I do not watch...

[sparkindarkness]

...the various "talent shows" blighting our televisions screens. Most of them are glorified freak shows where millions can gather to laugh and mock. Worse, they show all that is wrong with the music industry (well, a lot of what is wrong with it - there's a lot of wrong there) and why we went from being a rather dominant force in music to the insipid offerings we now have.

And I hate Simon Cowel.


And then they produce something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

And, after some obligatory minutes of open mouthed awe I don't know whether to be overjoyed or to cry. Overjoyed because she has been found and that incredible talent has been recognised.

Or be sad because, with the music industry, she is not young enough, not sexy enough and not beautiful enough for them to make her a success. Or even more sad that for so many years this talent has been unrecognised

Comments

[cuglas.livejournal.com]

Simon Cowell's production company is signing her to a contract, already. They're going to find a way to use her.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

please gods I hope so

[baranduyn.livejournal.com]

I think I watched Susan's BGT bit eleven times yesterday, so I'm part of why this video went viral.

I love it because it's such an in-your-face moment, especially for that nasty bint in the audience rolling her eyes behind far, far too much eyeliner. Here you go, you little bitch, open your ears.

It's the quality of the performance that kills me. People who've studied voice sometimes are good technicians but they haven't gotten the trick of putting real, genuine emotion into their performances. Susan is a damn fine technician...her breathing is spot-on, it's all from the diaphragm she comfortably has four or five octaves but what's important is that without Celine Dion-like hystrionics one is convinced that Susan's lived that song. She chose the perfect song, she owned that song and a producer of Les Mes in London admitted she was better than Patti fuckin' LuPone. It's now Susan's song and that's just genius.

Simon Cowell (hiss boo) has already signed her to his label, competition be damned. I think he's smart enough to understand that Beyonce-ing her would be bad; it's the contrast that works best and is interesting. I imagine she spent a fair amount of time singing to her Mum and her cat. I expect they'll smarten her up a bit but glamourizing her doesn't seem to me to be the best idea.

I haven't cried that hard and often since President Obama was elected. It's the song, the way she lives that song and makes one understand she's lived that song and that soaring, angelic voice coming out only as much as needed, no showing-off necessary. Brilliant.

I will own her first CD even if I have to send you a cheque and postage. Her voice is so delicious I could eat it with a spoon and without sauce. ;)

[solid-squid.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely. The chose an excellent song, one perfectly suited to the story she gives at the start about having wanted to be a singer but never gotten the chance.

Also, the amount of emotion she was able to get into the song without it causing her voice to crack was phenomenal. When they did contests for getting into musicals (where they had to sing precisely this kind of song) the contestants had so much trouble doing this, but she just walked in and it was there. Fantastic.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It is so veyr true to her

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's shocking isn't it when it suddenly hits you? Such an amazing surprise

What gets me is she performed so incredibly and she's not from any formal singing background - has she had any voice training or anything? It's just perfect. The siong, the performance the emotion - she has owned that song.

Glamorising won't work and won't be her, part of the contrast is amazing and she has character.

[baranduyn.livejournal.com]

What gets me is she performed so incredibly and she's not from any formal singing background - has she had any voice training or anything?

She said she'd had training since she was twelve, though I think that may have been for her church choir. She sings in the choir and does karaoke and has a cut on an obscure charity disc for her village.

Apparently (or they were lying) half the village knew she had a great voice they just looked at her appearance and thought "Nothing will come of it". Also, she looked after her Mum until two years ago.

I just loved the way she locked eyes with Simon, Amanda and Piers in turn. When Simon said she was a tiger I don't think he was half wrong and she surprised him so he almost managed a real facial expression, botox be damned.

I just think the nerve it took her to sign up, show up and do her best is beyond belief. She's I guess been bullied by the locals most of her life and had very little emotional support, unlike the wanna-be Josephs on Any Dream Will Do, who all have fan clubs and half-mad stage mums. She put on her nicest dress and had a bit of a brush up and off she went. That's amazing, almost as amazing as her voice. What nerve that took. Had she failed I can't imagine the local bullies would have let up on her one bit.

I think I'm a fan. ;)

[solid-squid.livejournal.com]

If they don't take her on, and with the amount of attention she's getting now, she could probably be the first ever "indy" opera singer. I'd certainly buy a copy of her album anyway.

Oh, and I loved the little dance she did at the end when she got the votes XD

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I hope so - hail the power of the viral!


She's a character! A brassy, happy, powerful person :) I like her

[solid-squid.livejournal.com]

Well if nothing else, she's gotten one hell of a chance already. Elaine Page has contacted her suggesting doing a duet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/19/susan-boyle-duet-elaine-paige

[chesh.livejournal.com]

I've watched her performance over and over in the last two days, at least six times now. It still gives me shivers. She's very solid technically, but what amazes me is the charisma and power and emotion in her voice. She's cheeky and adorable when speaking, but my oh my when she sings!
I hope, dearly hope, that she does get good chances to turn this into a full-on singing career.

I'm not a huge fan of Simon, but that smile on his face kind of says it all - her voice pulls me in and I can just be there in the music with her, not wrapped up in myself for a moment.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's in my favourites list and I keep returning to it because I can't quite believe it. IF she doesn't get a singing career she would be wasted

[touchstone.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better...in some ways, being discovered later can be a good thing. She probably didn't HAVE that set of pipes 20 years ago. A voice like that, you grow into. Clarity you can have very young, but power and depth (not in the sense of pitch, but resonance) often develop over time.

Actually, someone in the YouTube comments said 'she'd be perfect for Disney movies', and they're probably right. Doing songs for movies is one of the venues that showcases singing talent without requiring everything that goes with being a stage performer. She might or might not be comfortable learning to be on stage, but even if she is, it'd be a great gig for her while she picks up those skills.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Aye, it's a mature voice that she probably didn't have has a child. It has clarity, power, depth and CHARACTER.

A voice oveR? she would be stellar for that

[sapphybelle.livejournal.com]

It bothers me that they focus so much on her appearance, as if that should have anything to do with how amazing her voice is.

[thisdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

I think (hope) that a large part of that reaction is "I shouldn't have judged her by her looks". The blond judge was right to call it a wake-up call.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I'm so annoyed by it. Who ares what singers look like? Since when did a singer's BODY matter? We can find models elsewhere - we want a VOICE here

[mel-redcap.livejournal.com]

This is why I think she would do wonders on stage. Stuff TV and popular music - put her in operas and musicals, and like Touchstone said, Disney movies! Before Phantom of the Opera, the principal singer in an opera was always the woman with the best voice... never mind if she was fifty-something with a triple helping of Great Tracts of Land, if she had the voice she could sing the part of a seventeen-year-old twiggy heroine. Most opera is still like that, and Susan Boyle would ROCK.

[thisdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

I think she has a real future on the stage. She's not rock star material, but she's perfect for just about any musical. Broadway is still very much alive, and it's still hard to got tickets for many of the shows.

I like Simon a lot more now that I have seen how smitten he was by her. He was just enchanted, and I thought he was too cynical for that.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Musicals should be battering downm her door - I'd be amazed is Les Meserables doesn't get her in for at least one - she's got the character as well as the voice