Susan Boyle Eclipsed By 12-Year-Old Talent
Britain's Got Talent hopeful Susan Boyle became an overnight sensation last week with her moving performance of "I Dream A Dream" from the Broadway musical Les Miserables. Her back story of being a 48-year-old plain Jane who had never been kissed and lives with her cat helped her rack up tens of millions of YouTube video plays in days.
But 12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi from Mount
Pleasant, Swansea
appears to have the goods to eclipse Boyle.
Jafargholi's performance Saturday night on the competition show has given the Internet yet another new buzz.
Initially, Jafargholi's fate did not look so promising when he began singing Amy Winehouse's "Valerie." Though his pure vocals were evident, judge Simon Cowell stopped him just seconds into the song to tell him that he was headed in the wrong direction and asked him what else he sang.
Instead of being crushed, the savvy preteen immediately responded with The Jackson 5's "Who's Loving You?" (Click image below to see him perform.)
From the first note of the track, Jafargholi won over Cowell, the other judges and audience.
Susan Boyle is incredible, but personality plays a big part on these shows. It is going to be tough for a humble, middle aged woman who is hesitant to get a makeover to pose stiff competition for a cute kid who is quick on his feet and able to tackle a Michael Jackson song.
While Jafargholi's skill is undeniable the Jackson song was not spontaneous or much of a risk for him. Last year, he toured the UK for six weeks performing Jackson music for an elaborate pop concert-style show Wales reports.
Additionally, he already has an impressive resume that includes attending The Mark Jermin Stage School in Swansea since the age of five, appearing in the BBC's Torchwood And Casualty and an ad for Comic Relief.
And if that is not enough competition for Susan Boyle, Jafargholi
also offers humility to match.
When asked how he felt when Cowell interrupted his performance and asked him to sing a different song, Jafargholi said he was grateful. "I couldn't believe Simon Cowell had given me a second chance," Jarargholi told Wales. "He's basically God in the music industry."
The kid is good but but not THAT much better than others in their teens and twenties with talent. Besides, he has an entire lifetime to grow his skills whereas the voice coming out of forty-seven year old Susan Boyle with literally NO vocal training is a rare gift that does not have the next twenty years to be perfected.
Also - she is NOT one-dimentional as may be seen from the range of singing "Cry Me A River" compared with "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Mis. The intonation and breath demands of THAT song are far more demanding than what the young man sang.