By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Susan Boyle still thinks of herself as the ``wee wifey with the mop and cat next door,'' but for the rest of the world, she is a star with an angelic voice.
Her debut album ``I Dreamed a Dream'' topped the charts in 15 countries, including Korea, when it was released in November. In the United States, it reached no. 1 on the Billboard charts, selling 701,000 copies in its first week.
Boyle's story is the stuff of Hollywood movies: a frumpy spinster from a small town in Scotland goes to audition at a popular British TV talent show, dazzles everyone with her talent, and goes on to become a global phenomenon.
Her stirring rendition of ``I Dreamed a Dream'' during an audition for ``Britain's Got Talent'' thoroughly impressed the panel of judges, including Simon Cowell, and even garnered a standing ovation from the audience.
Boyle may have ended up in second place in the TV contest, but she scored a lucrative record deal. ``I went from being an unknown, nobody bothering me on the streets to all these headlines with things like 'the hairy angel'. The pressure of that I found a bit suffocating as anyone would because it all happened in such a short space of time,'' she said, in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.
The audition clip was uploaded on YouTube, where it has since been viewed over 80 million times. ``I didn't know what YouTube was until I was in the record offices and saw the clip and the number of hits and thought, `Oh my God.' I'm still trying to come to terms with it,'' she said.
Going from nobody to a world-famous celebrity was a shock for Boyle, who spent most of her adult life living in Blackburn, a small village in West Lothian, Scotland. She didn't quite understand the hype, saying it was surreal to have strangers writing to her and TV crews outside her doorstep.
But she has grown to appreciate the overwhelming love and support of fans.
The 48-year-old singer, who once famously said she had never been kissed, has also been deluged with offers of dates from male fans.
``The fans have been amazing and the mail I have received, phenomenal. I have been sent beautiful gifts including books, toiletries and a vintage dress from the 1950's that had been in a family for generations and they wanted me to have it. It's indescribable that someone would want me to have something so precious. Everyone has shown me such kindness and support. I've even had offers of dates,'' she said.
Faced with such fame now, how does the Scottish singing sensation keep her feet on the ground? ``Remembering that I am just that wifey. My story is what you see is what you get. There's no airs and graces with me,'' she said, with refreshing candor.
Recording an album was a dream come true for Boyle, so she was determined to do her best.
``When you go into the studio, you see all these plaques on the walls of different artists and I said to myself `you're going to make an album and eventually if you're good enough you'll be there','' she said.
All the songs on the album had special personal meaning for Boyle. It includes soulful remakes of the Rolling Stones' ``Wild Horses,'' Madonna's ``You'll See,'' ``Daydream Believer,'' and the original, ``Who I Was Born to Be.''
A particular favorite of hers is the classic ``Amazing Grace.'' ``It is a beautiful song. It's a song I try to learn from, about how grace influences your life. I'd sung it as part of choral work and I think it is one of those songs that appeals across the ages,'' Boyle said.
The singer, who was bullied as a child and admitted having bouts of loneliness in her life, offers some advice to people who are going through similar experiences.
``My advice to those who dare to dream is: Don't give up. If I can do it, anyone else can too,'' she said.