I just sat here watching Susan Boyle’s performance of “Memory” – the performance which propelled her into the finals of “Britain’s Got Talent”. While I think she has an absolutely fantastic and amazing voice – I wasn’t feeling it. I re-watched her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” which was her first appearance on the show and I almost cry every time. It was all so fresh and innocent (I mean she tried to walk off the stage before hearing what the judges had to say) and there was a certain charm about it. The fact that she left the judges and the audience gobsmacked had a lot to do with that charm. Here was this frumpy middle aged woman saying she wanted to be like Elaine Paige. You could almost hear the audience laughing at her. She didn’t appear scared or nervous and she almost seemed to be enjoying herself. Simon was smiling, Amanda was shocked and Piers was beside himself.
When you watch her performance of “Memory” from Cats it’s totally different. She’s nervous and doesn’t even look at the camera. You can see the pressure is immense. She’s had a makeover and is wearing some fancier clothes and it all just seems so contrived. She was still fantastic even though she did mess up the first few notes, but that was obviously nerves. Maybe it was the reaction of the judges and the audience that annoyed me. They all just sat there – expecting her to be perfect and great. There was no real joy or smiles from the judges. We all cheered when she began the second verse and hit that note that is a dragon slayer and my heart flew, but it wasn’t the same. Not by a long shot.
Then today comes the controversy about her dropping “F” bombs all over the place and being a diva. Well I’m not surprised. Her and I are the same age. If I suddenly found myself thrust into the spotlight to that degree, and had all this pressure on me, and felt nervous because strangers now act as if they know me – I too might get nervous and drop a couple of bombs out of sheer frustration.
Here’s to Susan knocking them dead on Saturday night. I’ll be in line to buy her first album.