In case you haven't heard, Susan Boyle is the United Kingdom's newest talent. She emerged this season on the other Simon Cowell show, Britain's Got Talent.
When she first stepped on stage and answered a few questions from the judges, you could tell that people were thinking the 47-year-old Scottish woman was another Sanjaya, or worse - another William Hung. But how many times has your mother told you to not judge a book by its cover? With her dowdy dress, scraggly hair and bushy eye brows, Boyle's cover isn't as pretty as, say, American Idol Adam Lambert's cover, but she is yet another testament as to why you should always listen to your mother.
Boyle shocked the judges, the studio audience and millions of viewers when she opened her mouth and began to sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. Why was everyone so shocked? Because surely someone who looks like that can't manage anything but a warbled, off-key musical rendition. Instead, the world was treated to the voice of an angel, a voice that rivals Charlotte Church's angelic sound.
You have to wonder if the reaction would have been different if Boyle had come on stage as a beautiful, model-quality woman. Surely she must have a good voice, people would have thought. And when she did indeed have a beautiful voice, she would have been just another beautiful talent and would have quickly fallen off the map and Internet search engines.
Boyle's appeal lies in the fact that she is the underdog. She's just like those of us who weren't blessed with head-turning good looks or some other majorly redeeming quality that could win us a competition. What's more, when she came on stage she told the judges that she had never been kissed. That small tidbit made her even more endearing. How could anyone not love someone who is so beautiful on the inside and who has such a lovely voice? Those shallow men, we think. Ah, but what was your honest instant reaction when you first laid eyes on Susan Boyle?
Later we found out that the never-been-kissed part was untrue. Boyle told one reporter, "Never been kissed? I've never stopped." So she lied to millions of viewers but we still love her. What's up with that?
The truth is we want Boyle to win because she's just like the rest of us. She didn't get up there on stage and wow everyone with her sequined dress and movie star perfect hair. She came as she was, and for the most part, has stayed true to who she is. And that's why we love her.