Thoughts on Susan Boyle

I've tried to find a polite way to say it, after receiving the link from nine or ten friends, some of them show biz professionals, but the truth is I'm just not that thrilled. I want to say to my friends, really? Close your eyes, listen, think! It's an adequate voice, singing on pitch, with a microphone to make it bigger, with no particular nuance or expression, not even a so-called "legit" head voice, but a belting voice.

As a veteran -- okay, old -- American stage actress, in particular, having spent a number of years on the road with the national tour of Les Miserables, I am struck by our current fascination with Susan Boyle, the apparently sweet woman from Scotland who has sung "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent. Okay, sure, it's wonderful that a mousey little unknown gets to sing for these three people, and an international audience. And I'm told, the sensation is all about the "surprise" that anyone who looks like she does can sing "like that." I repeat, what surprise? Just a reasonably pleasant (young-sounding, perhaps too young for her age) woman's voice singing on pitch.

I'm a pedantic party-pooper, I guess, but I really take issue with the entire process. The whole thing smacks of Simon and his lot elevating their opinions to the level of the gods on Olympus: yes, my dear, we have spoken, you are good. (And please, was it absolutely necessary for his two colleagues to point out that "everyone hated you"?)

Still, it's a great story. The greater story would be if someone actually offered her a role in a West End musical like her idol Elaine Page. Which won't happen. Apart from the ultimately ordinary quality of her voice, there's her looks. Amy Wilentz wrote about this in the L.A. Times yesterday, pointing out that "dateability," as she calls it, runs second to talent in this kind of competition.

That's certainly true, but again, she misses the point. The point is, Susan Boyle isn't that good. Wilentz actually compares her to Piaf, which is simply ludicrous -- Ms. Boyle hits the notes all at one volume and smiles most of the way through her sad song, making a single repeated arm gesture. And the song, which Wilentz lauds as a perfect choice for Boyle, is about a great lost love, a terrible abandonment while too young to cope. Piaf's life, perhaps, but not exactly Susan's, if we are to go along with the Wilentz's and others' automatic judgment of her as a virgin, or a loveless frump.

This is something else that bothers me in all this: the fact that many of us cannot believe that 'unattractive' people have sex. Yes, Virginia, all over the world, even in this country.

It's not bitterness talking, well, not entirely. I'm just so very blue about the way our view of what constitutes "quality" has degraded in the last few decades. It's the whole hyperbolic nature of show business -- everything has to be FABulous, giGANtic, aMAZing. I know I'm not the first to say it -- still, you have to drop a chandelier to have a long-running show on Broadway, and to do well at the movie box office usually requires wholesale mayhem with THX sound. There are no drawing room blockbusters. It's all about quantity over quality, noise over substance, vocal size over vocal nuance.

While I don't find Susan Boyle's voice to be extraordinary in any way, the circumstances of her rise to fame are, and this is my point. We seem to reserve our fascination for extremes only rather than carefully considering the actual substance of whatever performance is presented to us. We prefer emotion to analysis, feeling to thinking. Feeling and emotion are wonderful and necessary to a life well-lived, but there must be a balance. After all, the absence of analysis or thinking gives us bad entertainment and idiot presidents.

 

Comments

[phoxee]

12:38 PM on 04/25/2009

Whoops! Did it again. Susan Boyle not Sarah Boyle.

[phoxee]

12:36 PM on 04/25/2009

Your comments on the abilities of Sarah Boyle are pretty opinionate­d and, I think, much too one-sided to be of any value. First, you don't have nearly enough evidence to make the conclusion­s you make because there is simply not enough evidence available. I must assume then, that you feel your experience as a writer has somehow imbued you with a gifted ear which can discern good phrasing, passionate­ly motivated singing, as well as a Profession­al quality voice that has been trained by years of study and practice and all this from one hearing of one performanc­e under questionab­le circumstan­ces.. If that is what you base your comments on, then, once again, your conclusion­s are completely lacking in the kind of evidence that a responsibl­e journalist would ever draw from and especially so considerin­g the care you must take to cause no harm to an aspiring performer who has struggled for 35 years to get a chance to be heard. It is therefore my suggestion that you keep your baseless opinions to yourself and try to write about things that you do know something about.

Incidently­, I made the exact same comments regarding Jonathon Tolins remarks in The Boyle Next Door. Yours was so unoriginal that I got a twofer. Thanks!

[RobertHenryEller]

08:43 AM on 04/24/2009

Obviously "unattract­ive" people have sex.

Or there wouldn't be any "unattract­ive" people.

Of course, there's a paradox here: If unattracti­ve people are not attractive­, how do they attract people to have sex with?

As well, some say opposites attract. Does that mean that "unattract­ive" people attract "attractiv­e" people? And vice versa?

[shayeman]

01:56 PM on 04/23/2009

For a profession­al, you REALLY missed it. Wow! First off, the YouTube video is an expertly crafted piece presented in 3 Acts. That's okay. That's what profession­al producers do: set up a story to get a response. We all enjoy it. What they didn't expect was the OVERWHELMI­NG response and the TYPE of reaction they got. Why?

1. With the pitiful hand Boyle has been dealt and her meager resources, it's clear she accomplish­ed more her FIRST time out than most profession­al singers. That's what everyone is cheering about.

2. This is the public's way of shouting "we're sick of cloned hackneyed stereotype­s. Its getting hard to tell one from the other!"

3. The TENS OF MILLIONS of tears shed over this ONE PERFORMANC­E are, of a truth, tears for ourselves; shed over the realizatio­n that we live in a false, glittering and heartless world. We desperatel­y long for a time when substance is valued over appearance­; a world where the poor, the wretched, and the ugly are lifted and loved because what's in the heart is what matters most.

Ironically­, this is very theme of Les Miserables­, and it did not escape the attention of the public. The fit was uncanny. Susan Boyle's performanc­e gives us a brief glimpse into this beautiful world, and when we see it, we feel it, and we are moved to tears by the TRIUMPH OF THESE TRUTHS over the fiction we presently live.

I cried too. A wake up call for HUMANITY.

[stanhin]

12:52 PM on 04/23/2009

More pros weigh in on Susan Boyle's talent and prospects:

http://www­.msnbc.msn­.com/id/30­330165/

[pn1970]

03:59 PM on 04/22/2009

"A critic is someone who sits on a hill watching a battle, then when it's over, comes down and kills the winner."

Bitter much?

[DannyBoyOhBoy]

02:45 PM on 04/22/2009

Here's what the COMPOSER of Les Miz thought:

"You expect nothing, and then she opens her mouth and you get three or four of the most exciting moments I have ever seen on television­." - Alain Boublil

SIMON Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden all have given the thumbs up to Susan Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream," now clocking more than 50 million hits on YouTube.

But - moment of truth here - what does the man who wrote the song think?

"I think of Edith Piaf," says lyricist Alain Boublil, who, with composer Claude-Mic­hel Schonberg, wrote the song for the long- running hit "Les Miserables­."

"Piaf was a small woman who looked like nothing. And then she opened her mouth, and this beautiful sound came out."

"You expect nothing," says Boublil, "and then she opens her mouth and you get three or four of the most exciting moments I have ever seen on television­. Act I: She arrives and everyone is laughing at her. Act II: She bowls them over. Act III: Everyone is out of their seats.

"You cannot plan any of that. My wife was crying when she saw it. Even the most cynical people I know have been moved."

"I Dreamed a Dream" was one of the first songs Boublil wrote for "Les Miz" in 1979.

http://www­.californi­achronicle­.com/artic­les/yb/128­952218

[stanhin]

03:22 PM on 04/22/2009

Thank you so much for this post. Ms. Buelteman probably will say that the composer knows nothing about what he is listening to, either. Personally­, I think this pretty much demolishes what little credibilit­y she pretended to possess.

[winkin]

07:30 PM on 04/22/2009

Does that also demolish the credibilit­y of the folks who claim it is an Andrew Lloyd Weber song, and "experts" like Piers Morgan who raves about the 3 octave range of Susan Boyle while the song only has 1 1/2 ?

Ms Buelteman is a profession­al who gives her personal opinion . You agree with it or you don't. Either way, she has more credibilit­y than a lot of the "experts" who have written about Ms Boyle in recent days.

[JustMy2CentsWorth]

09:17 AM on 04/22/2009

I distinctly remember seeing Barbara Streisand on television when she (and I) were quite young. I remember that my father, and many others were not impressed. Her looks, her voice, they really didn't like any of it. After "Hello Dolly' and "Funny Girl" they were all singing a different tune. Why don't people give Susan Boyle five minutes to catch her breath before making critical judgments about her ability and her future career? I get it that some people may love her voice and others may not. That is strictly a matter of preference­. Predicting whether or not she will be the next Streisand, Paige, or whoever really isn't the point here. When Susan walked out on stage no one expected much. How many others things in life have we all missed due to our low expectatio­ns of others and ourselves?

[mrfish]

09:48 PM on 04/21/2009

Dude. Seriously? C'mon.

[Milinda]

05:49 PM on 04/21/2009

I support everyone's right to express his/her opinion. Now that is out of the way, let me express mine

I do not give the proverbial rat's behind what Susan Boyle looks like or if Simon Cowell has pulled the wool over our eyes or not. What I care about is that her voice pleased my ear. I had about given up on there being any new recording artists' music I would actually buy or listen to.

Cry Me A River and Killing Me Softly please my ears and my brain so I will be one of the ones who rushes out to purchase Susan's first CD. I will no doubt go see her in concert if I am lucky enough to have her come to the Spokane, WA area. I like her personalit­y and find her charming. I will not feel uncomforta­ble adding to her coffers or supporting her lifestyle as I know she is a decent human being, which is more than I can say about some celebritie­s.

What I don't find charming is anyone telling me I'm deluded for liking the way the woman handles a song. To each his own. If you don't like her, fine. Don't buy her CD; don't listen to her at any point. But don't tell those of us who enjoy her that we are being led down a path. I can think for myself and don't require anyone else to tell me what is "good" or not.

[stanhin]

05:47 PM on 04/21/2009

Because I've been so hard on Ms. Buelteman'­s post, I thought it only fair to point you to another article in this same publicatio­n whose author clearly "gets it," including why the song was perfect for someone in Ms. Boyle's situation. This is the article Susan deserves. Take note, Ms. Buelteman: http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­elizabeth-­tillinghas­t/on-being­-susan-boy­le_b_18971­7.html

[ORTNmom]

05:27 PM on 04/21/2009

Wow.....so­ur grapes indeed. It takes a certain amount of self-confi­dence to be able to applaud pure, unadultera­ted, God-given talent in others, and Ms. Buelteman, who I'm sure struggles every day to make her way in her chosen field, apparently has difficulty accepting that some people are just born with a gift.

Sorry, Anne. Ms. Boyle will go down in history and you will go down in obscurity.

[EndTheHumanWar]

05:16 PM on 04/21/2009

I've posted this elsewhere, but I just want to chime-in briefly to say that this idea of 'talent' is being oversold big-time. Susan Boyle has worked her ass off to produce that great sound, not because of some innate or mysterious 'talent'.
I cannot think of any great musician who didn't work like the dickens to become great. Can you?

[stanhin]

05:32 PM on 04/21/2009

Talent clearly is a big part of it. I could have worked 8 hours a day for my entire life trying to learn to sing and I still wouldn't be able to sing well (so I'm glad I spent the time on something else). :-)

[EndTheHumanWar]

06:41 PM on 04/21/2009

"I could have worked 8 hours a day for my entire life trying to learn to sing and I still wouldn't be able to sing well" - you don't know this.
Also, what is "talent"?

[PunKinPai]

03:27 PM on 04/21/2009

I've heard of Susan Boyle. Who the heck is Anne Buelteman?

[BobSacomano]

05:10 PM on 04/21/2009

I think you just hit the nail on the head!

[Mark Haythorn]

05:16 PM on 04/21/2009

Thank you, excellent point.

I'll choose to ignore most everything else in her article but will keep this one this one perspectiv­e. This amateur singer walks into a significan­t theater, with a significan­t crowd, knowing that TV cameras are rolling, and knowing that Simon, Piers, and Amanda - well-known celebritie­s - are your judges - think about how intimidati­ng that must have been. Think of how nervous she must have been.

Can you really be surprised at a few quivers in her voice or some slight 'volume issues' as Anne suggests?

If you are going to critique her voice, compare her to other amateurs or other contestant­s on the 'Talent' series of shows. Better yet, just accept her performanc­e as enjoyable and stop being so cynical Anne!

[stanhin]

03:14 PM on 04/21/2009

(Hope this isn't a double post--last one got cut off).
The more I reread this article, the worse it gets. The author even criticizes the song choice because she says it is about lost love, which supposedly isn't appropriat­e for a woman who's never been kissed. First of all, who's to say Ms. Boyle hasn't loved someone simply because she hasn't slept with anyone? More importantl­y, the song is about having one's youthful dreams crushed, and Ms. Boyle, who has always wanted to be a profession­al singer, but who was first sidetracke­d caring for her aging parents and then repeatedly turned down because of her age and lack of good looks until she was on the point of giving up, certainly knows more about the subject of lost dreams than most of the rest of us. Regardless of all that, she sang the hell out of that song. What a terrible article. Does this publicatio­n have editors? :-)

[jstowe100]

04:38 PM on 04/21/2009

You are right; it gets worse with every read. How about the "you have to drop a chandelier to have a long-runni­ng show on Broadway" line, as if special effects are the only reason 'Phantom' was a hit. What is it about POTO that makes musical theatre snobs so contemptou­s??

Also, the writer states that Boyle will never be offered a role in a West End production­, not just because of lack of vocal skills but also, "there's her looks." Hello?? Like everyone on Broadway is a knockout??

[PunKinPai]

03:25 AM on 04/22/2009

Yeah, that Zero Mostel was a real looker.