The Gift

One moment’s charm is still in action

It is never late to make your dream come true. Even believing this statement, however, many think that some age limit still exists. It is not surprising because most celebrities start going in for music, acting or walking the runway in their childhood or youth and only individuals after the age of twenty or thirty. Yet the Scottish singer Susan Boyle has proved that one can come to the stage even after forty-five years old and make the entire audience applaud. The public loves her taking into account that she cannot boast neither an attractive appearance nor a variable singing repertoire. It is all about the first impression she made during first audition at the Britain’s Got Talent contest. Susan walked at the stage meeting the judges’ surprisingly cynical stares who were looking at a very plain and not a young woman, but the scene changed dramatically with the very first sounds of her voice. That moment’s charm is still in action now, when the singer is releasing her sophomore effort Gift once again partially connected wit the Christmas time.

Susan Boyle’s voice is now childishly gentle, then impressively powerful

In order to confirm the debut album I Dreamed A Dream’s success the record Gift sticks to the same familiar formula – some covers of famous pop compositions and some Christmas songs. Though Susan would sing a lot in a church choir and in karaoke she is only beginning to feel comfortable in the studio during the recording process. Producer Steve Mac who has also worked on I Dreamed A Dream, has thought it is high time to make the singer first sing with the band until the sounding becomes perfect and then get to recording tracks. Besides it the first songs were almost careful and very traditional, Susan Boyle adopts all the capacity of her voice which sounds sometimes childishly gentle and sometimes impressively powerful. The album opens with the cover of Duran Duran’ hit Perfect Day, peaceful and melodious as the entire first disc was. The song Hallelujah is performed with the choir’s accompaniment almost entirely and the singer’s voice sounds ever more fragile and soft. Susan announced a competition among her fans not long before the album’s release the winner of which would be honored to sing a song with her for the album Gift – Amber Sassi, a paramedic from New-York has won, and the track Do You Hear What I Hear? – the two vocalists’ duet – is a real highlight here. Another cover Don't Dream It's Over turns the pop hit into a beautiful, almost magic story with the help of charming piano chords and mesmerizing choir. High notes in Susan’s vocals do her credit on Away In A Manger, and the album closer is the a capella gospel O Come All Ye Faithful with the singer putting her soul into it making some of the listeners cry.

Gift is as simple and sincere as the debut record

When Boyle first performed I Dreamed A Dream in front of the enormous audience she was forty-seven years old, and her story cannot but inspire. The first week sales of her debut album I Dreamed A Dream proved to be the highest last year, and the video of her first audition on YouTube has beaten all records in the number of views. The amazingly strong emotions this woman has given to millions of people help her to believe in herself and make her happy and grateful which is why she keeps making us Christmas presents. The album Gift is as simple and sincere as the debut record, but it is all Susan Boyle has to offer and she does it perfectly. These atmospheric and charming songs can easily become a soundtrack of a Christmas fairy-tale. The record comprised of ten tracks lasts a bit more than half an hour but you get into the magic world of the holiday in which there is no place for pop music’s light-mindedness to say nothing of rock’s sharp edges. So, even if Susan Boyle’s next album is released near Christmas time again and does not offer anything cardinally new it will certainly be the same sincere and peaceful as the wonderful Gift.