Britain's Got Talent

[josephga]

Susan came in second place in the finals, behind winners Diversity, a street dance crew

[Isis123]

I think there is a suggestion that the producers were gently pushing people to vote for the dance crew, Diversity. That way, they got two winners - Diversity and Susan Boyle.

 

Of course, Diversity will be forgotten before too long but Susan Boyle was always guaranteed a good career. The British papers say this morning she will earn $8 million (or think of any figure you want) in a year. Probably wrong but she was the real winner.

[+ Gar1eth]

I normally don't read threads about pop culture, and I have never watched American Idol or shows like it, but I happened upon this one thread, and after reading the enthusiastic comments from everyone, I decided to play the youtube video. I had never heard the song (which shows you how oblivious I am to popular music), but I thought the performance was sensational. How could that voice have gone completely undiscovered for so long?

 

"I Dreamed A Dream" is not really popular music. It's from the musical Les Miserables--"Les Miz" to those somewhat in the know. Admittedly it's a popular song for those who like modern "pop rock" musicals, but it's very possible the average guy on the street might not know it.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

A Third Thought

 

Even if it is indeed very nice to be able to see a simple ordinary woman to get such a reaction from people who would not usually give a standing ovation to a singer looking like her, this all huge success made me reflect.

 

Listening to her singing with my eyes shut and pretending not to know who she actually is and/or looks like, makes me react like: "oh, it's a nice voice" but nothing spectacular and/or unique to deserve such an ovation.

The fact that she looks like a village chubby middle-aged lady is definitely a BIG part of the reaction. And for some reason it disturbs me instead of making me smile with a little tear in the corner of my eye like most people, here and everywhere else.

 

It makes me think that pity and emphaty for her state and looks make people react in order to feel a bit at peace with themselves, as in "oh my God, you are so ugly and you have a nice voice, but even if you are not extraordinary I will treat you like you are because you are ugly!".

 

I am pretty sure that if she was a beautiful young blonde lady she would have been applauded, praised, but definitely not with those reactions on this clip as they were listening to a young Withney Houston for the first time.

 

Her case makes me think to Andrea Bocelli. A nice voice, nothing special, that became in one day the star of a similar (even if much less publicized) TV program in Italy about 15 years ago, and shortly after a HUGE worldwide star, mainly because of him being blind.

If Bocelli wasn't blind of course he would have never become what he became.

 

The money machine begins to work immediately in the back as soon as these "bizarre" people appear in the market.

It is obvious to me that everything was accurately "prepared". Do you really believe that Simon and the other two were so "surprised" by her performance?...

Come on!

They (producers, organizers etc) knew perfectly how nice (I can not say spectacular!) her voice was and created the right atmosphere to make her an immediate Star.

The ugly ducking with a little swan inside makes people react.

 

And helping to prepare such a reaction makes people think how nice these shows are, how wonderful Simon and the others are, how blessed we are to witness that people love a beautiful voice and how fair we are to praise a pop/musical singer even if she doesn't look like one.

Bullshit!

People loved her because in their mind she is a freak. She is not supposed to have a nice voice and be part of the mechanism, but being a freak yes, she deserves that and she can be "admitted" to stardom.

 

Yes, she will be famous, she will definitely not be looked anymore as the ugly village dumb, she will become rich, most probably she will soon find many men who want to kiss her.

 

But for some reason I have a bit of a sad/bitter feeling about all this.

 

 

Wow--seems to be a pretty bitter post. My response is 2 fold. While it is not always the finest human trait--although it can be--humans are pretty much designed to react to beauty. However I would think that that is same trait allows us to respond to nature and great works of art.

 

As for Ms. Boyle, my ears are probably not as discriminating as yours. I think if you asked the average person--who likes this type of music--they would say she was great. In fact I think I might prefer her rendition to Patti Lupone's who was thought to be good enough to be cast as Fantine in the original West End Production of Les Miz. And in fact--at least publically--Ms. Lupone thought Ms. Boyle was pretty good too

 

http://broadwayworld.com/article/STAGE_TUBE_Boyle_Wows_LuPone_CBS_Early_Show_20090416

 

If Ms Boyle can act, I think she has just as much talent as many popular Broadway Stars, and I would be happy to see her in a musical at some point in the future.

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

Boy, was she nervous at the very beginning. Understandably. I wish she would pick other composers, however, just to hear her do something different.

 

Did you mean different types of composers? The only reason I asked is that "I Dreamed a Dream" is not by Andrew Lloyd Webber but by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boubil.

 

Gman

[Guest rohale]

With 4 million people phoning in to decide the winner for "Britain's Got Talent". The people overwhelmingly chose the 10 piece dance act from East London known as "Diversity" over Blackburn's very own, Susan Boyle. I tip my hat off to the group as they deservedly earned the crown of Britain's best talent. Some people question whether the group will become forgotten before too long. I tend to disagree with that whole assessment. This is a dance crew that only formed just over two years ago and now they alongside Susan Boyle, are the most talked about entertainainers in Britain, today. Very much like Susan Boyle, they are at the beginning of what promises to be an interesting career.

 

Alongside Susan Boyle and Diversity other names deserved to be recognised as well. The young singer from Swansea, Shaheen Jaragholi seems to have made an everlasting impression upon the British public, musn't forget to mention the self taught dancer from Birmingham, Aidan Davis who was absolutely brilliant in hip-hop style. Also the young perfectionist, Hollie Steele who has a wonderful voice. Offcoure the other dance crew who were just as impressive and they are known as "Flawless". Hopefully some of these performers, if not all of them will have a fair shot at stardom over time.

[+ Gar1eth]

With 4 million people phoning in to decide the winner for "Britain's Got Talent". The people overwhelmingly chose the 10 piece dance act from East London known as "Diversity" over Blackburn's very own, Susan Boyle. I tip my hat off to the group as they deservedly earned the crown of Britain's best talent. Some people question whether the group will become forgotten before too long. I tend to disagree with that whole assessment. This is a dance crew that only formed just over two years ago and now they alongside Susan Boyle, are the most talked about entertainainers in Britain, today. Very much like Susan Boyle, they are at the beginning of what promises to be an interesting career.

 

Alongside Susan Boyle and Diversity other names deserved to be recognised as well. The young singer from Swansea, Shaheen Jaragholi seems to have made an everlasting impression upon the British public, musn't forget to mention the self taught dancer from Birmingham, Aidan Davis who was absolutely brilliant in hip-hop style. Also the young perfectionist, Hollie Steele who has a wonderful voice. Offcoure the other dance crew who were just as impressive and they are known as "Flawless". Hopefully some of these performers, if not all of them will have a fair shot at stardom over time.

 

Don't forget Natalie Okri

 

Gman