little_tippler, you beat me to it. Maybe it's because I've spent the majority of my life singing and being around singers, but I just can't find this video all that amazing.
Don't get me wrong: I appreciate the fact that 1) she's unattractive, 2) people judged her because she was unattractive, and 3) she proved them wrong. I think it's great that she did that.
I guess my main issue is that I find it outrageous that we've reached a point where people are
honestly surprised that an unattractive person can sing. In that sense, this video may have just about destroyed my hopes for the return to a respectable music industry.
On to Susan Boyle's specific talent: she's absolutely better than 98% of the people who get on these shows. In that sense, she deserves the recognition, and while I don't think it will be a lasting change, maybe she can get people to rethink linking beauty and musical talent for at least a brief moment in time.
But she's no Elaine Page (as a caveat: I've only heard one performance from each
). The really unfortunate thing from my perspective is that maybe she could have been - vocally at least - if she had had training when she was younger. Her singing isn't particularly dynamic, and she
really needs to work on her support, which would help a lot with her intonation.
I don't say this to rain on anyone's parade here. Like I said, she's better than most of the people who get on these sorts of shows. While I'm saddened that the point even needed to be made, she also proved that unattractive people can just as easily have musical talent. Furthermore, from what I understand she has never had vocal training.
I just think it's important to keep things in perspective. She may be good, but it
shows that she's never had vocal training. I'm glad she proved Simon Cowell wrong too, but that says less about her talent than it does about how much of a greedy music industry asshole Simon Cowell is. And the
really unfortunate part is that at her age she's probably built up so many bad habits due to lack of training that it will be very difficult to overcome them even if she finally gets the training she deserves.
Despite all that, I hope she has great success in the future. I'm much more concerned about people linking beauty to musical talent than I am about people not recognizing poor support and intonation. I don't think she can undo years of damage by a music industry more focused on marketing than talent, but I can only hope that she's successful enough to make a dent. She certainly deserves the success more than Britney Spears: