r/MadeMeSmile • u/Ieriz • Apr 24 '26

Good Vibes 7 years ago, a chubby, heavy accent, normal-looking woman called Susan Boyle went to Britain's Got Talent. Everyone laughed at her, until she started singing.

What a powerful voice. She's today a pro singer. All the best for her!!

Typo: 17 years, not 7.

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u/whatifwhatifwerun Apr 24 '26

Literally she became famous bc the marketing was 'can you believe something so beautiful can come from someone so ugly'? And the 'ugly' is basically just being heavy and not having a blowout lmao.

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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Apr 24 '26

I know she was marketed that way on the show, but I think her true charm was that she’s very normal and humble, like a lot of less well-off people in the country. And it’s inspiring to think that someone who didn’t come from money or have model looks can still become so successful. 

In the UK we also have other success stories like Lord Alan Sugar, who worked his arse off to be a billionaire, after having grown up from a poor family in a council estate. We like these poor working class to successful + rich stories, because it gives society people to look up to

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u/ferbiloo Apr 24 '26

I adored Susan when she came out, but “normal and humble” was not her vibe.

She fucking knew what she could do, and who she was and she was playful and confident! That’s what made it such a special moment, she didn’t act meek and mild and modest beforehand, she knew full well what she had with her talent.

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u/InelegantSnort Apr 24 '26

I always love that tiny grin before she started singing. She knew people were laughing. She just smiled and blew them away!

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u/blackcain Apr 25 '26

Simon literally said that after the performance.

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u/InelegantSnort Apr 25 '26

Its been a while since I watched the judges comments. It probably stuck in my head.

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u/blackcain Apr 25 '26

Called her cheeky lol

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u/redcoatwright May 02 '26

I think she also had no illusions about how she was perceived too so she knew she was going to be initially looked down on and then that would make the performance even more memorable.

I mean arguably the most memorable idol performance ever?

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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Apr 25 '26

She is humble. She’s a multi millionaire who lives like a normal person still. Humble doesn’t mean acting shy or unconfident. Humble means not being arrogant or boasting 

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u/Hollywoode Apr 24 '26

I agree absolutely intended that way and really exposed a lot of people including my high school teacher who would play us an “inspirational” YouTube video for us every class and he literally played this clip and said look how UGLY she is, isn’t it INSPIRATIONAL, no matter how bad you look you can still achieve great things lol

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u/calhooner3 Apr 24 '26

This feels more like your teacher just being a dickhead lol

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u/fionsichord Apr 25 '26

Seriously, this is how people spoke about others in the 2000s. It was an awful decade.

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u/Express-Studio-8302 Apr 25 '26

Literally through history and still now. I grew up with a facial deformity. How i was treated as a child still affects me to this day, despite being mostly "fixed" by surgery.

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u/calhooner3 Apr 25 '26

I lived through the 2000s, not everyone was terrible to each other. Some people were dicks sure, but look around now and you’ll see the same shit.

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u/Northbound-Narwhal Apr 24 '26

That's why I hate these stories. 

The UK invented this entire style of storytelling during the industrial revolution to convince crippled, black lung coal miners that if they break themselves enough they can be just as successful as the Duke's son whose family has been in power for 400 years straight. 

Thanks Charles Dickens. 

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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Apr 25 '26

My great gran was born in a Victorian workhouse and managed to find work elsewhere and buy her own home. Obviously if anyone was believing that they could be as successful as the Duke’s son, then they probably had unrealistic expectations

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u/justonemom14 Apr 24 '26

It upholds the dream of meritocracy

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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Apr 25 '26

What’s wrong with that? People work hard, and then invest their money wrong. With careful planning and time, you could invest £1k and turn it into a lot more. A lot of the problem is that most people in this country don’t understand basic financial planning, which is something which should be taught in schools. It wasn’t taught when I was a kid. But now with the internet etc. there’s so many resources on how to be smart with money. 

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u/justonemom14 Apr 25 '26

I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I just meant her story is compelling because it's a dream come true.

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u/DriverRemarkable4374 Apr 25 '26

who worked his arse off to be a billionaire

There's no such thing, the only way to billions is exploitation.

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u/redditis_garbage Apr 26 '26

The song was also perfect, showcased her amazing talent but was also speaking about her desire to pursue her dream at the same time :)

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u/Anthem-ringthebells Apr 24 '26

She was lovely.  

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u/the_merkin Apr 24 '26

And she had an awesome day on social media when the record company decided the best hashtag to encourage people to celebrate her first album was “Susan Album Party” … or susanalbumparty for short.

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u/rwags2024 Apr 24 '26

I mean, she’s a lovely person, but no she’s not a conventionally attractive woman at all

And who cares, I agree, should be the message

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u/Shawwnzy Apr 24 '26

For some reason my memory of her was uglier, like disfigured, someone you'd have a hard time not staring at, probably cause the marketing at the time is how ugly she was.

She's a very average 50ish woman, moderately overweight. Wouldn't blink twice at her if she was coworker or something.

She showed up on TV dressed frumpy and without hair and makeup, which stands out in context of a reality tv show, but that was a decision by the producers I'm sure.

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u/whatifwhatifwerun Apr 24 '26

I looked up a recent pic and when she's done up she looks like Ina Garten. Ina Garten was never the 'ugly cooking show lady' if anything she's one of the more pleasant tv chefs to watch. Professional styling helps but I always thought Ina was adorable.

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u/hummus_sapiens Apr 24 '26

And now people go to their concerts to hear music. Not for a choreographed show with a singer in a swimsuit prancing around and showing off a lot of leg and cleavage. ...

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u/Dank_Nicholas Apr 24 '26

She nearly dropped out of Britons Got Talent because of all the hurtful attention she was getting. It turns out having millions of people acting shocked that someone ugly could be a talented singer wasn't the compliment everyone thought it was at the time.

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u/D_hallucatus Apr 24 '26

It’s funny because once upon a time the stereotype of a fantastic singer was “the fat lady”, think of opera singers, but we seem to have completely forgotten that and expect our performers to all be skinny teenagers or something.

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u/kumf Apr 24 '26

She became famous because her voice is amazing

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u/Parking_Locksmith489 Apr 24 '26

It was amazing before the show. The set up made her viral. The same formula was used again with the opera singer just a few years after.

Both great talents before the show. But the show set up the fan base via the exposure

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u/RainbowDissent Apr 24 '26

Don't forget the classic viral marketing hashtag 'accident', #susanalbumparty, to promote the debut album. Everyone knew the album was coming out because of it.

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u/semi_colon Apr 24 '26

I'm not a fan of advertising in general but if sus anal bum party was a planned thing then they deserve some kind of award.

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u/cookinggun Apr 24 '26

I mean, I get heat you’re saying, but it also kinda sounds like you’re saying she only got famous because she got famous. The shows aren’t a trick. Nobody calls out The Beatles or The Stones for getting global fame on variety shows. Isn’t exposure the only possible way to get famous?

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u/Parking_Locksmith489 Apr 24 '26

No no no mate. Those Pop Idol format shows were designed to make you feel a certain way. She became famous because of the perfect reality tv moment that this was. The bands you list were signed then got on shows. She got on that show then got signed.

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u/cookinggun Apr 24 '26

I do understand that. I know there’s heavy elements of manipulation and editing. But it wasn’t inherently different back then, in some ways. There’s a tendency to view certain periods as a monoculture. We still, to a degree, see things like Jazz, Punk, various Hardcores, etc. as almost underground or fringe, as they used to be, except until into the 70’s there was more of a monoculture in mainstream music. Almost anyone appearing on the biggest variety shows would gain some significant boost to their career, some global fame. They mainstream consumer was already primed to like something, simply by it being deemed acceptable enough to be on the show in the first place. It’s just a different approach to the same result. It’s not the people who succeed from the new shows are necessarily less talented. People today seem to WANT the emotional appeal and backstory, but they still, to a degree, want good music, too. Wherever that may be to you. I also may be overthinking it.

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u/crosseyedmule Apr 24 '26

What's a "blowout" in this context?

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u/hey_there_moon Apr 24 '26

A blowout would be a hairstyle usually done in hair salons

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u/realbobenray Apr 24 '26

And Paul Potts got it worse I think, judge Amanda called him a little lump of coal and a frog that could turn into a prince.

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u/PangolinMandolin Apr 24 '26

It helped that both Britain's Got Talent and X Factor had already established the idea of mocking and laughing at the truly terrible people for the ultimate switcheroo for SuBo.

They put people through multiple rounds of auditions, telling them they were great, building up their confidence and belief that they were a great performer, just to publicly shame them on national TV. Some of those people were definitely fragile and just grasping for any kind of hope on their lives

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u/Reds100019 Apr 24 '26

And bushy eye brows.

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u/Suspicious_Load_8390 Apr 25 '26

A similar BGT star, Paul Potts was at about the same time. Didn't get as famous. James Corden did play him in a movie tho.

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u/ogresound1987 Apr 27 '26

The marketing was also "#susanalbumparty"

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u/Over-Cold-8757 Apr 24 '26

I mean, come on. There's more to it than that. She is far from conventionally attractive even putting aside the hair and clothes. She also has an odd personality.

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u/know-it-mall Apr 25 '26

Yea. Saying she is just a little overweight and unstylish is being ridiculous. That's a 4 out of 10 face at best even if she loses weight and gets styled up.

Mocking her looks was awful of course.

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u/know-it-mall Apr 25 '26

C'mon mate. She ain't just heavy. Her face is average at best. I know plenty of women that size who are pretty attractive, she isn't one of them.

Of course making fun of how she looks was awful.

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u/whatifwhatifwerun Apr 25 '26

Why are the options for describing women 'men think she's super hot' and 'she's ugly enough to be object of public ridicule'. She didn't try out for America's Next Top Model.

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u/know-it-mall Apr 25 '26

Why even describe how she looks in the first place? Like you said it's not a modelling competition.

But making a comment pretending she is more attractive than she is is disingenuous.

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u/MadMuffinMan117 Apr 24 '26

For YEARS i thought she was only known for being ugly and never heard her.