Scottish Internet sensation Susan Boyle had her follow-up appearance on the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals last night. It was the first time Susan has performed on the show since her amazing audition of “I Dreamed a Dream” six weeks ago. The clip of Susan’s performance became the most watched video on the Internet in history, and received well over a hundred million views.
Susan came on stage to the intro for “Memories” from the musical Cats, and it made me groan a little. It seemed like such a cliche song to chose and I wish Boyle would have picked a song that wasn’t as well known and overdone. That said, she really nailed that difficult song. The intro was a touch shaky and she held her stomach, maybe trying to remind herself to sing from her diaphragm. Her beautiful voice soon overtook her fear, and she owned the song. Some critics have said that it wasn’t the right song choice to showcase Boyle’s talent, but in the end it didn’t seem to matter.
When asked how she felt about her performance, Susan said she felt “fantastic.” She characterized her instant success as “unbelievable,” saying “what pressure?” when asked about the public’s focus on her.
Looking much more polished than her last appearance, Susan had her hair dyed and was wearing makeup and an elegant beaded dress. She told Oprah in a show that aired two weeks ago that her best friend helps her with her makeup and that she did change a few things, but it “was just to tidy myself up like any other female would have done.”
Judges Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden praised her performance, with Morgan complimenting her appearance. Simon Cowell then went on to apologize for “the way we treated you before you sand the first time. You made me and everyone else look very stupid.”
Boyle shrugged her shoulders and said “I know nothing.” She told everyone “I’m very happy to be here. Thank you all for your support.”
People did support Susan as expected. She was the first contestant voted through to the next round of the show.
Here’s Susan outside ITV studios on Sunday, 5/24/09. Credit: WENN.com
I love Susan Boyle, but I do think the whole show is a bit of a farce now, because the other acts don’t stand a chance against her, due to her huge popularity. I think there are some better acts, but they won’t win.
Who are the hosts of BGT? Those two guys seem really familiar..even tho I am Canadian! 🙂
I think that she was very good and that she has a great voice, but she couldn’t really have lived up to all the hype. It would have been impossible.
She’s still going to win though.
Canadian Fan, they are called Ant and Dec (but don’t ask me which is which).
D’oh! That’s why I know them! I’ve heard them more than seen their faces…usually, b/c I am multitasking lol
Thanks for the clue in, Sue! 🙂
Blaaaaaah. Poor choice of song, for the reasons mentioned above, and also, the only time this song has blown me away was when I heard it sung by a mezzo soprano with tons of belt. Susan Boyle certainly doesn’t have belt, or if she does she’s not displaying it.
There’s also the problem of she’s a completely mediocre singer. I stand by my original opinion: if she were attractive she wouldn’t have made it through.
For those wondering (Sue and Canadian Fan maybe): Ant is the funnier looking one who’s also a little more chatty (and a little taller). Dec is thus the one with the lighter hair. 😀
I must say that the other performance that got through last night to the semi-finals is very, very entertaining (a group of brothers and friends who dance called Diversity).
Their act was funny and kept me asking for more.
I love Susan but I would have voted for Diversity as far as I’m concerned.
She isn’t the best singer in the world yet very inspirational… But I’m afraid the show’s already over. It’s hard to imagine someone else standing in front of the Queen now.
I think it was the right song for her, but she should have sung it several keys lower. She was extremely nervous, and I don’t think starting off on such high notes helped any (obviously). I’m still a fan of hers and think she has a phenomenal talent, but until she’s more familiar with big audiences and high pressure, she should stick to lower keys.
To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever heard “Memories” fully. I’ve never seen “Cats” and have somehow, that world famous song has always passed by me. It was fantastically done by Susan though. She is amazing. And to get Simon Cowell to apologise so earnestly for anything is a feat! I love Piers usually but I thought his comment was a bit too sappy and self-involved.
It’s “Memory” coming from the Andrew Lloyd Webber nutcase here and I think she did a wonderful job. It’s not an easy song to do at all but she made it seem effortless.
~Dani
You can sure tell Susan Boyle’s star has risen by the number of people ready to take pot shots and tear her down. She had a rough couple of notes but she righted herself and went on to nail the song. That’s one of my favorite songs and I can’t stand to hear it sung poorly. Susan Boyle did a great job and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one of her CD’s.
its always going to be hard to top that first performance as last time it was so unexpected and therefore had so much emotional impact.
You never know who will win these things as the public can sometimes surprise you, but she will definately be in the top bunch.
I’m a singer, and noticed right away that the key was too low for her. You notice this on the second half of the first verse. I think she’d have done better on a different (and less flogged to death) tune.
When you’re nervous, your throat tightens and won’t open up to allow the lower vibrations until you wrest control of your diaphragm and throat, which is why she touched her stomach. It’s a sort of quickie forced relaxation. It’s very hard to do! Relax in front of how many millions of people? Holy cow. She’s had good training. But once she breathed and calmed a little, and then hit the power notes, she got better. I could tell she was really nervous, poor thing. I wanted to tell her to just close her eyes and ignore the lights, the judges and the people. Just pretend they’re not there, and you’re in your own living room, practicing. Anytime I get nervous onstage I just sort of close my eyes and sing for myself and forget about the people.
No way could I have pulled that off with all that tremendous pressure. And I’ve NEVER heard Simon apologize for being mean, that was killer. Cheers to her.
I have to admit that every time I listen to this woman sing, I get goose bumps. That aside, I wholeheartedly agree with Megan. There are other great acts, but no one is giving them the attention they deserve because of the sensation surrounding Susan Boyle.
Too much hype.