The Susan Boyle Factor...

[jaybee82]

Susan Boyle

So, Susan Boyle wowed the judges of ITV1's Britain's Got Talent this week with a quite amazing voice, but many of us today are transfixed on aesthetics and actual talent often comes a distant second. Is it better to be attractive and vacuous than unattractive and interesting?...Are they even mutually exclusive?!

[SeanMacGabhann]

The whole thing smacks of something very unpleasant. A bit like everyone coming to have a gawp at John Merrick. And I'm not saying she looks like the Elephant Man but the way people are patronising her suggests a lot of people think she is well on the way. If I was her I would be well hacked off

[Jah Lush]

Media circus, column inches. TV ratings = bullshit.

[Cassius]

Susan who?

[jaybee82]

Clearly the tabloids are pulling the strings here, but as unfortunate as it sounds if she does get a record deal (and with how fickle people can be) I can see her having a very short shelf life. Cassius, it may be worth getting on YouTube and looking her up - it really was quite a remarkable performance.

[Jah Lush]

The only person who's going to make any money out of this crock of shit is Simon Cowell.

[HonaloochieB]

I agree with people who have 3expressed reservations, but as the SexPistols once remarked 'noone is innocent' I'm pretty sure that the woman in question is aware that she is being patronised/set up but also that she stands to earn a few quid out of it.

Her shelf life will be short but after that the club clrcuit will be hers for the taking.

It doesn't make the self-seving Simon any less odious but if she grabs an opportunity who am I to say her nay?

[fiskaroo]

the media are just looking to step into Jade Goody's not even cold shoes.........

[KalamityKel]

I dont get what all the fuss is about... she has a voice... some people consider her to not "have the look"

What about those unfortunates out there that have the looks but not the voice and are openly humiliated on such shows? Does it not work both ways too? Both produce ratings even if those who are curious to see what all the fuss is about add to the ratings too.

Ok I'm talking rubbish now so I'll shurrup :-|

[sophiesofa]

I didn't think she sounded that great and I don't understand what all the hype is about. Sure she was good but there are far better around. Well done to her though.

[Mikecg]

I think that the world focuses too much on what people look like colour race creed religeon wonky eyes bald head gammy leg or a hair lip for me that is unimportant and the media have jumped on it, I really do think that it is a case of oh look its a plain looking woman with a really good voice lets bypass the voice and focus on the obvious. So what, next.

[matthew123]

I've listened to the song by both Susan Boyle and Elaine Page (who she wished to be like), and Susan Boyle is a country mile better... so I don't think people should so quickly begrudge her success.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

What has looks got to do with voices? Mick Jagger, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Mick Hucknall, Seal, and lots of other artists are not what most people would call 'Beautiful' but they had huge success. I think Susan will make money in concerts, musicals and probably singing for disney pixar films, I don't think she will make money being a pop star wearing lyrca but somehow I get the feeling that is not the field she wants to pursue anyway!

[Keef]

Only thing I've seen of BGT was that kid who sang Michael Jackson the other night. The kid was genuinely amazing, and you could see the ? signs in Simon Cowel's eyes!

[Andystar]

Ok, which idiot is buying bootleg copies of her cd for up to ?1000, as I have some magic beans for sale, if they want em

Idiots

[Eliza.D]

Doesn?t everyone deserve their time to shine?

We are all a bunch of cynics by nature but I was compelled to watch the you tube clip after all the hype and I thought ?good on you ?

She sang the song really well and stuck two fingers up to shallow and vacuous people who are fixated with image.

I hope she fulfils her dreams and never rues the day that she auditioned for the show.

Susan Boyle is not a wannabee starlet, she a woman with a voice and a passion to sing.

Good on her.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

HeidiHi Wrote:

What has looks got to do with voices? Mick Jagger, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Mick Hucknall, Seal, and lots of other artists are not what most people would call 'Beautiful' but they had huge success.

All the afore-mentioned are rich beyond avarice and I know many Women who think they are gorgeous, accordingly......

[David Mc]

Jah - I agree with you, even if you don't recognise me from the Forum Meets when you are often smoking 3 ft away from me outside "my building" in Canary Wharf. I've tried to "grab your eye" many a time, but you've looked straight through me like I don't exist. Permission to slap you next time? (I don't always work in the same building so am not there every day)!

Cassius: go to Google and type in "Just Fucking Google It". Be amazed.

SophieSofa - who are you?

What musical qualifications do you have??

I thought she was fantastic (in spite of what I'm about to paste below).

Mine? Well I sing in an amateur choir that has won international competitions and recorded CDs and am an enormous fan of musical theatre.

===========================================================================================

By Thomas Sutcliffe in The Independent earlier this week:

Like everyone else in the world, barring a few Somali goat herders who don't have access to YouTube, I enjoyed Susan Boyle's triumph over the dubious on Britain's Got Talent. But my real admiration is reserved for the way in which Simon Cowell crafts his apparently spontaneous dramas of ordinary Joe apotheosis.

Take this weekend's show for example, during which a little crowd-pleaser called Shaheen, pictured, turned up to prod the crowd into making that mooing noise we reserve for kittens and small children. Shortly after Shaheen had launched into an Amy Winehouse number Cowell stopped him in mid-flow. Shocked gasp from crowd. Cut to Shaheen's mother looking anguished. Was Simon really going to drop-kick a kitten into the wings?

Simon sternly asks Shaheen whether he sings anything else and Shaheen says yes, he can do a Michael Jackson number too. And, by marvellous serendipity, a recording of it just happens to be in the theatre's sound system, cued up and ready to go. Shaheen licks into the number, crowd erupts, Simon smiles and sinks the programme's hooks a little deeper into the audience.

Why did Susan Boyle's hair look more dishevelled on her big night than it did when she was doing follow-up interviews in her own home? Because it made for better television that way. Most of the acts (including many of the notional successes) are mediocre, but the pantomimes of astonishment and surprise from the judges are world-class stuff.

[KalamityKel]

David MC hardly makes ya an expert in the field ;-) :p

[AllyCat]

As much I enjoyed Susan Boyles performance, I did wonder whether there would have been such a to-do had she been what most people would deem "attractive" or maybe even just ordinary looking? Was it the fact she was a tad frumpy with mad hair and out of control eyebrows that gave her that "makes your jaw drop" factor? Is is that we just love an underdog?

[SeanMacGabhann]

Aw David Mc - that's so full of pathos! I'll be thinking of you at fag breaks today

[citizenED]

Big Sap report: there was I, on my third furtive YouTube viewing of the footage, still weeping. And I don't even like any type of theatrical singing. I am truly a lost cause.

To what ever degree it was manufactured, it was an iconic TV moment.

[Moos]

Do we now need musical credentials to have an opinion on a television show? Behave, DavidMc.

[BigPhil]

watched a re run of the show , what utter crap,

my musical credentials that qualify me to make this statement are:

I like trucks!

[SeanMacGabhann]

Now THAT's a tune Big Phil