The strangest thing of all about Susan Boyle is not that she can succeed without her looks but that they are actually as vital as ever. Youtube is the number 1 medium for this sort of meme, and this would never have spread so quickly f it was just an audio clip. Is this the first case of someone succeeding because they’re unattractive? In order for people to talk about you, you have to be remarkable. Being a good singer is not remarkable enough. Being an amazing singer who looks like she’s stepped off the set of Last of the Summer Wine is more than enough to press that forward button.
Susan Boyle has exploded around the world. How did this happen? It's just a woman singing. Sure she's pretty good but the fact is that the reason it's done so well is principally down to the fact that she is not that groomed or particularly attractive. Why is no one speaking about this? 100million views in a few days just of a woman singing? I don’t care if she sings the shriek of harpies on acid, no one would care if it wasn’t for the fact that she is seriously aesthetically impaired.
Are we
so shocked to see that talent can exist outside of the industry? Is it a
revelation that someone is capable of being naturally talented without the
years of training and bullshit that we expect the music industry to have
imposed on them? Or is it that the music industry has created a myth that you
have to be fit to be heard? Susan crushes our prejudices that someone who looks
like a dowdy housewife can't possibly be anything more than that.
It is of
course the record industry itself that has for many years done it's best to
create this stereotype. Over the last few years in particular years it
has become less and less common to see talented singers who aren't all that to
look at. It never used to be that way. Barbara Streisand, Aretha
Franklin and lots of other black R&B soul singers spring instantly to
mind. In fact it used to be de rigueur to be packing the pounds if you were
gonna sing r&b. Suddenly then along came all these skinny ones and you had
to be a dancer as well. I don't care what someone looks like when i'm listening
to the record. What happened tho was that you had to be fit to even get on the
tv show, get in the magazine, or be on a poster. If you were fat you weren’t
even gonna have a chance to be heard. The marketing was more important than the
record.
The power of the internet has changed all this.
We don't need the permission of the media gatekeepers to seek out what we like.
It’s an incredible time for people who like music. We can listen to what we
like right as it happens and there seems even little point in putting the
record out now, we’re all got it anyway. I bet the label will want to give
Susan a make over though, dust off the cd pressing plant and try and get us to
hand over a tenner for the varnished, glossed up supposedly better version. And
i know some of you are going to say Michelle McManus as an example where they’ve
done this before but really. Turd. Polishing.
I like the way you really drove your point home in that last paragraph, I thought I was going a bit mental reading that.
Well put though.
Posted by: MIke Laurie | 04/20/2009 at 08:43 PM
actually that was typepad playing up. i quite liked it tho and was gonna keep it, but then i thought people might think i was mental.
Posted by: ted | 04/20/2009 at 08:46 PM
She was shown on CNN today... At work... I had to turn the volume off. She annoyed me.
Posted by: Tess | 04/20/2009 at 09:11 PM
i've actually not paid a large amount of attention to the whole thing for just the reason you mentioned. i'm happy for her, of course...but you have to wonder if such as you and i have realized -why- she's getting all this fame--isn't she as well?
wouldn't that tarnish just a wee bit? ?
Posted by: erin | 04/20/2009 at 09:13 PM
I'm happy for Susan, she seems like a lovely lady who deserves to have some magical moments in life that she thought she'd only dream about.
And yes, it does show that world is shocked that she's "ugly" yet she can sing. A sad state of affairs - but let us not put that burden on her. Let her have her moment.
Posted by: Dave | 04/20/2009 at 11:12 PM
I would ahve thought youve gotten by on your lack of looks for years.
Oh no he din't!!
Posted by: Dave | 04/21/2009 at 01:14 AM