Susan Boyle: her dream comes true

[Pearly Di]

I just don't think everyone associated with the show was surprised.

No, Ant and Dec (the two guys talking to Susan before the show) weren't. They clearly knew what the audience was in for.

[Cerin]

No, Ant and Dec (the two guys talking to Susan before the show) weren't. They clearly knew what the audience was in for.

Are those the same two guys who are shown during the performance at the side of the stage? Because I thought those two did look very surprised when she started singing. One of them turns to the camera with the same look of shock that the judges had, right at the beginning.

I don't know what kind of preliminary sorting out period this show has. How many auditions are involved before an act is selected for the show?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My understanding is that the youtube clip was from an audition. Surely they don't have auditions for the auditions?

[sauronsfinger]

I do not know how the British show is run, but in the American version there are cerainly "auditions for the auditions". There have been interviews on local radio here with people who went to other cities and stood in line with thousands of other hopefuls and they told of their experiences. Your audition is NOT in front of Simon and the others. They take you in groups into rooms run by staffers who give you about 20 seconds max to show your wares. If they think it is interesting, you move up the ladder to the next rung. Those who finally get to Cowell and company for the final audition are a small minority out of those thousands you see waiting in line.

Just do the math. Lets say you have 5,000 people waiting to audition in Chicago. Each gets 20 seconds. That is three per minute, 180 per hour, 1800 in ten hours, or almost 30 hours to audition all 5,000. Now take that 20 seconds and multiply it by at least a factor of three or four to allow walking into a room, getting ready and leaving. So now its up to over 100 hours to handle that crowd of 5,000.

this is from the Wikipedia site on AMERICAN IDOL

Initial auditions
Before contestants get the chance to see the show's judges, they go through two rigorous sets of cuts. The first is a brief audition with three other contestants in front of one or two of the show's producers. Contestants are then either sent through to the next round of producers or asked to leave. Out of the thousands of people who show up to audition, only about 100–200 contestants in each city make it past this round.

The idea that Susan Boyle or anyone would simply get up in front of an expensive TV taping and sing before thousands of people without any type of audition or vetting is simply not believable. That does not take away from the story however and its still a dream come true.

[Cerin]

I've not watched the American version of this show, so I was going by my understanding of 'American Idol'. My understanding for that is that the thousands and thousands of people who show up for audition calls are culled in preliminary auditions by whomever; the ones selected from those auditions then have auditions before the show's judges, and selections from those auditions is what we see on TV. I can't imagine that Cowell et al. sit through 300,000 auditions per city themselves! So I was thinking the same thing for this show. Somebody must sift through the huge number of acts that want to make it on TV, and then the ones selected perform in front of those TV judges?

edit: cross-post with sf

[Angbasdil]

So, okay? Why was it so astonishing that this rather plain Scotchwoman with a frumpy hairdo could actually sing?

My dear vison, don't you know that plain looking people aren't supposed to be talented? They're supposed to be intelligent. Talented people are supposed to be attractive, but vapid. That's just the way it is.

I hope she gets what she wants, whatever it is. If she records an album of songs like "Cry Me a River", I would buy it.

I love her voice, and I especially love that song (and that style), but I don't think it would be a good fit. She's not "bluesy" enough. She needs classical or Broadway songs rather than jazz or swing. IMHO.

[Primula Baggins]

Susan Boyle's next-round performance (today) is up on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SncyQKe6CnQ

She sings "Memory" from Cats, and the beginning is scary (apparently nerves; this was her first performance on live television). But she pulls it together and finishes big. They cut before the judges' comments, but apparently she made it through to the next round.

[Edit: Here is a longer clip with the judge's comments, if people want to watch that instead. - VtF]


She looks good, but not glammed up. Her dress is better, she's wearing make-up (light by TV standards I think), and her hair has been tamed down a bit. But she doesn't look fake. And her voice is, still, lovely.

BBC News link

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Lovely. It's nice when she final settles down and smiles, and she does a good job of building it up, without overdoing it. She certainly deserves to be in the finals.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I edited a longer clip with the judge's comments into Prim's post above, to give people a choice of which they want to watch.

[Primula Baggins]

Thanks, Voronwë!

[Alatar]

That was really a very average performance of this song. This lady would be blown away by most of the principals in the amateur musical scene here in Ireland, and we're a very small country. I can't help but feel she's in there for the pity factor.

[vison]

That was really a very average performance of this song. This lady would be blown away by most of the principals in the amateur musical scene here in Ireland, and we're a very small country. I can't help but feel she's in there for the pity factor.

Sure.

[WampusCat]

I was blown away by the first performance -- can still hear it in my mind ... and shiver -- but I confess that I share Alatar's opinion of this one. I love this song and expected better.

I want to see her go all the way, though. Win one for the non-Britneys of music, Susan!

[Elentári]

In our newspaper yesterday there was an interview with Susan after the performance. This is what she had to say:

"It was a pretty rocky start to begin with because I sort of hit a croaky note...that's because I had a cold, but I said to myself, 'I guess you'd better just pick yourself up and keep going,' so all I did was keep going after that and it got better."

She said she was pleased with the way her voice warmed up during the nerve-wracking performance but hoped to do better in the final.

Apparently her nerves weren't helped by the fact that she slipped and "nearly fell flat on her face" during rehearsals. Subsequently stage hands scored the soles of her shoes to prevent further accidents on the night!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

She finished second to the dance act "Diversity." She went back to "I Dream a Dream." She did fine so far as I could see, but I think it would have been better is she had done a different song.

[Elentári]

Good to see Susan looking and sounding so great in America...

Simply magnificent version of Wild Horses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5nzY6L6Zk

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Very nice and quite an interesting choice.

Did you know that Robin Williams has been asked to play Susan in a movie about her story? I don't know how I feel about that.

[Primula Baggins]

How cruel and insulting. It's treating her as a joke. And her story isn't complete anyway.

What people like about her seems to be her talent and her guts. I doubt many people with those views would pay to see her laughed at.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm not sure that is the intention, Prim. Given his performance in Mrs. Doubtfire, I actually think that Williams could potentially do a good job in the role. But I think that most people would likely see it that way. In any event several sites reported that it is not true.

Here's the original Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug ... n-williams

Here's one of the rebuttals:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php ... boyle_part

[Frelga]

On a total tangent, but I saw Robin Williams these two weekends back at a PF Chang. It was a bit strange. Part of me was all Robin Williams! I am in the same restaurant as Robin Williams! and the rest of me was all, So?