Welcome to Pure America’s Got Talent

Hola! Konnichiwa! Bonjour! Allo! I’m Marianya, and I’ll be helping out on the Pure America’s Got Talent blog.

I started watching America’s Got Talent in Season Three… and was hooked. So I went back in time and found clips of the previous seasons and decided to put this series on auto record on my home computer.

I don’t know what else to say about myself, so I’m going to go straight to something that’s been a recent Internet sensation.

This has been circulating the rounds. From Taiwan’s Super Star Avenue, the contestant is Lin Yu Chun singing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” .

Remember that segment on Sesame Street called “One of these things is not like the other…” It was one of my favorites. Let’s play that game here:

Shakira
Leona Lewis
Rascal Flatts
Cirque du Soleil
Susan Boyle

I’ll admit that I’m impressed that America’s Got Talent was able to get these many big names on the show. However, one of the people on the list is just really out of place. I’ll give you a hint. I put her name in bold. Seriously, all of the others sell out concerts all over the world. The other one had one nice performance on BGT.

Either way, I really enjoyed Rascal Flatts performance and Shakira’s body moved in ways that I didn’t know were possible. WoW!

I just got the news about who will be the guest performers on the America’s Got Talent finale.

The season finale of NBC’s hit summer series “America’s Got Talent” Wednesday, September 16 (8-10 p.m. ET) will feature special performances from Latin pop star Shakira, British singing sensation Leona Lewis, country music superstars Rascal Flatts, the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil and many more special guests to be announced.

Previously announced finale performer, Susan Boyle will debut her new song “Wild Horses.” At the conclusion of the finale, the winning act to take home the million-dollar prize and a headlining show in Las Vegas will be announced.

Shakira will perform the world premiere of her mega-hit single, “She Wolf” from her forthcoming album of the same name, Leona Lewis will world premiere her song “Happy,” Rascal Flatts will be singing their latest hit “Summer Nights” and Cirque du Soleil will present a sneak peek performance from their brand new theatrical production “Banana Shpeel.”

Previously Announced Finale Performer Susan Boyle Will Sing Her New Song “Wild Horses”

Looks like a jam packed finale. While most of the America’s Got Talent finalist acts aren’t that exciting to me, this is a pretty broad ranging list of performers. Cirque du Soleil can either be really good or really bad. I’ve seen both on shows like this. Let’s hope it’s the really good stuff.

Tickets are now on sale for the Las Vegas America’s Got Talent show. My only question is whether the winner of America’s Got Talent will get to perform all 60 shows or maybe just a few of them. In fact, last year, the Las Vegas show was a bunch of members of the America’s Got Talent top 5 and the winner was just the “headline” act. I’m sure something like this will happen again for the other people on America’s Got Talent.

I can’t help but wonder if they might even expand the cast of performers to include some of Britain’s Got Talent like Susan Boyle. She certainly would sell a lot more tickets. In fact, I’m guessing that she’d be a bigger headline no matter who wins America’s Got Talent 2009.

It will be interesting to watch. I know I’m getting my America’s Got Talent Las Vegas show tickets.

Looks like Susan Boyle is set to be on the today show on July 22nd with Meredith Viera. The 22nd is a Wednesday and so I’m sure this is part of the publicity for America’s Got Talent that evening. Smart move by Simon Cowell. I wonder if she’s getting ready to perform on the America’s Got Talent stage as well[see full press release below for more details on this]. I’m not a huge fan, but I imagine it will help the America’s Got Talent ratings and that’s always a good thing in my book.

Check out a short part of Susan Boyle’s appearance on the Today Show where Susan says “I don’t want it to end.”

UPDATE: Here’s the full press release from NBC and America’s Got Talent about the Today show appearance and also details on Susan Boyle appearing on America’s Got Talent as well:

In a worldwide exclusive, NBC News’ Meredith Vieira will sit down with Susan Boyle in her first interview since she became an instant global phenomenon on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

The exclusive interview will air on “Today” with an extended interview as part of a special edition of “America’s Got Talent” Wednesday, July 22 (9-10 p.m. ET), which will also feature the last round of auditions before heading into the live quarterfinals.

Boyle shocked the world this year with her incredible voice on the British version of the hit NBC series “America’s Got Talent.” But in the wake of her second place finish and questions about her health[Susan was admitted to a mental health clinic], she has not spoken out about her experience to anyone until now. Boyle will talk to Vieira about her improbable journey to international fame, her voice, her health and what is next for her.”

Time for a few more thoughts on the second episode of America’s Got Talent this week.

Kari Callin reminded me of America’s Got Talent trying to find Susan Boyle. Frumpy. Check. Never had a boyfriend. Check. Great singing voice. Not a check for me. Ok, so it wasn’t horrible, but some of it felt like screaming and some of it really felt stretched. Susan Boyle knocked hers out of the park and had very few flaws. I do like Kari’s cruise ship story. See what I mean about Kari Callin:

I don’t know why, but I really like Mia Boostrom. Maybe it was just that she kind of made doubting Piers eat a little crow. Maybe it was that I love people that really pursue their dreams and do great. She needs some help with her look, but I’m excited to see more of Mia.

Matt Lucas and Anthony Morigerato really shocked me. The guitar player isn’t all that good. He’s an average player and singer. However, the tap was such a nice mix with his playing that it was like a sweet percussion background. Plus, the tapper (Anthony) just killed it for me. Plus, the fact that they didn’t have a name was absolutely hilarious. This was probably my favorite performance of the night. Check it out:

Destined 2 Be was pretty disappointing for me. They’ve had some really good dance acts. In fact, one just won Britain’s Got Talent, and so I think the bar has been set much higher than this group. It was entertaining, but I’ve seen so much better than what they offered. I did like a little bit of Krumping in the middle. Be your own judge:

Simon Chaban had a few interesting fire tricks, but won’t last in Las Vegas with what we saw.

Keith Johnson chose the same audition song as Eli Mattson, and so all I could think is that it paled in comparison to Eli’s version of the song. We’ll see if he has something better.

Pixie Mystere was a great name that matched the troupe. We’ll see if they have more to offer.

Rashida Jolley had an incredible voice. I loved her voice. The harp didn’t quite match the voice, but I like the innovation. She’s got some talent. Just not sure if it’s the right mix to wow America.

Louis Bar & Laura Cantu were Tango dancers. I don’t see any couples dancing making it on the show. Especially not Tango.

The Kalinins remind me of this act that I’ve seen at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas a number of times. I think they perform in the V theatre also. So, for me it was kind of old hat, but many in America will like it.

I need to see more of the whip act by Christopher and Laura Camp. Too had to understand what’s happening and it happens so quick.

Pink Gorilla costume was hilarious. I wanted more of The Shanghai Pearl.

I thought the judges messed up with Reality. Sure, what they were doing was old, but it was still talent. I don’t think they deserved what they got from the judges. I would have liked to see what else they could have done. Maybe they’ll come back next year.

Today I was really sad to read a blog that said that Susan Boyle had been admitted to a mental health clinic. I can only imagine the exhaustion that Susan must be experiencing. Talk about a shock to go from a relatively anonymous person to global stardom like she did. I don’t think she had any idea what she was getting into. I think that Piers Morgan describes Susan Boyle’s challenge quite well.

I’ve had my own criticism of Susan Boyle, but I think I’ve taken a fair approach to analyzing her performance just like I would have done with any other performer on the show. What is disappointing to me is all the truly hateful people out there that just want to smear someone. I’m all for sharing opinions about talent. That’s part of the fun of watching these shows. I even want to share strong opinions. That’s why I think people visit this site. I try to provide something of value and interesting. However, I don’t ever try to make things personal and I never want to demean a person in the process. That’s just unfortunate and wrong.

My heart goes out to Susan. I hope that she can quickly learn to deal with the crazy people out there that have nothing better to do with their life than to try and hurt other people. The same blog I mentioned earlier says that she has signed a music contract and will record her first album in Prague. I look forward to its release and will do all I can to help promote it for Susan as well. Granted, I don’t think she’ll need much help promoting it.

I’ve been following the various performances of Susan Boyle for a while and tonight was her final performance on the BGT 2009 stage. There’s no doubt that Susan Boyle has been through a whole lot in these 7 weeks. Certainly more than she bargained for when going on this show. It’s a lot of pressure that she’s gone through and she kept her head up and was quite the lady.

I should say that her performance tonight was excellent. Unlike in the semifinal where she missed some easy notes and looked really nervous, Susan Boyle’s final performance on BGT 2009 was excellent.

My only knock which isn’t necessarily specific to her is when they repeat songs we’d already seen before. I didn’t like it when Donald Braswell did it on America’s Got Talent and I didn’t like it when Susan Boyle did it on BGT. I think about half of the acts on the BGT finals actually did it, but I still don’t like it any more.

Regardless, here’s the video of Susan Boyle’s finals performance on Britain’s Got Talent 2009 to the song I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables

Now we have to ask ourselves where Susan Boyle will go from here with all this fame? Can you say book deal?

I must admit that the first time I saw Susan Boyle I really enjoyed her story. I was a little disappointed when I found out some background information on Susan Boyle. However, the story of Susan Boyle is still really fantastic even if a bit doctored.

What is really disappointing to me is Susan Boyle’s semi final performance on Britain’s Got Talent. You can see it for yourself. Here’s Susan Boyle singing “Memory” from Lloyd Webber’s Cats

Simon Cowell was right about not wanting to be in Susan Boyle’s shoes. Susan did pick it up a little about half way through her performance, but the beginning of her performance was awful. If it was anyone but Susan, Piers and Simon would have both buzzed her off the stage. I think the problem is when the song goes high, Susan isn’t very good.

I’m not really upset with Susan. She is living the dream and many people have been inspired thanks to her. That’s a wonderful thing. I just can’t believe that Simon Cowell would give her a standing ovation after that performance. Maybe the standing ovation was for Susan’s media tour and not for her singing.

Now that I’ve sounded like a downer, I loved this episode of BGT. Almost every single act was incredibly entertaining to watch.

I know this is a little late, but it was too interesting not to post about it. I’ve previously called out Donald Braswell from America’s Got Talent for not being a real underdog story. I just explained that Donald had been singing as the three tenors in San Antonio before going on America’s Got Talent and after his surgery. That didn’t seem quite right for me. I was blaming the producers as much as I was Donald, but that didn’t stop Donald Braswell fans from going on about how great Donald was. Turns out I love those fans, because they bring a nice bit of traffic to my site;-)

Well, in a little bit different way, I guess Susan Boyle, of Britain’s Got Talent fame, has been called out by BuddyTV as well. Here’s what they uncovered/implied about Susan Boyle:

• Britain’s Got Talent found Susan, not Susan finding BGT
• Simon Cowell new about Susan Boyle well before she was on stage and so his reaction was disingenuous
• Susan Boyle has been kissed (I added this one from an interview I saw Susan Boyle do)

At the end of the day, Susan Boyle has inspired millions. Certainly it was well contrived on the part of Britain’s Got Talent. Now that I’ve seen the audition process up close on this blog, I can see how there’s no way Simon Cowell didn’t know about Susan before he saw her. I guess we can say that Simon is a great actor. He sold it.

At the end of the day, it rubs off a little of the shine that was on Susan before, but it’s still amazing that “frumpy” Susan Boyle can sing like that. Should be fun to see her in the next rounds after being so famous.