Boyle ushers me into the lounge of the four-bedroom council house in the former mining village of Blackburn, West Lothian, where she was born and grew up. She is polite and friendly with just a hint of shyness, smiling beneath her beetle brows.
She shared the house with her mother, Bridget, until her death two years ago. The two were extremely close. Now she lives alone with her cat, Pebbles. The room is filled with good luck cards from friends and people moved to write after hearing her sing on television. Bundles of unopened fan mail lie on the table. One envelope is addressed to Susan Boyle, Britain’s Got Talent Singer, Scotland.
“It has been quite a week,” she says, collapsing into a seat by the window. “It has been overwhelming, a bit terrifying but it has been fun. I’m enjoying it. Most of the time it’s a good laugh.” 「すごい週だった」と、窓わきの席に崩れ落ちながらボイルさん。「圧倒的で、少し恐ろしかったけど、楽しみでもあったのです。いまは それを楽しんでいます。ほとんど、大笑いですね。」
Although she was unprepared for the phenomenal reaction, Boyle admits that she knew her voice would surprise the judges. ボイルさんは あのすごい反響には準備ができていなかったけど、ボイルさんの声は審査員を驚かせるだろうとは分かっていた 認めています。
“I heard people say things that weren’t very friendly. I knew what they were thinking,” she says. “I saw people laughing and I knew they were laughing at me. But I thought, well, they’ll soon shut up when they hear me sing. And they did. I’ve never thought my voice was outstanding but I’ve always known I was a good singer.”
From the opening notes of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, a song she chose because it reminded her of her mother, Boyle’s performance wiped the smirks off the faces of the audience and the incredulous judges, Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden. Afterwards Morgan, who had winced when Boyle said she wanted to a professional singer like Elaine Paige, admitted that she had been “my biggest surprise in three years of this show”.
ああ無情からの“夢やぶれて“I Dreamed a Dreamを選んだのは その歌が 母を思い出させたからです。ボイルさんの歌の最初から、彼女のパフォーマンスは、観衆の薄笑いと疑うようなピアズモーガン、サイモンカウエルとアマンダホールデンといった審判員の冷ややかな顔を ぬぐい去りました。審判員モーガン氏は ボイルさんがエレインのようなプロの歌手になりたいと言ったとき、すくんでいましたが、後で「このショー3年間で 最大の思いもかけないこと」だったと認めました。
How did that make her feel? “Pleased,” she says. “It’s what I wanted.” Did she feel patronised by the judges when they expressed such open astonishment? “No, I was happy with the way it went. They’ve all been very nice to me.”
ボイルさんが あまりハッピーでないことは、ボイルさんが紹介者のアントとデック話した“これまでボーイフレンドがいなくて、キスされたこともなかった”使い捨てのコメントから 彼女の私生活を推測されたこと。 “Oh, I was just joking around,” she says, blushing. “It was just banter and it has been blown way out of proportion. I was about to go on stage and I was very nervous.
“All I want to say is that I am single at the moment, but I keep waiting. I am not on the hunt. I am happy as I am.” She laughs. “It's all very embarrassing. What else can I say? It’s personal.”