Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Boyle Effect

I imagine that by this point everyone reading this blog will have heard Susan Boyle sing on Britain's Got Talent. In just a few minutes she single-handedly proved that in order to be a good singer you don't have to have any of the outward attributes associated with stars. She also mentioned that nobody had ever given her a chance before. If she were to walk into an audition, she would probably be asked to dance, and be eliminated immediately because of not having the "look."

What will happen? Will she win and become "made over"? Or will they let her be who she is, and give her 15 minutes of fame. Perhaps she will be a real life "never been kissed" story, and the Britain's Got Talent organization will capitalize on that.

Perhaps by having someone like Susan Boyle walk into their very public lives, the people who created this show can make a major statement about the whole entertainment "industry." She is not everywoman though. She has spunk, a rather odd wit, a rather distinct character, a good sense of rhythm, good diction (at least when she sings), a natural alto voice (she could develop those low notes with a bit more training), and she has, it turns out, a great deal of stage presence when she is singing.

The beauty of this whole thing is that nobody knows where it might go. All we know is that Susan Boyle probably has more people listening to her on YouTube than Elaine Paige has, at least at this moment.

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