We've got a bit of a real live phenomenon going on just now.
I'd embed the video- but they're not allowing it yet- you have to go to the YouTube site, in order to see the whole thing about - Susan Boyle.
If you don't already know how this turns out, I won't spoil it for you.
I'll just say- the audience reaction is why- humanity is NOT headed for the ash heap.
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20 comments:
I don't know what this post is, but I'm so glad to have found your blog. Good for you!
Yeah, she's really something isn't she? And yes, love the change in the audience and judges.
Heather G
Not only was that night itself amazing, but when I watched it yesterday and then checked the (more info) box to the side -- which gives the song lyric, btw -- there was one fansite.
There are now four.
Heather G
Awesome!
That gave me chills, thanks for sharing!
I have watched this many times already since seeing it mentioned on the internet somewhere, and I could watch it many more. Huge, immediate change in the audience reaction, all to the good, and I'm glad she got the chance to be heard. Also glad that you're giving more people the chance to hear it--truly spectacular voice!
Whoa, that's a seriously beautiful thing to watch happen.
Thanks!
Hi
Yep...I'd already seen her..and made me feel tearful. What a voice! The seachange the second everyone realised she has this astonishing voice was thoroughly amusing! Well - she DID say "I'm gonna ROCK that audience". That was part of what I was finding amusing - she clearly knows full well that her appearance is against her - and is equally certain that she has this lovely voice! Well - good for her - hope she goes far!
ceridwen
And here's what she's saying to the press this morning:
"It's a challenge. Life is a challenge sometimes but this is different. And I like to test myself.
"If it all gets too much and they lock me up, I want a great big strait-jacket with spots on it. A pink one... and a big zip on the back so I can escape."
That's part of her appeal, for sure.
reminds me of a gal I knew when I lived in MN - Peggy O'Neil. She told me she loves to come out on the stage looking all frumpy and shock the hell out of the audience.
It took me the longest time to figure out what looked odd about her - the eyebrows. It's been a long time since I've seen real true eyebrows!
That was amazing. Thank you for sharing.
She has a beautiful voice, and she's a very accomplished singer. She appeared on a show where typically the singers are mediocre at best, and wowed everyone, rightfully so. What I don't understand is the sort of self-congratulatory tenor of the praises. It's as if it's more extraordinary that she's a beautiful singer because she isn't conventionally beautiful to the eye. As if the people who praise her deserve special recognition for their ordinary recognition of her musical skill.
I enjoyed seeing the smirks wiped off the judges' faces and replaced with wonder, but more than that I resented them for smirking in the first place. Arrogant judges of what is basically a popularity contest designed to mock the unskilled actually for once caught a glimpse of their own arrogance and all the beauty it could cause them to miss. This in itself doesn't herald great hope for humanity. Instead, I think it points to how much is wrong with society that so many find it shocking that people who don't look like magazine covers can be beautiful in other ways.
I wish that her skill and talent could just be appreciated, instead of burdened with all this significance because she doesn't look like a movie star.
I love that song. My kids and their friends have performed it and I always like to see it reinterprted. I hate the way they edit it to focus on the judges' reactions instead of honoring the vocalist, who deserves our attention.
BTW, in the show "I Dreamed a Dream" is sung by Fantine, a poor single mother who is working in a factory and sending all of her money to the husband and wife who have promised to raise her child for her. It is fitting that the song should be sung by someone who does not look young, fresh or glamorous.
I wept when I saw this. Susan Boyle represents everyone, represents those moments when we all took a deep breath and a leap of faith and actually believed in ourselves. Plus the chick can frikking SING. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, and I hope she does well.
Kerr- I hear what you're saying (I think) but I disagree.
Stereotyping is biological; not learned or cultural behavior. This has actually been studied in some detail by behaviorists. It exists because - it works; most often. It saves a lot of time and energy if deciding how to react to a new person. Most times.
It's "bad" - only if you are unable to change your mind when you have new information- and of course- that does happen far too often.
I knew when I first watched her that I was supposed to expect something extraordinary- but - she DOES come across as potentially one of those folks with enormous egos- way too much self esteem- and only a very moderate talent, if any. The talent shows are full of them, of course. Painful to watch, for those not addicted to schadenfreude.
Anybody truly intending to go into a career as a "professional singer" - REALLY should have done a little work on appearance. And she hadn't. Not any. It turns out, of course, that she'd been taking care of her mother for years- so it's understandable.
The audience reaction, and the judges'- is truly entirely beautiful.
In just moments- they realize; not only does she have a genius voice (exciting) - but she is NOT delusional (thank goodness!) and is a pure joy to listen to- and watch. She's odd- but wonderful; beautiful- and everybody is happy - FOR and with her. Everyone is RELIEVED to have NO reason to scorn her.
I don't watch this stuff; we don't even have a TV at the moment; but Simon is a pervasive cultural phenomenon at the moment, so I've seen clips of him elsewhere. I don't ever remember a clip showing him smiling- in pure enjoyment, and happiness. That was really something- that cranky SOB just plain loved her; she delighted him; both personally and talent-wise.
Many people were a little pleased to find out they were not quite as shallow as they feared they were. I think that's a good thing.
> too much ego
More like differently filtered, due to a difficult birth, from what I read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle
The story reminds me of one of my favorite bits from Tom Paine about opportunity:
"It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions."
Yes, what a great video! And you know, everyone had such a reaction to her "ugliness" but there are plenty of wonderful actresses and singers out there that are right on par with her. A little eyebrow plucking and some a modern dress and there you go. I maintain that we ALL could look like stars if we had personal chefs, trainers, make-up artists and masseuses 24-7. But do we want them? (Well, OK - I wouldn't mind the masseuse and the chef, lol.)
GP, what state/region are you in?
z- you mean me? Took me a while to figure it. S Minnesota; not as obvious as I thought, though not hidden, either. :-)
What really irritates me about the whole thing is that people keep referring to her as "homely". No. She is NOT. She is *average*, ordinary, a trifle plain, perhaps. I adore her apple cheeks, and her smile is simply dazzling. People need to wake up and look at the REAL people around them; not the plastic representations of people the media feeds them constantly. (Honestly, I totally prefer the "candid" shots of actors, etc. They seem like real people that way.)
Greenpa, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your assessment regarding her self confidence. Or over-confidence. I couldn't hear her speaking very well -- poor speakers on the computer just now -- but what I could hear and what her body language was telling me was more "bravado" than (real) over confidence. Her reaction to the audience reaction when she was backstage pretty much confirmed that for me. I do agree that she could come across as the blissfully ignorant untalented shmoe who thinks they're really hot stuff, but it didn't for me. Perhaps because I've had to use some of that kind of bravado to get through things before. :)
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