RSSYouTube, Susan Boyle, and a slap at snark
By Angela Gunn | Published April 16, 2009, 10:08 AM
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra gathered last night at Carnegie Hall to play an original Tan Dun piece composed specifically for the global competition that brought the group together. It's lovely. But I'm willing to bet that instead you were listening to a heretofore obscure singer absolutely flatten a roomful of doubters with a show tune.
Like a lot of us, I've been watching the Susan Boyle video repeatedly this week, trying to get at what it means for the Internet to have taken to heart, as the Britain's Got Talent audience took to heart, a middle-aged Scotswoman with ungroomed eyebrows and a frumpy Best Dress and a voice that seems to have broken something that needed breaking in hearts around the world.
And I think I'm onto it. It's not only her voice, though were it only her voice that would be enough -- a gorgeous, full, confident instrument that did with the difficult "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables what most of us couldn't do with "Happy Birthday." It's not only that we in the audience saw a star-is-born event that's better and funnier and sadder than anything we've seen in the movies. It's not only the sense that if this woman could step out from an exceedingly ordinary life and be extraordinary, and not only silence her detractors but make them love her, we might too (though that's close to the point). It's not the canny song choice, pairing a song about a woman whose life is a shambles with... well, a 47-year-old unemployed spinster who lives alone with her cat.
It's seeing those damned critics shut down, especially the judging panel -- reduced to irrelevance in the face of majestic talent. I think that the video of Miss Boyle has taken off (and how, with 19.5 million plays and counting over 21 duplicate videos on YouTube since Saturday) because it feels wonderful for anyone who's ever felt uncool and unattractive to see something sincere and beautiful knock the snark right out of The Beautiful People Who Run Stuff. When I replay the video, I'm listening to Miss Boyle, but I'm watching these three plasticky judges go from condescension to surprise to bated-breath joy in under five minutes. Even Simon Cowell, that bitchy gym-ratty thing, can't manage to do much more than grin by the end. And it feels good to see -- to watch the judging stooges having a genuine experience, and to have it ourselves, and to feel that the homely-but-talented people we are all inside are being, for a few moments, less oppressed by figures of beauty.
They're maddening, judges like those. Like most bloggers, Cowell's capable of original work -- not only are these shows his creation, but he's got a record label of his own. But his bread and butter is tart, terse, ego-deflating commentary on someone else's work. That makes him -- wait for it, friends -- a blogger who happens to use the airwaves as his WordPress.
And like bloggers or certain types of journalists when under attack, the other two judges on the panel last week retreated into an I'm-just-reporting-the-facts attitude -- ooh, the audience was against you at first! -- when their prejudices ran aground of the facts. The nasty audience behavior was real, but the judges on the show's panel could also barely contain their disdain when she stepped up. And it feels so nice to see the condescending hipster-blogger "No" wilt in the face of a big, inescapable "Yes" in the key of G. Online, that rejection of cynicism seems to have struck a nerve with literally tens of thousands of commenters on YouTube, Twitter, and elsewhere.
Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly, with whose opinions I so rarely agree as to make the event probably worth a story all by itself, writes that for her, Miss Boyle's performance "reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang to my eyes how desperately I need that corrective..." Sure, and let me take the thought a step farther. The performance, and the reactions we see to it on the video, reframe how we consume beauty in our yeah-impress-me-now-double-that popular culture, and that's due in no small part to the profusion of No rather than Yes. Which, in turn, is something bad we did to ourselves with the Net.
The Internet has provided both marvelous opportunities for creative folk to bring their art to the people, and unprecedented power for random buttheads to tear those folk down. What are SMS-driven shows like Britain's Got Talent and American Idol but a way to machine down the old, weird world of creativity -- which, if you take a look at images of artists and performers of decades past, has a tendency to manifest itself in some of the planet's weirder-looking humans -- into focus-groupped, retail-ready packages?
And since as creativity goes, so goes the culture, how many of the millions who have watched Miss Boyle are yearning in their own lives for a bolt of truth to cut through the noise and snark and misunderstandings and disdain and he-says-she-says talking-head bloviation we seem to be soaking in these days? (I'll give you a hint; along with "Susan Boyle," the most referenced topic of conversation today on Twitter was, depending on which side of the political spectrum you're on, either "tea party" or "teabagging." Ugly, divisive times. It's entirely possible we'd all be better off singing to each other rather than attempting to discuss politics at this point. I digress.)
There are two gentlemen to the side of the stage during Miss Boyle's performance -- emcees, I guess -- and alone of everyone there who was not a 47-year-old Scottish contestant in a beige dress, they're the only ones who seem to be in her corner from the start. They're necessary to the clip after the fist viewing, because we know what we're sending Miss Boyle out to face and, even though we know she'll prevail, we like her too much to set her adrift among those sharks entirely alone. We know what that's like. We're online in the sea of snark every day, refusing to be broken, to our detriment.
Well, I saw on the news tonight that she's been plucked, tweezed, and given a makeover. She no longer looks like the actor Colm Meaney, which is a good thing. I hope she continues to get the respect that she deserves.
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|is it not that there is a little bit of susan boyle in us all who wants to wipe that smirk of some one's face that we have had problems with. it was a joy to witness that smirk of simon cowells being wiped off his face, good on you susan for doing that it was great to watch. go girl go all the way.....
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|I, for one, will not purchase Susan Boyle's CD. But I will def d/l it off emule and burn a copy for my mom (and a few ex girlfriends) hehehehe
Oh, and BTW, I saw SEVERAL comments on YouTube to the tune of "I wanna f-- her". g**d***it there are some sick ppl in this world. (I hope you read this the proper way, which is: some things are simply unf--able...) hehehe sorry and of course there's no way she'll ever see this msg or else I'll probably be damned to hell :(
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|I was so amazed with Susan's voice. I wonder why she was not discovered before now. As for her appearance I never noticed at first. I was more consumed with her whit. I hope that she goes a long way to reach her goal. God Speed.
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|Alright. I think I've held my tongue long enough. I don't disagree that this woman has a most wonderful voice - but what kind of fuc%^d up society do we live in where it's a 'miracle' or 'inspiration' for [someone that looks like her] to belt out a beautiful voice?
So what now, only good to great looking people can or are expected to be able to sing or have talent? What's going on? I feel so badly for her. The reaction and comments I hear and see online, it's like we've seen a 4 legged animal stand up on 2 legs and sing. People are reacting with shock and awe...She's a human being for God's sake. For example, I think Leona Lewis has an amazing voice, but I'm not in shock when I see her sing. Similarly, I wasn't in shock when Susan did her thing - all I said was, "wow, she has a wonderful voice", little did I know I was apparently underreacting....
Granted, people are going to get defensive and say, oh it's not about how she looks etc. etc., but that's a bare faced lie. The GENERAL sentiment around the poor woman is that 'such a beautiful voice is coming from someone that looks like that'...to put it loosely. I know that society favors 'sexiness' and good looks - but is it gone so far that we expect only the sexy and good looking to have any kind of real talent now?
Is that really where and who we are now?
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|A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH IS MISS BOYLE; NOW CUT INTO A DREAM THAT LIFE CANNOT KILL.
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|This little lady has a marvelous and wonderful voice. She is incredibly talented and it surely was a wonderful thing to listen to her. I think Simon on the show got the surprise of his life as all did in the studio.
This lovely and talented lady from the UK is going to go places as the world needs people like her. I could tell she was truly humbled when she won and I am very happy for her. Very well Done Susan!
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|Susan was fantastic and to see the inner beauty that she has
it is because of the grace of God.When One is rejected like she
has been most of her life it hurts.She danced with joy at the end
she showed Grateful and tear filled emotions which now Brought
The Inner Beauty to the surface.Susan Now is Not that less than
human being But she Is as Good AS!!!!
God Bless You Susan,You tube and All
Who Helped This Miracle Happen
Sincerely Charlie From Bklyn
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|Thank you for your thought-felt article on Susan Boyle. I appreciate it very much. I watch the video over and over and cry each time, for I am touched to my core.
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|Congratulations Susan, I am so proud of you , you are an insiration to me , an thousands of others who have been judged , an laughed at for there what they look like , an being different , when you stood on that stage , in front of that audience, knowing they were laughing at you , you were standing ther for me , an thousands like me . thank you Susan ,Ive always said never judge a book by its cover , cause youy dont know whats inside. i admire you greatly , for having the strength an courage to stand up there , alone , for your dream an what you believed in . they might of been laughing at you an against you , but when you opened your mouth an sang , you had the last laugh , Isat an watched you with a lump in my throat , an when you finished , I punched the air an said , well done Susan you showed them all .
we live in a world where we are judged by how we look an dress , by what we do , what car we have , where we live . an how old we are , well Susan you put that into persective , people today are too quick to judge you , before they have taken the time to know you . it needed someone like yourself to come along , an ordinary lady , to prove them all wrong , an make people realise the real qualities an values of life , an youve proved Susan that your never too old . Icant thank you enough Susan for what youve done , Idont think you realise just what youve done an the inpact youve had on people . Stay just the way you are , dont let any one change you , we love you just the way you are . thanks again Susan , From a Fan . Jackie Hammond , Lincoln
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|for the guy who says she only knows one song? She did one of the best reditions of "Cry Me a River" I've ever heard, and that was ten years ago. Bets she knows a few hymns also. You're tone deaf you say? Prudy
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|YES!!!!!!!!!!
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|I wish I could tell her to sing AVA MARIA,Her voice is perfect for
this song,she;s great.
Ron
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|I'm chuckling to see how upsetting people are with "my opinion".
for some reason people think that golfer's are the worlds greatest athletes and that "singers" are the worlds greatest talented idols as well.
people who are deaf and those who cant walk or swing would think otherwise.
perhaps, if she could sing "you can't touch this or funky town" and do the "moon walk or the worm" at the same time, i would consider her with having exceptional talent.
but for now, i think her singing is best for calming the cry babies and tearful drunks.
its disturbing to see people salivating at the mouth to have her sing, like see a pack of wolves ripping apart the prey they just cornered and still alive. frankly, i doubt her notoriety was her idea and may not understand how her peaceful life has been overturned. one has to wonder how many years did it take her to learn and survive in her current enviroment, and now she is being pulled everywhere because of all of hunger for her.
$imon's eyeballs may have fallen out from their sockets, but it is doubtful that she will make him any money and doubtful all the people demanding her to perform will actually buy her cd's.
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|What crack did you smoke before coming onto BN this morning???!!!! If you can honestly sing just as good as she did that night, then the rest of BN will concur that she does not have talent. I VERY honestly doubt that you can, so she has more talent than you do at this current time. In fact, for the way that she sang that song, I would think that she probably has more talent in her pinky than you do in general.
It does not matter how much you practice a song, if your voice sucks you're not going to sing nearly flawlessly as she did.
Also wtf is this crap about deaf people and people w/out appendages??? What does that have to do with anything. Just because a small percentage of people can't hear doesn't mean that music is any less beautiful. Just because a very small percentage of people don't have both legs doesn't make golf / baseball / hockey / football / ETC ETC ETC ETC a sport.
Your comment(s), in this case are definitely trolls.
Oh- PS- Last time I checked, this world was run by money and not on hopes and dreams like you wish they did. I think it's refreshing (as others have said) that she's not drop dead gorgeous and doesn't care. ...
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|you probably hit the nail on the head.
my opinion was not based on prejudice. she has a sweet voice and i'm 99.9% sure she is a sweet person. unfortunately, her admirer's and her manager and the lime light are not her friends and pose a threat to her future and well being.
i simply did not consider her singing as phenomenal as all those with preconceived prejudices and bigotry's.
perhaps there is a correlation with the louder people like you whine, the louder the inherent prejudice's are.
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|Well said.
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|We all know what a classless moron I can be sometimes, but this woman amazed me. I had a smile for an hour after seeing that. Score one for the little guys.
All this being said, I'd still tag that.
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|She opened her mouth, and made you realize that God still does miracles. I wish I could open my heart and keep her there, safe from the perils that she will face. With luck, God gave her some angles to protect her, I sure hope so.
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|As soon as she walked on stage, I was watching them all take the piss and I said to my missus "Remember, Paul Potts was just an ugly fat bas**** who worked for Carphone Warehouse before this show - they might just get a shock." But as much as I was prepared for something, I wasn't prepared for the sheer brilliance of her performance.
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|Both Cowell and Morgan are around the same age as Susan Boyle.
Their patronising and insulting (not forgetting laughably snide) display said it all.
They think 'beauty' is as superficial and shallow as they are and has an age-limit of about 18.
They are pathetic, in fact ansd Susan Boyle (without realising or intending it) showed them up for the vile creatures they are.
Get them and their ghastly exploititive shows off the box now!
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|I agree, we probably all needed the innocence of Susan Boyle during an economic collapse created by the winners of this world. Perhaps we need her more than she will need our love. I want to remind you that her song was also an expression of grieving for her mother. There are so many levels where she has touched us, sitting alone and eating her sandwich at the beginning of the clip, made up nicely in a homely manner and then ridding herself of this grief and then walking off as if her work was done. I know women like that. If she makes it cool to look twice now, we all will benefit. I hope that nobody will try to give her a Sharon Osbourne make-over. She has had at least 20 million views on all YouTube videos.
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|Well put, Bernadette, all of it. I've thought a bit about her parents since all this started; the reports tell us that Miss Boyle has a learning disability, and it's pretty clear that for better or worse they sheltered her throughout their lives. What would they say now, I wonder, if they could see what's ahead? I agree with the commenter above that these are perilous times for our heroine. I hope she's ready, and I hope that her siblings and other advisors are good steady people.
And yes, I loved her matter-of-fact way. In fact I chose the word 'homely' very specifically; she's no Catherine Deneuve, of course, but she's also homely in the nicer sense -- straightforward, practical, no airs. (If you're a Tolkien fan, can't you just imagine her as a hobbit, enjoying family and song and a simple life?) I knew a lot of women like her growing up, and do still. They're truly the people that make the world go 'round, and seeing one prevail over nasty strangers was pure joy. I'd definitely rather have a conversation with Miss Boyle than with some of the raccoon-eyed snarkbots in the audience that day, wouldn't you?
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|Just for the record, Simon Cowell did not create any of these shows, Simon Fuller did.
The same thing happened with Paul Potts two years ago, and look how successful the former cell phone salesman has become as an opera singer. So I'm not sure why the three judges were so immediately cynical.
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|"So I'm not sure why the three judges were so immediately cynical."
I think you do know. You're just being nice about it.
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|Why were they so cynical..? A conspiracy theorist might say that seeing as the handful of contestants who get as far as the TV stage are all pre-screened (even the talentless no-hopers who get pushed on stage to be humiliated), perhaps all three judges already knew what was about to happen...
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|They're pre-screened by the producers, not the judges. I think the judges and the audiences were set up.
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|oh pleaze...
it's the only song she knows and has sung it thousands of times.
that oriental guy that sings acky breaky heart is a real acheivement.
simon cow simply has no taste
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|You know, I've been on the fence about you for a while now. But thankfully I can finally call you what you are...a worthless, waste-of-kilobytes TROLL. You found your way in, I think you can find your way out, and you might as well go because NOBODY is gonna look twice at your garbage now.
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|You, Database ben, are an ass. As a former talent scout and one of the people who put together the team that wrote "Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree", I kew that Susan Boyle had the voice of an Angel. Where will you be when shes cashing those huge checks she will be getting? And I still get my residual checks from the music business. So shut up. You know nothing. She is a gift from God to a troubled world.
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|Give me a hand down, Psycros; I'm hopping off the fence as well. (And usually I'm faster to bitbucket a troll that you are!)
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|Since the 1970s, the U.S. film and television industry has worried so much about getting beauty over talent on the screen. It's nice to see someone who can shut them up with just one song.
I miss the days of movies and t.v. when people were there to act and not spout continuous profanity and remove their clothes because they didn't know how to speak properly and the writer didn't know a high level of English (or any other language).
Beauty fades. Talent endures.
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|Right on!
Never judge a book by its cover.
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|What a performance!!! Proof Beauty is much deeper than skin deep. Her internal world must be a lot more beautiful. Thank you Susan.
Susan's performance inadvertently, unintentionaly, all the same clearly showed a mirror to most of us.... and revealed true beauty of those of us having eyes to look at the image in that mirror.
Angela, I am not as eloquent as you, and English is a second language for me, so no more comments ... but you expressed a lot of what I felt and thought during and after watching and listening to Susan.
Girish
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|"The two gentlemen" are Ant and Dec, who are all over British TV as presenters and comic actors. They're nice guys and in everyone's corner.
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|Susan Boyle was brilliant, and this article was brilliant. I agree with everything you said. Her performance took EVERYONE by surprise, and it was SO REFRESHING! Though it is super-cliche these days to say this, I'll risk it: she honestly is an inspiration to millions.
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|It's such a shame that she had to appear on that show in front of the two biggest smarmy bas****s in Britain.
Staggering voice, though. Hope she sees fit not to sign with Cowel.
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|Hello Angela,
I'm not one to comment very often with stories and/or articles I've read but after reading this story I'll felt you deserve it. Bravo!
There have been many stories about Susan, but yours is the only one I've read that really tells the "Reason" why we loved her. I must admit...I...like everyone else needed this wakeup call. I don't need anymore of the outside beauty, give me more of that beauty that Miss Boyle's is dishing out. Like I said before. BRAVO!
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|All right, Angela, I'll bite on this one.
Last evening, my wife insisted on showing my daughter and me the video in its entirety. I have to give credit to the producers of "Britain's Got Talent" for expertly editing the various camera angles so that we see one of the most important elements of the entire story: the audience's and the judges' anticipation of something horrible and dreadful, to borrow two favorite Simon Cowell adjectives, prior to the music having even started.
While millions are now perceiving Susan Boyle as a genuine inspiration, for which I also thank her, I think we all need to take a moment to reconsider the whole notion of why she's inspiring. Is it because we see someone who is genuinely confident, true to herself, entering the stage believing she's about to bowl a 300 just before doing it? Or is it because we, the viewers, have become so preconditioned to the notion that beauty is only available in certain types of packages, and that -- however illogical or unreasonable it ends up being -- someone who isn't particularly attractive can truly sing?
Because let's face it, Jessica Simpson isn't even in the same league as Susan Boyle. Susan Boyle may very well be the modern era's Marni Nixon -- and anyone who knows the history of movie musicals knows precisely who I'm talking about, and why. On one of Simon Cowell's other shows, we're not all that shocked by the fact that someone who looks like Carrie Underwood can sing like Carrie Underwood. She has, as talent agents put it, the complete package. But in an earlier year, you could watch Cowell himself stare in disbelief as someone who looked like Clay Aiken could sing like Clay Aiken.
Millions of music fans everywhere, every day, are often willing to set aside the fact that some non-songwriter singers have no genuine vocal talent whatsoever, for the comfort in knowing that they look really attractive on stage or in the music video or in a string bikini. And whose fault is that?
Susan Boyle's first great service to the world at large -- and I sincerely hope it's the first of many -- is helping us all to realize that we still are very capable of sizing up people in our minds and drawing conclusions based on our preconceptions -- what we are pre-conditioned to believe about them. Day after day after day, talent programs like Pop Idol and Britain's Got Talent show folks who look like someone you'd pass by in the dog food aisle of the grocery store without a second thought, and set up a story where we expect them to emit some noise that sounds like it came from a donkey. And that's how it sounds, and our preconceptions are satiated, and we go on with our day having cast another stone in the general direction of people who continue to meet the low expectations we set up for them.
But every time I hear that it's so great that Barack Obama is the President of the United States for the simple reason that "he doesn't look like a president," I'm reminded that too many of us are, to borrow a phrase from the comedian Gallagher, stuck in the '60s.
-SF "And His Talent Was That He Could Smash Watermelons, and That Was Enough For Most" 3
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|Whoa, two-for-one sale at BN! (heh heh) And I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing. The people behind BGT must've had a, "wouldn't it be amazing if" moment in a production meeting and made it happen. Of course, if you pulled this trick every day it would quickly get old (although we might discover a deep well of untapped talent!). You know what else? This gal could easily be an opera star. That's the one kind of stage musical that puts talent above appearance.
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|True, though I've heard that even opera gets a little flaky when the new crop of ingenues is harvested :-) . I agree with Scott re Marni Nixon, of course -- lovely, lovely voice, criminally passed over by The Industry. (Which honestly, I don't get; I realize that Hollywood had some weird, narrow ideas about beauty back then, but she was and is quite striking. It makes me wonder if one day future generations might say the same of Miss Boyle.)
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|Yeah and I'll tell you what - I'll bite.
What a disgraceful article. You've basically abused your access to a wide audience to gush about a contestant on a talent show. This has nothing whatsoever to do with software, IT, beta news, or anything at all that this website is supposed to be about. The mere fact that videos of her have a appeared on YouTube does not in and of itself make it suitable for posting here - if you have a personal blog to post your views then that is the place for it. I enjoy you writing Angela but that you should have posted such a piece here is an absolute disgrace and you should be ashamed you stepped over the line and abused your position.
Just because I no longer post here because I have certain issues with the way the website is being run doesn't mean I don't read the articles. And to read such an article here does nothing whatsoever to make re-evaluate my views on the website - it just re-enforces them. I can't tell you how friggin' mad I am you've posted this article Angela and how disappointing it is.
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|As a widower living alone with a cat and of less than comely features, I sincerely empathize with Miss Boyle. I was absolutely stunned when she opened her mouth to sing, because, as you have suggested, it is amazing and beautiful what God wraps in the plainest of packages.
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|True that! I hate the fact that a lot of the Western world judges by the cover of the book first. I laugh hysterically every time the standards are messed with like this!
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