Why Susan Boyle Matters

Unlike Bradley at Ethical Exhibitionist, I think Susan Boyle matters.

When Susan Boyle walked onto the set of Britain’s Got Talent, she was 47 years old.

And she looked it.

When she told the judges that she had dreams of being a professional singer, the cameras panned over to select faces in the audience that thought it was a joke. They did their best to suppress their laughter, but it was useless. It was obvious to them that what was about to happen would be an epic failure.

We can’t blame them of course- it's classic talent show stuff to couple a few wonderful acts with an awkward, fumbling fool with illusions of grandeur. And this frumpy old lady with her round face and dated hair captured the image of comic relief. Everyone was certain that they were about to witness a train wreck. They were certain that Susan Boyle’s fifteen minutes of fame would be achieved by butchering a song in front of millions of viewers.

So when she dazzled them instead, the room exploded in joyful shock.

I’ve never seen a standing ovation that began within seconds of a song’s beginning. But here it was, only four notes into the song and the grand cheers began erupting from the crowd and here and there the audience began to rise from their seats in surprise and pleasure until the majority of the room was standing in awe of her performance.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, from Entertainment Weekly is still watching the youtube clip over and over again- weeping for joy each time. In a recap article, she writes that “Ms. Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace. She pierced my defenses. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective from time to time.”

In an age where we often judge people by their looks and their ability to persuade us by how well they present themselves to us, I think Susan Boyle is a much needed wake-up call to the reality that beauty is more than aesthetics.

Within every one of us is a song or an idea that’s unique and wonderful to behold.

The fact that Boyle’s performance is one of the most-viewed videos up on Youtube (over 40 million views, at the time I’m writing this) is evidence that a story featuring something beautiful tucked into the most unlikely corner of this world is theme that resonates with all of us. It's why we also like Rudy, Cinderella, Princess Diana and every other narrative where the average person gets to be a hero. As we hear these stories, I think it causes us to reflect on our own, and we begin to understand that we have something worth sharing as well.

That's why Susan Boyle matters and that's why we want her to win.