Susan Boyle Captures the World's Heart on TV Reality Show Britain's Got Talent

Why all the flurry about Susan Boyle? In case you do not recognize the name, she is the latest YouTube sensation, thanks to Britain's Got Talent. The clip of her audition has received over 5.6 million hits on YouTube in three days. It has also been shown on national television and talked about on radio. This unassuming lady seemingly came out of nowhere and overnight has become a superstar. Why is the world so impressed?

Susan has revealed just enough of her story to let us know that she had a less-than stellar childhood. She has spoken about being ridiculed for learning disabilities. Yet, even when she talks about her troubled past, she does so with no apparent bitterness. In a nationally televised interview when asked if she now felt vindicated for all the taunting, she smiled and remarked that "the people who used to make fun of me are now nice to me". How can we not be drawn to someone who accepts her new-found fame with such humility?

Miss Boyle, who is currently unemployed, gave up a potential career to spend her adult life taking care of her mother until her death. She is the youngest of nine children. She is forty-seven years old and has never married. She is a volunteer at her church. Nothing in her ordinary life seemed to foretell the sudden fame she would encounter because of one audition.

The television show Britain's Got Talent is filmed with a live audience, even throughout the audition process. When a contestant walks onto the stage, he or she is subject to the immediate response of not only the three judges, but the entire audience as well. When Susan Boyle stepped to the microphone and began answering the questions from Simon Cowell, the onlookers made it apparent that they were not impressed. Susan definitely did not have "star appeal". She looked more like a nanny than a singing sensation. But, before she had finished the first stanza of the song, the audience and judges were visibly moved by her unbelievable vocal ability and her delivery. "I Dreamed a Dream", from Les Miserables, provided Susan with the perfect opportunity to express her personal journey and her heart-felt desire to "make her Mum proud". Tears were welling up in the eyes of judges and audience members alike. They were witnessing pure, innocent talent being poured out and laid at their feet by a person who had experienced their ridicule moments before. With one song, Susan Boyle turned her enemies into admirers.

Not only is Susan Boyle benefiting from all the attention. Because of the response to Miss Boyle's rendition of the ballad from Les Miserables, interest has been rekindled in the recordings of the original cast. It is reported that Susan Boyle is meeting with recording executives to discuss making her own album. It will be exciting to see how the ripple effects of this one performance will affect the music industry-all because of a few minutes on a stage.

In our cynical, critical world, it is refreshing to see that one sweet, unassuming, sacrificial lady can bring the hardest of people to tears with a moving presentation of a song from her heart. Whatever the outcome of the reality show Britain's Got Talent, Susan can have the joy of knowing that because of her willingness to share her talent with the world with an attitude of humility, God has used her to touch untold numbers of people.

To view Susan Boyle's performance, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk. Have your tissues handy...

Source:
http://www.canada.com/Entertainment/Susan+Boyle+overnight+music+superstar/1499478/story.html