magic talent. And the special magic of this talent is that it is makes no distinctions of age or beauty or disability; anyone might have this magic power, whether or not anyone else knows. Aspirations and dreams need not always grow old, though we must. It is a fairy story to make grown men and women weep, and it did.
Similarly, the jeering audience of vain young people trying to catch the camera’s eye and the preening judges of this contest are the nasty boys and girls of fairy stories who mock the poor old lady because she is not young and beautiful, only to be punished when her real self is revealed. And their punishment is to be revealed as they truly are - heartless, thoughtless and superficial - the flotsam and jetsam of the polluted seas of celebrity, likely to sink without trace into toxic foam. They will grow old too, to be ignored in their turn, and then they will understand that appearances are not everything. And those who despise people who are not thin, not young, not beautiful and not cool will one day find themselves despised in exactly the same way, by people just like their younger selves. That is enough to make young people think.
I think they are kept out of the loop for that very reason.
I'm not sure if Ant & Dec know much more than they've been told to interview these partic people, as they have had previously, quite emotional reactions to people before too. Plus these guys (very famous in the UK and have been around for years and years since they we're like 14 as a double act) are known to be very much on the spot/ off the cuff type of presenters.
Am I the only one not impressed with her voice? Yes, she has a nice voice. But I've heard tons better singers on American Idol - from the runners up.
She reminds me of what's-her-name on the Drew Carrey Show. Was it Mimi?
Nothin too spectacular, although here is her competition from this week:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj15wqGeHb0[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un2guR1jt04[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9mtE__GBKA[/youtube]
David - he's on this thread already - posted a little youtube clip of him at the weekend.
Re wanna Bet, i didn't know that...thanks to the link to Wanna Bet! - its like a remake of a show we had in the 90's here called You Bet! But from thre page its says its not getting renewed for a second series. shame becasue they are a really good duo!
I have seen geekier, uglier, older, and fatter people sing 100 thousand times better that her. I've seen dirt poor black singers rise from ghettos to become international performers earning tens of thousands of dollars per night.
Plus, I *think* (I'm not certain) that likk American Idol, they probably have a panel before the real panel in secret, so they have an idea whos really bad or mad (makes good tv) whos medeocre and whos really good (makes good tv) or who has that compelling story (makes for good tv).
The Contrarian Take on Susan Boyle
Posted Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:16 AM | By Meghan O'Rourke
I didn't see the Susan Boyle clip until Sunday, and unlike everyone else in America, I didn't find it moving. Instead, I found it to be a savvy, cynical piece of TV editing. The visual sequence (the one now on YouTube) is perfectly designed to elicit a crude catharsis in its viewers—to borrow a crucial critical term from one of our earliest drama critics, Aristotle. The skeptic in me hardly believes it wasn't scripted. All the obvious reasons why so many have found it so "moving" have been trotted out. Letty Cottin Pogrebin proclaimed it a powerful strike against pervasive "ageism," a clip that showed us how wrongly snide we are about the dreams of a plain 47-year-old woman. And on one level, that's right. Boyle's life has been changed. (For now, at least.) But the real catharsis the sequence offers is that it lets us indulge as a group (this is crucial) our culture's superficial feelings about appearance, age, sexual worth, and then expel them. (Boyle is as unerotic as it gets; actually, she's an-erotic, since she has never even been kissed.) Watching at first, we too are the sneering audience members, the young girls who roll their eyes. (Note how carefully edited the audience shots are.) But—then, cue the music, and even as Boyle is just opening her mouth, people's faces are lighting up. She has relaxed into herself and her voice is... pretty good. (Not great.) And so we get to exhale and let our saccharine hearts soar with the schmaltzy music as, for a moment, we see "proven" on TV that looks and sex aren't everything. For that moment, the light mantle of eros even seems to rest around Boyle—she smiles, she has some cultural worth, someone, we think, might even kiss her one day! Thus, release. In a sense, Boyle inhabits the role of the scapegoat of early village traditions whom we punish with exile (or sneering), but whom we now, through the magic vehicle of TV, welcome back into the fold, surprising ourselves with our capacious hearts.
But do not take this for a moment to be a blow in the face of ageism. Or a sign that we're becoming a more thoughtful culture. Just listen to the condescension in beautiful, tanned, made-over Amanda Holden's language when she tells newspapers that the moment they give Boyle a makeover would be the moment "it's spoilt." Indeed, it would be. It would mean we couldn't for that moment feel our little hit of catharsis, of canned "uplift," before going to our usual over-valorization of erotic value and celebrity plasticity. In one sense, Robin Givhan was wrong yesterday to suggest we're fooling ourselves if we think Boyle doesn't need a makeover. She does. But my bet is that the makeover will only disenchant us with her over time. We got the hit we needed, and like any stimulant, its effect will decrease as we try to re-experience it.
I missed it (actually I don't watch it) what did she sing?
sorry these two acts got through to the final tonight.
So the 6 finalists so far are three singers, 2 dance acts and a comedy/dance duo
I was too, but I'm not concerned for her.
Simon Cowell is no fool. I'm sure he's noticed the amount of attention she's received, and he'll have her signed and working on a CD very quickly.
Susan Boyle Checks into the Priory
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/britain_got_talent/2458062/Susan-Boyle-checks-into-The-Priory-Britains-Got-Talent.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/britain_got_talent/2458062/Susan-Boyle-checks-into-The-Priory-Britains-Got-Talent.html)
BRITAIN'S Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle was in the Priory clinic last night suffering from exhaustion.
The singer, dubbed SuBo, had an "emotional breakdown" following Saturday's final in which she was runner-up.
But the talent show favourite was still eyeing a mega United States tour.
The 48-year-old virgin, tipped to earn £8MILLION, survived tears and a tantrum to finish second in Saturday's gripping final of telly's Britain's Got Talent.
But the pressure finally told late yesterday as the Scots singer - dubbed SuBo by fans - was rushed to the private clinic suffering from exhaustion.
Show aides had contacted police to say she was acting strangely at her London hotel.
Paramedics helped the "spaced-out" star through the lobby and into an ambulance just after 6pm.
A Met Police Inspector and a police doctor were called to assist. The ambulance, tailed by a police car, then took her to the Priory in Southgate, North London.
A source at the hotel said last night: "She'd been at the hotel for a few days, but since Saturday's final had been acting strangely, causing a bit of a stir.
I agree with you Kelda. Diversity WAS extremely good - deserved the win.
Of the three acts Bryan & I saw this afternoon, (Diversity, Susan Boyle & Flawless), I would certainly have chosen Diversity. Bryan claims he would have chosen Susan - but then he was prob'ly just being argumentative. ;)
I'm sorry to hear this. :(
Susan Boyle has certainly been through a lot, especially since she auditioned in Week 1 (as opposed to Week 6) and has been hounded by the media and fans ever since. Let's face it, not everyone can handle well the stress of becoming an overnight sensation. It must be absolutely overwhelming for her. Well, at least she was able to hold herself together long enough to perform in the finals. I read somewhere that her gown for the finals still had not arrived 15 minutes before she was set to perform. How nerve-racking must that have been for her. She was a very gracious loser to Diversity, even saying on stage that she thought the best act won. I give her kudos for saying that.
I hope she makes a full recovery and that the press and her fans will give her some space during her recovery period. I also hope that she has somebody looking out for her, somebody who has her best interests at heart, not just her ability to make money.
through tonight..
STAVROS FLATLEY
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQ41sqTU28[/youtube]
They were better in the heats when they did this..(embedding is disabled so click on the link!)
and also through tonight is:
SHAHEEN JAFARGHOLI
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0P4R-jGUro[/youtube]