Britain’s Got Talent, big shock.

Gee, the world is depressing and we all need a little feel-good story. Can you be a little more negative?

OK, first of all I agree with you about the aesthetic nature of these talent competitions. I watched this video before it became a huge thing in America. I was quiet touched by the fact that even though everyone was laughing at this lady, she still managed to not only sing well, but confidently. It is very difficult to walk into a room like that and achieve both a solid performance and exude confidence. Also, it really doesn’t matter what the musical selection was. Vocal range is not an indication of vocal talent. I am currently a medical student, but I come from a music background having earned a bachelors degree in vocal performance, also completing graduate level study in music. I think she has a lovely voice. Do I think that there are many other women, and men, out there that have voices of her caliber? Absolutely. But, how many people have the guts to get in front of an audience, on television, and give that solid level of performance? Not many. With her song selection she has proven to not only be a decent vocalist, but also a smart one. You take the piece of music that is going to show you off, but not kill you. That piece was clearly her showpiece. Just because middle school kids sing pieces from this show, and other shows, doesn’t make it music that shouldn’t be sung by older, more mature and developed vocalists.

Amen, Stephen.

It’s typical sour grape. I respected her, admired her courage. I don’t care how she sing and how she look. SHE IS THERE. Do you have the guts???????

“What’s the big shock? That she can sing despite the fact that she’s not a rail-thin tatooed single mother like half the American Idol women?”

Because in this pathetic nation of ours people who have voices like this don’t get chances to shine…back before music videos looks didn’t matter, it was the voice that sold the record. Now it’s all image and garbage. Thank God for this lady.

I’d say the little green monster has a hold of you. Get over it.

Yes, people are surprised that such a lovely voice comes from such a dowdy looking lady. Why is that? Because society places too much emphasis on what one looks like rather than on other things tha really count. You’re ugly so you must not have any other talet. You’re pretty so you must be able to sing. Carrie Underwood is pretty but I would bet that Susan Boyle has a better range of vocal talent than Carrie has in her pretty little bleach blonde little head.

Bitter much? I love it when those who say they can have to tear down those who actually did. Go audition somewhere. Do something. For the same reasons other people did, I found this woman to be inspirational. She isn’t bitter. She didn’t get upset because people assumed something about her. She knew what she wanted to do. She lived her dream. How many of us can say that? She did something brave. You are doing something cowardly and low. I have heard tons of people sing that song and it was wonderful the way she sang it. I’m sorry it didn’t live up to your muster. Guess I didn’t get the memo about your unmatched expertise in the subject. Susan Boyle rocks!

It’s a feelgood story because she walked onstage a huge underdog, and walked off stage triumphant. She turned the entire audience around in less than five seconds. She turned Simon Cowell around in a heartbeat. Your point that a “dowdy” middle aged woman can have talent is well taken, but takes nothing away from her moment under the lights. Her performance blew the audience right out of their seat. She displayed more guts in a few minutes than most of us will show in a lifetime. Give her the credit she deserves.

Heather, since undoubtedly you would have unlimited access to the video postings on NewsOK.com, for instance George Lang’s Static, might I recommend that you post one of your own singing performances and let the online audience judge for themselves who they like best.

Someone’s a ripe berry on the grumpy tree today.

Let the poor woman shine. I thought the storyline was touching, and I was so happy to see someone that isn’t a supermodel get her moment in the sun. Just when we could all use a good story, a cranky, bitter human like you comes along and tries to ruin it. Have fun kicking dirt into the eyes of babies and stomping on flowers, meanwhile I’ll be enjoying life… As will Susan Boyle.

Wow, folks, I was just giving my opinion that people shouldn’t be surprised that a frumpy looking woman can sing well. Not trying to steal her sunshine.
In fact, I specifically said that I thought she sang exceptionally well.
I’m happy for her to have her moment in the sun, contrary to what all of you seem to have gathered from my blog post.
Peace to you all.

Who got your panties in a bunch?

Of course you are right, and all of the commenters are wrong. Way to backtrack on what you originally posted once you realized which way the wind was blowing. And you sing in a band on the weekends? Wow, that makes you inherently qualified to call into question the publicity that this brave woman has garnered for herself. Jealous much?

I’m with Heather, not sure what most of you read but I don’t see the jealousy. She makes a good point. I thought she sang quite well but at the same time I don’t think this would be a story if she had a better sppearance. That being said, I can think of a number of very successful musicians that aren’t exactly a pleasure to look at.

All right, nobody is trying to soil Miss Boyle. She is an exceptional singer, I think so, and so does Heather, she says it in her post. But you gotta admit, nobody expected such a good voice to come from her. It seemed Heather was trying to say that it’s sad that so many people expect somebody to be a bad singer because they’re unattractive. The two have no correlation. I did like seeing Boyle up there, singing and getting such a good response.

I can think of far more attractive people who can’t sing at all that get massive amounts of recognition for being “singers”. Maybe instead of letting appearances dictate out attitudes towards people we should judge them based on the standards by which offer their creative output.

Heather, I understand your point.

I think you might have missed why this is such a big deal. Everyone had a preconceived notion of Susan’s ability – based solely on her appearance. That’s what the excitement is about.

No one was expecting a good performance from Susan Boyle. Cameras panned to audience members who were shaking their heads and laughing, with a look of “Oh no, this is going to be bad” on their faces. Piers and Simonl were smirking. Simon rolled his eyes when Susan said that she wanted to be a professional singer.

When Susan belted out the first line of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, the audience collectively rose to their feet. It was electrifying. It was inspiring. It was emotionally uplifting. The crowd remained standing until the end, and then applauded emphatically.

In the span of 10 seconds, their minds – and their mouths – were wide open.

Every once in a while we need to be reminded that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

If the point was our societal prejudices, then why introduce the second story concept of: “She seems to be, although “I Dreamed a Dream” is not the most vocally challenging song. It has only about an octave range and has been a typical middle school talent show selection since Les Miz first hit back in the 1980s. Let’s hear her crank out some Celine Dion range and difficulty.” Why was this section necessary to make that point. And Steve, Jeff and Nick, are your opinions influenced by Heather’s bio photo?

I heard Susan sing and it was wonderful and so inspiring. I think your comments are with out merit. Susan is a very reserved person,that has never been in the spotlight and this is so up lifting for her and the rest of the world to hear her. I hope that she will come to America to sing for us. Go for it Susan!!!!!!!!!!

“Let’s hear her crank out some Celine Dion range and difficulty.”
I have a better idea Heather. Lets hear you crank out “some Celine Dion range and difficulty” on Youtube.

We’re waiting.

Let’s see….

Susan Boyle – Overnight international sensation
Heather Warlick – Blogger for NewsOK

Any questions?

It’s a feel good story and I think its being used as an example that people are willing to embrace a not so pretty person. I agree many people have talents, but it does take guts to go on a show and do it in front of an audience, judges and nation wide tv. There’s some people on these shows that aren’t extraordinarily talented, but the public goes nuts over them because they can identify with them. Ordinary people can make it. I do agree that American Idol isn’t really a true singing talent contest because they put just as much emphasis on looks and promoting them as they do their singing ability. Susan Boyle will fade out in a few weeks, let her have her 15 mins of fame and hopefully it will start a new trend… people will look at their true talents and abilities and not their looks.

She appears to have perfect pitch. She sings on key a capella which is more than many of our most famous recording
“artists” can do. She produces a good sound over her not-remarkable, except for its faultlessness, one octave range. And neither you nor i know whether she can accomplish all this over two or three octaves. OK, probably not, but I can understand every word she says despite her being a Brit. It’s usually a blessing that most of our recording stars are drowned out by the instrumental tracks, because you can’t understand what they’re saying anyway. I often think one of the blessings of opera is that you don’t know what they’re saying either, only that they’re saying it magnificently. Ease off on Susan Boyle. She has more poise with less immediately apparent reason than you or I are ever likely to have.

Oops, I just realized she’s a Scot not a Brit. Perhaps that’s why I found her easier to understand than soem of the other English dialects.

Heather, obviously you really don’t understand music. that song in your eyes is not difficult those of us that understand music see it much different. It is more then just the song. Maybe you should just go back to blogging about decorating or something you might know because when it comes to music you missed the mark and we have just voted you off.

Five bucks says all the yahoos on here getting their nose bent out of shape wouldn’t have said a word if this wasn’t a newsok blog. I’ll never understand people’s obsession to bring down anything remotely related to newsok. Pathetic. Of course, I don’t expect any of you to be able to grasp that, considering you got lost trying to comprehend a 3 paragraph post. The point of the post is “hey guess what, ugly people can sing – DUH!”

“Not to be a crank …….” but you are!

It’s sour grapes, all right.
If you want to criticize the entertainment and news industry, by all means do so.
The frenzy in the British (and, to a lesser extent US) media about British ‘reality’ star (now deceased) Jade Goody is a prime example of this…or the feeding frenzy around Anna Nicole.
Despite their tragic ends, they were more famous for BEING rather than doing anything.
The same can’t be said for Susan Boyle.
Most people identify with her because they see someone they can identify with, who seems to be part of their world.
Finally, Celine Dion? REALLY?
Dion represents all that is wrong in popular music during the past 15 years.
We are subject to these so called “divas” who over emote and over sing constantly now (witness what effect this has had on American Idol and other music talent shows). It’s wretched excess, accent on wretched.
Ms. Boyle did not oversing, but you are obviously so conditioned to hearing singers like these-and using them as the gold standard of “talent” that you demean someone who doesn’t fit into your rigid idea of what constitutes true talent.
Finally, you’re also judging her based upon ONE single performance. You have no idea what else she can do based upon that.
Wait a month or so, and then you might have a little more credibility in your (so far) unfounded criticisms.
Until then, it’s 100% sour grapes.

This lady’s performance is a great success. Her voice is superior to many current successful recording artists. Let’s face it; no one initially expect anything positive. You could see it on their faces. Some even rolled their eyes when she said who she would like to be as successful. Upon hearing the lady sing that first sung this song in New York, Ms. Boyles was just as good. My hat is off to her and I wish her the best.

I am unable to comprehend how anyone could be negative against this lady. If you can’t top her skill level; please have the courtesy to not critize. Only critize if you can do better!

For goodness sake, the woman did a great job, and don’t tell me the song was not tough to sing. The way she held her notes, the clearity of her notes… Unless you can get out there and do better, leave her alone!!

she was great, leave it at that!

To Heather. Nice try! You’ve triggered more than 50 comments. Next time write about how Paula Abdul is the greatest AI judge and you will get thousands of replies…

Hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I personally like a good rags to riches story.

It is unfortunate Heather that your few good points here (paragraph one) have been overlooked by most readers because your concluding paragraph annoyed 98% of all readers.

Susan Boyle does Celine Dion on Larry King. Video is on CNN site.

The nexus with Susan’s appearance is not that “plain” people don’t have talent, but that life usually deprives them of the venue in which to display it. The song that Susan selected so beautifully describes her life. “Life has killed the dream I dreamed.” She was cheated out of a lot in life, yet she has this one amazing gift. The effect she has on people is magical. Some entertainers have it, others never will. To me, Garth Brooks is simply magical – although I readily admit he is not the most gifted singer around. For another generation it was Frank Sinatra, or Elvis Presley. Thanks for helping me crystalize in my own mind why I am captivated by Susan Boyle.

By the way, Heather is a gifted singer who can sing circles around Celine Dion!

Jeff…..
your blog made no sense at all. You are just running off at your mouth. I read it twice and couldn’t find any sense of it at all. What are you talking about and how did Anna Nicole come into this?

I don’t see why everyone is making such a big deal of her. Yes, she can sing. But so can a lot of other people. We don’t make such big deals out of other people. Look at the contestants on American Idol….Adam Lambert for one. He can really sing. The judges are blown away with his performances every week. He gets standing ovations. You don’t see him getting invited to “Oprah”. Why not? She became an overnight sensation because of her appearance….big deal, the ugly lady can sing. If she was pretty and petite she would not have made such an impact on everyone. She would just be another person with a good voice. I don’t get what the big deal is……