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How Susan Boyle's Rival Won Me Over
Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan on why Shaheen Jafargholi is just as unexpected—and talented—as she is, but in the vein of Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.
My favorite part of the James Bond movies comes when the mad, brilliant villain appears out of nowhere to inform a stunned 007: “Not so fast, Mr Bond…”
I was reminded of this when 12-year-old singer Shaheen Jafargholi crashed onto the scene like a vocal bolt of lightning this week to challenge Internet sensation Susan Boyle on the hit U.K. TV show that I judge, Britain’s Got Talent.
Just when the whole world—quite literally!—assumed that the glorious Susan, 47, had the competition in the bag after one solitary, yet utterly spectacular, two-minute performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, along comes young Shaheen to throw a massive great big spanner in the works.
Like Susan, the magic of Shaheen’s audition lay in its unexpectedness.
I remember the moment vividly. It came half way through a long day of fairly mediocre fare at a theatre in Cardiff, Wales.
Shaheen seemed a very ordinary, conservatively dressed, polite young chap. Certainly there was nothing about his appearance that screamed “Star!”
He started singing the Amy Winehouse song “Valerie.” It was OK, but nothing special, and my co-judge Simon Cowell stopped him in his tracks.
The crowd went silent, Shaheen looked shocked, and I wondered what on earth Mr. Cowell was up to.
Shaheen seemed a very ordinary, conservatively dressed, polite young chap. Certainly there was nothing about his appearance that screamed “Star!”
“What other songs do you have?” he asked.
“Erm, well I have …..” replied Shaheen.
Simon nodded. “Do that, instead.”
Lots of conspiracy theories have raged in the last few days about this situation, but every singer is told to bring two songs into the audition with them, and we often get them to sing both if we suspect there is a good voice lurking there somewhere, but the first song doesn’t give them a proper chance to show it.
Shaheen composed himself, then burst into the Motown classic “Who’s Loving You?” and instantly transformed himself from a competent kid singer into a potential global phenomenon.
It was a moment nearly as shocking as Susan Boyle, because, again, we just didn’t see it coming.
What a dazzling, beautiful voice he has.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Piers Morgan worked as a gossip columnist for the Sun before going on to edit the News of the World and then the Daily Mirror, where he stayed until 2004 when he was sacked following his decision to publish photos of British soldiers apparently abusing Iraqi prisoners of war. Since then, he shot to fame as a judge on the top-rated show America's Got Talent and was the first winner of Celebrity Apprentice. His new book, God Bless America: Misadventures of a Big Mouth Brit has just been published.
Susan Boyle Is Crying–and My Heart Bleeds
Piers Morgan worked as a gossip columnist for the Sun before going on to edit the News of the World and then the Daily Mirror, where he stayed until 2004 when he was sacked following his decision to publish photos of British soldiers apparently abusing Iraqi prisoners of war. Since then, he shot to fame as a judge on the top-rated show America's Got Talent and was the first winner of Celebrity Apprentice. His new book, God Bless America: Misadventures of a Big Mouth Brit has just been published.
How Susan Boyle Won My Heart
Piers Morgan worked as a gossip columnist for the Sun before going on to edit the News of the World and then the Daily Mirror, where he stayed until 2004 when he was sacked following his decision to publish photos of British soldiers apparently abusing Iraqi prisoners of war. Since then, he shot to fame as a judge on the top-rated show America's Got Talent and was the first winner of Celebrity Apprentice. His new book, God Bless America: Misadventures of a Big Mouth Brit has just been published.
Piers,
He was very cute and very good, in a young Michael Jackson sort of way, but compared to Susan Boyle, especially the latest song released from her, from that charity event long ago.... no comparison in my book. She's just unbelievable and he's just very good.
Piers: If you are looking for an explanation as why all the comments to your column are supporting Susan Boyle over her youthful rival may I suggest you read Tina Brown's post on April 20 regarding "invisible women"? Tina hit the nail on the head in this piece and you would be wise to consider its wisdom when evaluating the relative talents of Susan and that kid, at least if you are questioning the viability of their commercial appeal. Every woman (Hillary supporters and nonsupporters alike) I know will be cheering on Susan to win the competition for the reasons stated in Tina's post. The kid has his whole life ahead of him. Susan's has the voice of an angel and it is her turn. Britian does indeed have talent but put your money on Susan. Trust me.
He's not even close to the level of Susan Boyle. He's good, for a kid, but there are no qualifiers on how great she is. Also, I noticed the microphone hiding his mouth almost all of the time. Seems a little odd to me.
Why do I feel the request by Simon to change the song was more than just a little manipulative and planned.
I agree, he's not even close to the level of Susan Boyle. In fact, it's really a dime a dozen as far as singing goes. Most kids forced into the entertainment industry seem to sing just like this.
Boring.
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This show is about manipulating consumer demand. Any comment on the show by a principle of the show has been calculated to feed demand. If everyone has seen the winner on YouTube, why tune in to the actual show. Trump up a competition, and the viewers flock around. My concern is why The Daily Beast participates in this charade.
I didn't hear the heart in the kid like I heard in the woman. Is it even close? I think this my be drummed up, and the Beast is feeding.
As talented as he Shaheen is, isn't discovering a young talent more expected than discovered an older one? On the expectations front (low to none), and on the emotive / resonance spectrum (high to off the charts), Susan Boyle's my pick.
Yeah, I think this kid was okay.. Not amazing.. I can understand how you're caught up in enthusiasm, Pierce, but we here around the world couldn't really care less about this kid. The audience seems prepped and ready to clap for anything, but with Susan Boyle it felt more real, less prompted, and maybe it just came across much better on television.
No Comparison at all. 2 very different sounds and while one makes me weep the other makes me think of a child singing though I am sure you feel that this "pitting" on the internet will increase your shows numbers.
A Susan Boyle comes along once in a lifetime while I know of many good child singers. Sorry.
I have a theory that the backstory of a contestant has a lot to do with whether he/she wins or loses, and Susan Boyle has a great one (mentally slightly slow due to oxygen deprivation at birth, a middle-aged, unattractive virgin with a cat who took care of her mother until she died). Talented as he is, the kid Shaheen is too young to have much of a backstory, so the audience tends to support Susan, especially the vicarious livers, i.e., middle-aged females who maybe haven't succeeded in life to the extent they anticipated. Same thing for American Idol. Danny Gokey lost his wife to heart disease, Lil Rounds is the working poor with a litter of kids, etc. These people may be talented enough to win without the sympathy vote, but compelling backstory definitely helps.
I watched it twice and I couldn't tell if it was NOT a lip-sinc. There are MANY cameras on that show, able to shoot from many different angles, but when that kid was singing the only camera that was selected was the one that was straight in front, allowing the microphone to completely obscure his mouth.
That program is heavily edited post-show and then broadcast weeks later, so the decision to go with only that camera was a calculated post-show production decision.
I wonder why?...
As an American, I have not been familiar with this show, but from what I can gather so far, it is HIGHLY manipulated.
I completely agree about the high degree of manipulation. The shows are edited very cleverly, but very heavily. On another site someone said that this is the beginning of seven-minute movies on YouTube by independents. I agree. What you're seeing with Susan Boyle (and I do love her, nonetheless), is a very sophisticated packaged production, with every second closely choreographed after the fact in the editing room.
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Wait! Average looking people can be talented, too? That's Crazy!
Ditto. No comparison. He's a cute talented kid, who did a remarkable job of going on to perform after having been stopped by Simon early in his initial number. And there is nothing wrong with that. He has everything to be proud of. He's just not Susan. He hasn't spent 48 years practicing with an instrument that is made of pure gold.
The problem is that Susan was too good and her tour-de-force has sapped the show of its drama. The only drama remaining is whether Susan wins, as she ought, or she doesn't, and the show loses all credibility.
So Piers and company are left trying to salvage the show and keep up the spirits of the remaining contestants. No small task. Moreover they have to keep Susan happy because she's the contract Simon wants when this is over. Even if Shaheen is arguably as good as Susan (this is a hypothetical, hang in there), it doesn't matter. Look at his number of hits on YouTube. Who is going to sell? Look at the number of comments encouraging Susan to get an album out, versus the number encouraging Shaheen to get an album out. There is no comparison.
So, good try Piers. Do what you must. Susan, please put Virginia on your tour. Ideally Hampton Roads, but I'll travel if I must.
While this may not be PC, the fact is that this boy's voice, while talelnted now, is going to crack and change in just a year or two. And how unfair it would be if that were not taken into voting consideration now because no one knows how he will sound after he hits puberty. (I did caution that this wasn't PC). There are only a handful of child singers, actors, entertainers around the world who successfully make the transition from child sensation to adult star. True, Shaheen's talent might hold but his voice might not. It is not going to be as it is now and no one can say if his voice will then be for the better or worse. I say to go with the quality and soul of Susan Boyle rather than a flash in the pan youngster who looks like he fell into a jar of hair gel.
Gawd! How much does Tina Brown get paid for these $$$$hameless advertisements?
A lot. Sites like this are expensive.
I guess. Now they are a bit more up-front with it. (The Bottega Veneta front page.) Boy, is this site going down the tubes! Hey, are Buckley's parents still dead?
In his own right he is no doubt very good and you can't help but like him. However, the talent I prefer is the type of music that Suan brings forth. Her "I Dreamed a Dream" was so beautiful. I don't care for his type of music. Will this hold any weight. Let's say in their own right--they are both good!
tina prolly gets paid in prada.
I don't know who any of these people are, and I don't care.
I have worked in marketing for years and this entire escapade, starting with Susan Boyle and now this kid is a just a clever campaign to promote a TV show. They realized they were onto something with Peter Potts and have merely rehashed it with more bravado. The latest installment with stopping the lad from singing was so obviously canned, it was cringe worthy.
If you study the Susan Boyle video carefully, Piers Morgan goes into character too quickly and starts to tear up before she "surprises" him. He was telegraphing his reaction. Plus, one of the back stage flunkies states knowingly, "you didn't see that coming"
They were obviously in on it so why on earth wouldn't the producers or the judges be as well?
This is not to say anything disparaging about Ms. Boyle's singing. It is nice enough. But the entire "don't judge a book by it's cover" promotional aspect of this is so boiler plate and contrived, it leaves me gob-smacked that so many people fell for it. If not for the fact that Susan Boyle seems like a genuinely good hearted soul, more people would feel insulted by this cheap shot at emotional manipulation.
The bottom line is they are going to make a fortune off of these staged "surprises" and certainly there will be more to come. The fact that the contestants will receive some notoriety and monetary success doesn't excuse duping people and playing off their emotions this way. It is thoroughly disingenuous and shameful. If it were ever to come out in the wash that this was a set up, it could backfire very seriously for them and be damaging for Susan Boyle. Especially since people seem emotionally invested in the purity of her character.
Piers,
the boy has a voice, but left me cold. Subsequent interviews, left me with the feeling that he was just precocious! Something we see all too often here in LA...... Instantly forgettable........on the other hand, the charm and level of Susan's natural talent, her 'innocence' and her lifestory have made her a much more desirable choice. When else has one ever seen such an outpouring of 'joy' that Susan created, that has resonated around the world. Something tells me, she may have found her 'reason' for being here!
OK, now I believe that the whole thing was staged. The way Simon stopped him and he happened to have another song that the band had ready to play. All the reactions of the BGT personel...acting... I really think so and now they have a ratings buster that has captivated the world with the competition between this kid and Susan Boyle. I'm not saying that they're both not great but I'm jaded now.
Contribed would be my guess on the boy, Boyles I don't think was.
Good luck to Susan, a real beautiful voice.
Thank you.
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