Joe Soucheray: She's [Susan Boyle] not lovely? The goosebumps say otherwise.

St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | 04/18/2009 | Joe Soucheray

[reformedliberal]

We are all starved for authenticity.

American Idol is not about talent. It is about a marketable pop star package, aimed at the 12-30 demographic. It is brilliant in concept, in that the producers have made the difficult and very expensive part of manufacturing a star into something immensely profitable for themselves.

Colwell and company will make millions off Susan Boyle, too. But this time, they simply provided a venue and the world recognized talent in the first audition, sans all marketing and packaging.

I have known a few Scots. I think Susan is a stubborn lady who will stay true to herself. Her talent is now known to the world and she will have producers fighting to showcase her, even if she is on contract to the show for some period of time. At some point, she will realize that she is the product and hopefully, will be able to produce herself once this contract expires. My advice to Simon, et al: be very honest and very nice to Ms. Boyle. She doesn't need you.

[Lets Be Frank]

Her Cry Me a River is beautiful. Different in style, but remarkable.

I love moments like this, when we get shaken from our jaded life views.

[SE Mom]

Perfectly expressed.

I watched an interview with her and her answer to how all this attention made her feel was “humbled, very humbled”...

Susan reminds us that the little voices of doubt, the small tugs of conscience telling us there is more than we see in the world are, in fact, true.

[avacado]

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

[bgill]

Like you, I cry every time I listen to her. She is lovely and charming. A Scotsman would do well to give her a second look.

[aruanan]

But I don't watch "American Idol,'' other than to glimpse it while passing through a room, and I have never been alerted to or been sent a clip from "American Idol,'' which suggests to me that here in America, our amateurs have a needy sheen of entitlement.

Or that folks like Susan Boyle or Paul Potts have already been weeded out on account of their looks. They'll allow a few people on who are truly bad* so that there is some "entertainment" in watching the judges trash them, but I don't think they want to be put in the position of having to judge someone who doesn't fit the mold as far as looks but who is truly excellent in talent. If they vote against such a contestant, they'd be accused of judging based on superficialities. If the audience votes against them, it would be guilty of judging based on superficialities and the producers don't want to endanger their financial interests by putting themselves into a position of threatening to make their television audience look shallow (though Friends certainly prospered in spite of this, but it didn't make anyone look mean).

*William Hung--but have we EVER seen any act like Fabia or the Michael Jackson-singing monkey on AI?

[MuttTheHoople]

I've heard rumors that Simon Cowell KNEW she had this kind of talent, and made her up as frumpy as possible just for that effect. However, even if it WAS true, who (or precisely, WHO) put it in Cowell's mind to pick this beautiful young lady. I think the Lord was doing two things here:

- He was rewarding one of His servants for "Honoring Thy Mother and Father", ie, giving up singing to take care of her Mum and Dad.

-He uses the foolish to confound the wise. He chose David, a young small teenager to rule Israel and to be a direct ancestor of Christ. He also made this plain Scottish woman the most popular singer in the world (after only one week), while thousands of young, hungry, self-absorbed musicians, singers, and actors fight, scratch, and claw to become famous.

[US Navy Vet]

The 2 biggest stories of last week
1. Tea Parties nationwide AND
2. Susan Boyle

Who says there is not HOPE left?!

[comps4spice]

I have watched that video 7 or 8 times since yesterday (first time), but I’ve shared it with friends and family alike.

I think Susan Boyle would be from fly-over country if she were from the USA—and the coastal and urban elites would never see her. They are probably the ones most uncomfortable by this phenomenon.

[aruanan]

Anyone have a link that can get around the “too many HTTP redirects” and be used on www.keepvid.com to download the BGT episode?

[thesearethetimes...]

SE Mom posted - “Susan reminds us that the little voices of doubt, the small tugs of conscience telling us there is more than we see in the world are, in fact, true.”

BUMP!

[AHerald]

I've heard rumors that Simon Cowell KNEW she had this kind of talent, and made her up as frumpy as possible just for that effect.

Cowell and the other judges have explicitly said they didn't know beforehand. Here's a brief interview in which Cowell describes the audition:

Simon Cowell recounts the Susan Boyle audition.

[Squantos]

My # 10 worked fine on keepvid.....?!??!

Not understanding yer post ?

[aruanan]

Then she began to sing. And we begin to see the image of her that God sees. The REAL her, the beautiful her. In her song, we saw into her soul and found something altogether different there. Suddenly her dowdyness was invisible. It was as if she had been covered over by something that now made her beautiful to look at.

The first thing I thought was "jeers to cheers in four seconds" then "...man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

[Mr. Jeeves]

They'll allow a few people on who are truly bad* so that there is some "entertainment" in watching the judges trash them, but I don't think they want to be put in the position of having to judge someone who doesn't fit the mold as far as looks but who is truly excellent in talent.

Look, this is the America who just elected Obama based almost entirely on looks and teleprompter presence. Simon has always been quite honest that American Idol is more than a raw talent competition - they are looking for someone who has the whole package and can make lots of money selling records to imbeciles. Good voice + good looks beats great voice + no looks hands down...same way it works in the real world.

[kjam22]

I just listened to her version of “Cry Me A River”. This lady can REALLY REALLY sing. WOW

[PUGACHEV]

Take nothing away from her, she is very talented, but what impressed me was her determination. Talent only gets you so far. Many people have great gifts and waste them, others have lesser talent and succeed: the difference is the discipline to focus and work hard to apply yourself. Ms. Boyle did not just wake up one day and start singing like that; she has had training, and she has worked very hard to move from note to note and hit each spot on. That's what really impressed me: she kept he dream in spite of so many shortcomings that would have discouraged anyone else.

[Bigh4u2]

I just went to that site.

What’s with ‘Whoopi’s dirty look’ video that was pulled?

This woman not only can sing in pitch, but her timing and expression are both brilliant.

I’m a grown man, and her performance and story made me tear up.

[Bigh4u2]

“she has had training”

Actually, if you read her story, she hasn’t had any formal training.

She started singing when she was 12 years old at home and in church, as well as some ‘karaoke’ in her town.

[aruanan]

Not understanding yer post ?

Well, I tried the #10 link in keepvid.com and I got what I've always gotten with every single one of the Susan Boyle vids: a download error message of "too many HTTP redirects." I was able to download the Cry Me a River youtube video but not any of the BGT ones. This is the case whether I'm on the T1 connection in the lab or at home.