Les Miserables

United Might Break Guitars and the Funky Wedding Video Has Buzz, But Will It All Have a Susan Boyle Ending?

Kara Swisher in News on August 6, 2009 at 8:30 am PT

Oh, who doesn’t just love, love, love the two latest viral videos to hit the Web–“United Breaks Guitars” and the joyful wedding dance of Minnesotans Jill and Kevin? Combined, they have more than 20 million views on YouTube. While that’s all well and good, like a lot of these kinds of viral phenoms, neither is likely to make much money and become more than watercooler wonders.

The Last Susan Boyle Post, I Promise–But It Turns Out She Can Cry a Digital River

Kara Swisher in News on April 20, 2009 at 2:00 pm PT

The Internet sensation that is Susan Boyle just keeps getting better. The Daily Record in Scotland uncovered a 10-year-old recording that the 47-year-old woman made for a charity CD. Singing the classic blues ballad, “Cry Me a River,” Boyle more than proves she has the range of the truly gifted artist (not to mention emotional depths that seem endless here) she displayed recently on a British television talent show, which has turned her into a viral Web celebrity.

Boylemania, Part II: TV to Internet to TV to Internet…

Kara Swisher in News on April 17, 2009 at 6:00 am PT

Susan Boyle’s sensational television singing performance jumped from that medium to become a viral Internet hit, fueling more television that is, of course, headed to the Internet again. Who says old and new media can’t work together? The YouTube official version of the original TV performance is now at 15.6 million views.

Good Luck Trying to Share the Angelic Voice of Susan Boyle

Kara Swisher in News on April 16, 2009 at 4:00 am PT

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle is indeed all she is cracked up to be. But her virality on the Internet is not, even though she has–in fact–become an Internet sensation. Though the performance of the unemployed 47-year-old woman–dressed in a dowdy frock, wowing the judges on the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–has been viewed many millions of times now and growing, it’s not easy to move it around on the Web. It should be.