Susan Boyle
Have you seen the video of Susan Boyle astonishing the world?
I’ve watched it repeatedly, and each time I get chills. In case you missed it – which is unlikely, since it’s had more than 20 million views online – Boyle is the 47-year-old Scottish woman who blew away the audience and judges on “Britain’s Got Talent” last weekend.
Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Before she went out on stage, she admitted to the show’s hosts that she’d never been married or kissed. Since her mother’s death two years ago, she has lived alone except for a cat named Pebbles. And, she told the hosts, she planned to “rock” the crowd.
Then she stood before 3,000 people and smiled at the judges, among them Simon Cowell, who has turned unkind comments into a career on the popular FOX television show, “American Idol.” Audience members snickered as she said she wanted to be a singing star, and Simon fairly dripped disdain as he stared at her squarish build, Brezhnev eyebrows and unruly hair. It just got worse when she started gyrating her hips in a nervous attempt to display confidence.
Everyone expected a freak show. Surely this unglamorous woman from a small Scottish village was daft. Like William Hung, who embarrassed himself with a ghastly performance of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs,” Boyle would be comically, painfully inept. You could almost see Simon sharpening his tongue.
But amid all this — the laughing crowd, the cynical judges, the giggling hosts — something amazing happened: Reality television captured a moment of genuine emotion, of human transcendance. The world watched a star being born.
Within the space of a few notes, Boyle transformed from an object of ridicule to a heroine with the voice of an angel. Singing the perfect song — “I Dreamed a Dream,” a difficult piece from Les Miserables about the death of hope — she won over the crowd in seconds. The cameras cut away from Boyle’s performance to show the judges agog with shock, mouths hanging open, transfixed. By the time she was done, people were crying, humbled, embarrassed by their own preconceptions.
I could watch it a thousand times.
I read an article today that offered a reason why Boyle’s story is so uplifting: It’s so unexpected that it seems as if it could not happen in real life. It’s a story we’re all familiar with, but only within the carefully scripted confines of fiction. It’s “The Full Monty,” “Napoleon Dynamite,” or any of a hundred teen movies produced each year. Unlikely heroes defy stereotypes to achieve something impossible, getting the boy or girl and winning over everyone who oppressed them. The meme is ubiquitous in the make-believe world but almost unheard of in reality. And we all watched it happen.
In interviews this week, Boyle has remarked that everyone who used to pick on her is cheering her on now. The children who used to tease her because of her old maid status and plain appearance stop to wish her luck. She’s gone from the ugly duckling who has never been kissed to the belle of Britain’s ball — and the favorite to win the television competition.
It’s a real-life underdog story.
It’s a beautiful thing.
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Comments
Jim, this article is right on spot. An angelic-like voice and further proof that beauty is more than skin deep is what this Boyle “groupie” saw as he watched the YouTube record of her performance. Rock on, Susan!
Its a secrelige she came only second in the final!! In a way though, this could be good for her as it takes the pressure off a little. Her singing in the final was amazing and her lil’ dance in the results show made me laugh – what a star hehe
There is another one of her on youtube that you may have already heard. It was recorded in 1999. She sings “Cry Me a River”. And trust me, it is fantastic.