Susan Boyle Rocks My World
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Whenever I surf the net I’m constantly bombarded with entertainment news. And sometimes it seems like there is always some kind of cliff hanger going on with “American Idol”. I grow weary of these constant updates surrounding a show I don’t even watch. I feel sometimes as though I have to wade through these types of “bulletins” to get to the “real” news of the day. They are so unimportant next to the state of the planet!
So it was when I started seeing the headlines surrounding Susan Boyle and her appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent”. More of the same I thought as I would click past the ever growing publicity. I figured the well of news from “American Idol” had run dry for the time being and now we were being subjected to the same ho-hum entertainment drivel from the other side of the pond. Then, the other night, all that changed.
Susan Boyle answers questions from the Judges on show "Britain's Got Talent"
You see, I have been a performing musician for 35 years. I have seen a lot that convinces me it’s not what you know or how talented you are that determines the fate of your career, but who you know. There is so much crap available in music that passes for talent it is easy to become skeptical and cynical about the whole mess. When I write I am all alone. When I publish that writing you may read it and you may hate it and bombard me with hate mail. But you still don’t know ME. You know the article I’ve written. You know what I think of a certain subject, but you still don’t know me. This makes it easy to separate my ego from criticism of my writing.
When I am on stage there is no escaping performance reviews. The response is immediate. For good or for ill, you’re going to hear about it. And it is usually personal. If you have a particularly good night your ego runneth over. If you have a bad one, you just want to pack it up and escape the stage. Mix into that your feelings of how you did that night. If you thought your performance sucked, but everybody loved it, well, you’re sure you lucked out. And if you thought you did particularly well, and everybody hated it, well, you’re sure you’ll never play in this town again.
So, when I was talked into watching the video of this Susan Boyle’s performance, it was with a very cynical “ok” that I agreed. Mind you, I had not read past the headlines beyond Susan Boyle’s name so I had no idea what to expect. I watched as the camera showed this dowdy grandmother holding her microphone like she had never held one before. Her makeup and hair looked like it had been done by a neighbor while she was sitting in a vinyl chair in her kitchen chatting away about gardening, canning and her cats. I could immediately see that my assessment was shared by the audience as they snickered and made faces. Simon rolling his eyes seemed perfectly logical to me. I watched Susan respond in a cocky manner to Simon’s questions and she seemed to not notice the stir she had created in the auditorium.
And then she began to sing.
Jaws dropped and the look of disbelief on the faces of the judges must have mirrored my own. For my friends were looking at me with a told –you-so kinda look. As Susan climbed higher and the power in her voice became evident I saw the audience get to its feet and applaud. I found tears rolling down my face but I could not stop them. She was magnificent. The audience applauded her all the way through her performance and I knew I had just witnessed an incredible display; not only of Susan Boyle’s breathtaking talent, but of God’s sense of humor. Everyone was stunned that such a beautiful and powerful voice could have come from such a plain package. And the joke was on all of us. Now, we understood where Susan’s confidence had come from. And now it was time to eat crow. I must say that every judge did a wonderful job of doing just that. The entire audience, including me, had just been given special dispensation to hear an incredible talent that had been hidden for many decades.
Susan Boyle hits the high notes
I came away feeling wonderful. I came away a little awed, and maybe a little humbler. I still cannot watch this video without shedding a few tears. There seems to be so little in this world that surprises us anymore. So much in this world feeds our cynicism. If I am not the last person on this planet to have seen this performance, and you are, you owe it to yourself to watch this. It will touch you in the same manner it has touched so many others. Whether Susan Boyle wins the blue ribbon or not she is already a winner. And she has made all of us winners, all of us whose hearts were branded when we witnessed her blessed performance.
Note: This video has been viewed over 73 million times as of this writing.
Susan Boyle
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Susan Boyle in the News
- Susan Boyle Remains on TopNew York Times8 minutes ago
The unlikely queen of album sales, Susan Boyle continues to hold court atop this week’s chart with “I Dreamed a Dream” at 527,000 copies.
- Susan Boyle Set to Top the Billboard 200 for a Third WeekBillboard1 second ago
Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" is on course to spend a third week atop the Billboard 200.
- Susan Boyle's Dream in Her Own Words: Part 3TV Guide1 second ago
Susan Boyle's fame could have ended once Britain's Got Talent wrapped up, but the inspirational singer instead recorded a debut album that broke U.S. sales records in its first week. To top it all off, Boyle is gearing up for her exclusive TV Guide Network concert special, I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story (Sunday, Dec. 13 at 8/7c). Boyle sat down with the creators of the special to ...
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Comments
Susan Boyle Rocks Da Housssse!!! I like her too - she's got a great voice, but I also just love the "Haha, told ya so" of it all. Thanks for the read!
Great Hub! This woman is AMAZING...
Great hub! She is very good and teaches the lesson of 'don't judge a book by its cover'! Good hub! You have got my vote in the HubNuggets!
--John
Wow she so good! Thanks for this hub. I really hope this makes it to a HubNugget.
The views is now beyond 41 million views. Its just 10 million views!
In my opinion, enough cannot be said about this amazing woman. If she's the last person I ever hear sing in my life, I'll die happy.
I had the same reaction when I heard her voice. My mouth fell open, I got goosebumps, and the tears started. I can listen to her sing every day and the tears will fall every time. If she ever tours America I know where I'm going. There simply aren't enough words to convey my overwhelming love of her voice.
Thanks for sharing, and welcome to HubPages.
I agree completely. I don't watch these shows typically, but her performance brought tears to may eyes, and I've wathced it dozen times.
Came across her a few weeks ago. Had to pass her video on. She's fantastic. I would see a musical with her for sure. I'm surprised she wasn't discovered earlier in life! Wonderful review of her performance.
Having watched all of about 15 minutes of "Idol", I too disregarded the hype from across the pond. I did finally watch and was amazed. She seems to have such a cute personality too.
Susan Boyle Rocks My World
Very nice hub. I really enjoyed it.
Hi John, what a beautiful way of sharing about Susan Boyle. Indeed God has a sense of humor! And it makes me smile knowing that seemingly "plain packages" have great gifts inside. :-)
Congratulations! This hub is a hubnugget nominee. I invite you to follow this link and see for yourself: http://hubpages.com/hub/Gourmet-HubNuggets
Remember to vote and round up all your friends to vote for your hub. Winners get a chance to be part of the Hubpages newsletter and your hub will get wonderful exposure. Isn't that wonderful? What are you waiting for? Go John go! :-) Stay wonderfully happy!
P.S. By the way, I just came from performing a musical play entitled Siddhartha: A Musical Journey to Enlightenment. You are so right in saying that we get immediate response whether we like it or not. :-) And we just have to deal with it...in a positive way! LOL Nice to meet you here on Hubpages!
You very aptly describe how I felt when I watched the video! It was amazing!
I loved her cocky manner and little smile from the first... I could not understand what the audience was so upset about.
Great hub about The great woman. Thank you.
Hi John,
One vote from me for this hub to be a hubnugget. Good luck!
Thanks so much Francia!
She is an incredible talent and I think we will be hearing a lot from Susan Boyle whether or not she wins "Britain's Got Talent." She's already "won" on the world's stage.
Although already old, Susan Boyle have a very good talent, he stated the best pass to the next audition.
Well done..
" it’s not what you know or how talented you are that determines the fate of your career, but who you know."
This is sadly the case. But it works for both directions--some musicians, like me, face an uphill battle. I've constantly learned new stuff, improved my sound, etc, etc. I'm driven to succeed by my lack there of.
And most major record labels aren't particularly interested in what's good, but what sells.
"When I am on stage there is no escaping performance reviews. The response is immediate. For good or for ill, you’re going to hear about it. "
Yep, this is what prevents me from doing many live appearences. I don't play my instrumentation live at any given point in the process yet, so most generally I either have to hope the best and win over the audience with charisma or choose to skip the invite to the spotlight.
"But you still don’t know ME. You know the article I’ve written. You know what I think of a certain subject, but you still don’t know me. This makes it easy to separate my ego from criticism of my writing."
Great attitude. I myself share the same sentiments.
Nice article, and very thought provoking...I too couldn't believe her voice! Talk about a case to never judge a book by its cover!
G|M
P.S.
Here's a link to a vid on Yahoo: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4875451/12996056
You can try and embed it and forego YouTube, but it seems some Hubber's haven't upgraded their browsers and at times Yahoo can just show up as a black video.
i need your's opinion about this system to learn to sing like Susan Boyle alturl.com/9rho is it good?
Lorenlevin, Hi! I would not know if this were a good course or not. I have never had voice training. My first instinct would be that any course you buy would only be as good as the effort you put into it. Having said that, I believe there is probably no substitute for a voice coach. A voice coach will keep you accountable and be able to give you immediate feedback. Sorry i couldn't be more helpful. John Z.
I wish to do obeisance before the Hubnugget Gods for selecting my humble offering. It was great fun! Thank you!
Thank you for this post. I don't watch TV and rarely follow musicians or buy music. But when I saw the classy behaviour of a genuine lady in the face of contempt and ridicule, I knew she was a winner at life before she ever opened her mouth. The jeers of those watching showed their lack of understanding of human value, as they judged a life which is based on reality not marketing. And I too cried when I saw how utterly she demolished the sceptics as her voice soared around the world. I hope those watching bowed their heads in shame for their shallowness and I hope even more that this great lady is given an opportunity to make music professionally. It will be music I will buy and treasure, both for its beauty and for the reminder of how to live an authentic life. Susan, we are humbled.
We live in a world that, more than ever, expects "polished appearance" and artificially enhanced beauty in fields that, really, shouldn't require it. It's one thing when the contest is about being a fashion model. It's another when we expect "the right look" from people for whom it shouldn't matter much. Even when someone goes missing, it's the ones who look prettiest who get the big news coverage much of the time. As a result of these increasingly shallow attitudes, genuine talent often doesn't even count any more.
I think the tears and goosebumps experienced all around the world (when Susan Boyle surprised everyone) came from the sudden, sobering awareness of how misguided so many people seem to have become these days. When suddenly faced with genuine talent, I think a lot of those tears were for a society that has, in many ways, lost its way. A lot of the goosebumps were because so many were reminded that genuine talent really does exist (when, much of the time, we have seen that "great success" so often goes to people of mediocre talent and great flair for either looking polished or keeping our attention through shocking us, or otherwise less-than-talent ways).
I really enjoyed reading your article on Susan.I wish i could sum up my own feelings about her;but i thnk plenty of people have done so already.Instead opened up a Susan Boyle fan site.
After years of crap that is called music and talent Susan is so refershing on many different levels.
I have this already saved on YouTube and watch it a lot. She's the poster child for all us who have a life that's killed our dreams.. and she has the talent to back her up, and picked out the perfect song for that competition. Bravo Susan.. (I'm in her FaceBook fan club, too) I'm such a sap..she doesn't call, she doesn't write....! LOL
Those before me have said it all so wonderfully--and I fully AGREE! Susan is GREAT! Thank's for fixing it up for us so very well!
I found out about Susan Boyle from a friend sending me an email, and I too was blown away. I was clapping and cheering for her in my living room as I watched the video. She is wonderful! And, I love the fact that she's not '19'...I mean, hurray for the woman of 48 years old! Cheers for her to get out there and show people she indeed has talent. She's my hero! I'd like to think in a way that I am somewhat like her...oh, not the voice. I mean, I sing, but not like her....but just the little things we all know we do well, but they are not so obvious to others just by looking at us. I wish she would have won the contest in Brittian. I believe if they had the singing and the dancing in seperate catagories, there is no doubt she would have won for the best presentation of her song. "I Dreamed The Dream" fit her perfectly and she nailed it. I plan on buying her CD when it's available. I've already joined her fan club on her web site and ordered a T-Shirt. Go Susan! Thanks for this great Hub.
christine almaraz says:
8 months ago
I love the title of your hub, it make me laugh. I saw that video and I was blown away too. She's great. It's true that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Hope she finds all the success she deserves. Great article.