Comments on: Susan Boyle falters, clutches stomach, and sings on
In her second performance on "Britain's Got Talent," YouTube sensation Susan Boyle begins with flat notes, but progresses to next week's final.
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Chris Matyszczyk brings a fresh and irreverent perspective to the tech world in his CNET blog, Technically Incorrect. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
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Good lord. She got a bit of stage fright and bellowed the rest. Let's not make it into a screenplay.
Wayyyy too many metaphors. Wayyyy too much drama. Communist Russia? Sheryl Crow lyrics? Tongue piercing speculation?
Someone get the author a Paxil and a cup of tea.
Come on; grow up. The whole beauty of her first performance was that she had nothing to lose. How could you possibly imply she sang back then as if her life depended on it?
I've said this before, but the Cnet blogs are really encouraging weak writing and thinking.
But basically I'm unclear on why CNET published a review of her performance, even in a blog, rather than something talking about techie stuff.
All in all, she is Forrest Gump in a skirt... daring.
Selling records has nothing to do with talent. You really think the top 40 has more than one or two truly talented people in it at any given time?
You obviously have little or no clue about how the music industry works.
This lady has a very capable voice, and given the right exposure (which she is finally getting), she might sell some records or it could be strictly 15 mins of fame and back to her village.
As an ex-pro singer I was curious to see how Susan Boyle would perform with what must have been the greatest pressure any singer in our lifetime has ever had to face. Although she has performed in Karaokes and a few competitions on a first round principle this performance was something she could have no conception of how awesome and challenging it would be. I could not sit down when the two Geordie presenters announced her cue.
As I saw her take her few steps out onto the stage, the wall of fear that hit her senses was there to be seen. I gasped in horror. Please, O Lord, don't let this humble woman collapse, was the thought at the top of my emotional stack. Imagine that bedlam in her head, that pressure as she waded against a formidable tide of inconceivable fear to the microphone that must have seemed an unreachable distance ahead.
But she reached it. Perhaps just on acheiving this first simple, yet paradoxically difficult, task, she began to smile. I knew then that at least she had managed to hold on to her sanity, such is the fortitude of the human spirit. I realisied, for my part, that I was still holding my breath from my initial gasp.
The arpeggio of 'Memories' started up, and I had no idea what would come out of Susan Boyle's mouth. The very first note began not off-key but a whole octave lower than I had expected of her range. It sounded weak. I crouched down to the floor; as a singer I could see what had gone wrong. She simply did not have enough air in her lungs to blast out the correct pitch (even though the blast would have to be a controlled first-noter). Then incredibly she halved the length of her windpipe to push that first note up to the next octave. This caused a definite yodel effect. To be honest I've never in my life heard a singer do this midway through a note. Just after the note begins, yes, because that's the usual yodel method or the way a singer goes to a high-pitched falsetto (as Del Shannon used to do, such as in 'Runaway'). Anyway, now I realised Susan Boyle was in a place that would make Hell seem like a Freezer.
But somehow she managed to skillfully and patiently get herself out of the deepest, thickest and stickiest quagmire any singer could ever have found themselves drowning in. As she did so, I found myself breathing again. From this point onwards she looked secure psychologically, at least. Her voice grew stronger.
Then came a musical bridge leading to the finale. During this bridge Susan Boyle smiled (she had climbed to the top of the mountain of fear and now she knew she could give the finale a blast from Heaven with a lot less to lose. And she did. Not the best blast she is capable of, because of the physiological and psychological beating the weeks leading up to the performance, and the beginning of the performance itself, had taken out of her. But, still, one hell of a blast! It was a blast original to Susan Boyle, and quite breathtaking and awe-inspiring. I was overcome. Because she had overcome the greatest pressure ever placed on a performer in the history of popular music and had turned her performance into a potential winner.
Now all she had to do was deliver the final few notes. These, because they were higher than her natural range, were delivered with a head-voice (without the aid of the stable chest power). And she controlled and nailed them (although a listener would percieve them as being slightly false because they were in that they were technically falsetto notes); but like the Bee Gees they were delivered skillfully and powerfully enough to be classy.
It was done.
In my opinion, the greatest performance of all Time. Not because it was the greatest voice of all Time, or because the interpretation was the best of all Time; but because she delivered it under the greatest pressure and expectation of all Time. This is no exaggeration.
Good luck, Susan.
Tom
Thank you so much for the explanation of what exactly happened to Susan's first couple of notes last night. I, too, held my breath and was extremely relieved when she was able to recover.
I live near Niagara falls in Ontario Canada and started a Face Book site called "Canada Loves Susan Boyle". I hope you don't mind but I copied your post there for others to read so they too can understand.......
Leslie
Your explanation is the best I've ever dawned upon. You see, I've never been into reality shows or hardly lingered into YouTube until Susan Boyle. Classical music and musicals have been lifelong passion but I was never formally trained as a musician but as an information technology professional. I had to register here so I can commend and ask your permission to print your comment in my blogsite, or perhaps two sites. Susan Boyle is not only gifted with a magnificent voice, she's a natural and has the guts of a true champion. She has just proven it how she pulled through in "Memory." What a performance! What a voice! What a lovely human being!
I pray that the media will be kind and respectful in treating this lovely lady who, in just few weeks, has given so much joy and warmth to millions of people around the world during these trying times.
Tom, my concern here is also on Susan Boyle's performance and her effect. I do hope you don't mind my posting your comment. You said it all so brilliantly. Thank you,
Tel
sounds great except, pressure is what you make on yourself. she had no more pressure than the other people performing.
I'm just a little ( o.k. a lot) tired of excuses for her. anyone else that would have missed any note on a semi-final in front of those particular judges , would have met with verbal abuses, the least of which would be NO EXCUSES !
but that doesn't make for worldwide coverage. I wouldn't go so far as calling her a troll ( although i did find I very funny)
but the truth is that she would not be this far or talked about this much if she was great looking.
finally, I still believe that even today
In this world of prefabricated, marketed top 40 music, a true singing sensation would have come out ( before 40) no matter what. NO EXCUSES.
Lesly
By the way, I just heard Susan Boyle's final-performance. She took the safe option and sang "I Dreamed a Dream". I think she sang it well enough to justify winning the competition (but it is obvious the stress and pressure she has been living under recently has taken its toll). I think if she wins, the pressure will ease.
Cheers,
Tom
But my point is that the hype she had to deliver under was hitherto unexperienced by any singer in history. It really is that dramatic (and certainly not melodramatic).
Susan Boyle, if given a month in a top studio with a top engineer (say Mark Taylor who engineered Cher's 'Believe') then I think you'll appreciate her voice. She does not always act appropriately, and perhaps that is annoying to some people. Or perhaps some people are just bullies, like the ones she had to put up with until the day she realised her dreamed her dream.
Come on AppleRocks1963, give the lady a chance. She's only had one paid job in her entire life (trainee cook) which she failed at. But she's done charity work and looked for a job ever since. She looked after her dying mother. It's not a melodrama. It's her reality. Let her get through this now over-hyped competition, and see what she comes up with. I doubt you'll be disappointed. This lady did not deserve to suffer the pain our sicko world puts on people in less fortunate lives than those who often unfairly have been put in more fortunate ones. Don't tell me Demi Moore's tears aren't anything more than a sub-conscious stream of guilt. Let's be clear about one thing, people living in luxurious homes do not deserve to. The work they did or do can never substantiate their assets. Capitalism is just the best thing we have right now, because we're a greedy, evil race. But we're learning and hopefully progressing. Imagine if parents treated their children with Capitalist rewards. Johhny getting more candy because he's a better liar than Danille, or he happens to be cleverer, or whatever? Funny how we do to adults what we would never do to our offspring.
I think Susan Boyle is the tip of the iceberg in explaining what's wrong with our world. Susan Boyle is perhaps the offspring whom we want to have what she deserves. Not money or fame, but respect.
Tom (retired lead singer of plusfourfour)
As for Susan Boyle's performance... I think it was great that she faltered in the beginning before getting it back on track, and I think she deserved to be put through.
I think this blog written by Chris Matyszczyk is excellent. I believe it is evidence of a natural talent for writing at the highest professional level. Surely, Susan Boyle has everything to do with technology, its power and its control; its effect on the global community.
I do admit though, that I commented on this blog on the understanding it was a blog for commenting on the performance and effect of Susan Boyle. I didn't know cnet was a organization concerned with technology. I'm an artist myself (or ex-artist), though, ironically, I do have to have a PhD in the field of internet technology. Don't worry, I'm not looking for a job with cnet! I'm just a fan of Susan Boyle because of what she stands for.
Not that he needs any of my encouragement, but, Mr Matyszczyk, please keep up the excellent work!
"the lights of a billion eyeballs"
"stoicism built from the bricks of a thousand days of damp, dark Scottish existence"
"twitchy bats"
"uncertain notes crept back in near the end like recurring doubts"
"the wrong flight and had been sent back in time to a party convention in Brezhnev's USSR."
"bathing in her story"
This is hack!
Is there a way of filtering out headlines from my CNET news feed which come from this author? Matyszczyk has an arrogant, snide turn of phrase which may appeal to Vanity Fair readers, but not to most technies, surely?
jt kaufmann
jtkaufmann@humanfactorinc.com
- by cp256 May 27, 2009 12:48 PM PDT
- Wow, where do I start. I don't watch reality shows, I get enough reality from living I guess. While this performance wasn't as stunning as her first one, it was still very good. If you add up her story and her talent you get a good show. I think she's a courageous lady with a great voice and even though I am not into her kind of music, I was moved by her performances and I wish her much success. I expect that her next big performance to be quite a bit better than this one.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (50 Comments)Mr. former-lead singer, thank you for your critique of Ms. Boyle, but you spoiled it with your socialist diatribe.
Only a blog troll could call Ms. Boyle a stage troll, what a worthless comment.
I come here for tech news, but Chris Matyszczyk's review of Ms. Boyle doesn't anger me for its lack of tech content. Anyone who saw the title and then read the review needs to find something better to do with their time rather than complain about the lack of tech relevance in a column that is provided to you free of charge.
It's a somewhat sad commentary on society that with so much good to say about Ms. Boyle and her emergence onto the big stage, so many people look at it as an opportunity to complain about something. She has enriched my life in a small way and for that I thank her. I'm looking forward to her next performance.