Boyle 'Decent,' But Attention Is 'Condescending'

Susan Boyle just isn’t that extraordinary, Adam Markovitz writes in Entertainment Weekly. The middle-aged singer who wowed Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent and sparked a viral YouTube hit is getting by on her lack of looks. Her voice is adequate, Markovitz writes, but “her talent is only really shocking if you’ve already counted her out as a squawker on account of her granny hairdo and pre-fame Julia Roberts eyebrows.”

“Am I the only one who finds this a little over-the-top and, frankly, a little condescending?” Markovitz asks. “Plenty of big-voiced PYTs sing their hearts out every week on American Idol without getting this kind of reaction. But Susan, because of her looks, because of the fact that people were snickering at her before she opened her mouth, becomes a sensation simply by being able to carry a tune.” (More Susan Boyle stories.)