Susan Boyle prepares a comeback just as Timothée Chalamet sings her praises 

No one expected actor Timothée Chalamet, 29, to single out Susan Boyle for praise during a recent interview with the BBC. Promoting his latest film Marty Supreme, a biopic of Marty Reisman, a former American table tennis player, Chalamet described Boyle as one of his biggest British heroes when asked which Brits would deserve a Marty Supreme jacket. True that Boyle was preceded by the Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, Victoria and David Beckham and, after a pause, rapper Fakemink with Boyle getting a mention at the end.

When the interviewer, who laughed on hearing Boyle’s name, asked why, Chalamet replied seriously: “She dreamed bigger than all of us. Who wasn’t moved by that?” Alluding to her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Misérables when he was just 13, Chalamet added, “I remember that like it was yesterday.” His December 17 interview with the BBC has since gone viral.

Boyle’s response was prompt and came in the shape of a carousel of photographs on Instagram, where the singer has 168,000 followers. Accompanying the images, which show Boyle with press excerpts of Chalamet’s statements and Chalamet himself in a final photo, she writes the following: “I feel very flattered. Those early days were quite something, and to know that moment meant something to you all these years on truly humbles me. We all start somewhere, with a dream and a bit of hope, don’t we? We should all dream big! I wish you every success as you continue to dream your own dream. Thank you for your kindness and for remembering that moment so fondly. With love, Susan.”

It was an exchange of messages that aroused renewed interest in the Scottish middle-aged woman whose life was changed by television – or rather, YouTube: her performance got more than 100 million views in less than 10 days. Boyle’s social media account is a combination of professional promotion and personal photo album. A quick review of her feed shows Boyle looking very different from the far from photogenic aspirant on Britain’s Got Talent. Her 2019 straw-colored hairstyle which she sported while touring with her last album, Ten, has been swapped for a more natural look, teamed with light blazers and pink threads.

On occasion, she ditches the pink, wearing an Oasis T-shirt after Liam Gallagher dedicated a song to her at a concert in Edinburgh last August. There is also a video from April of Boyle saying goodbye to Pope Francis, who she sang for in 2019. And there is a pic of her meeting music legend Elton John, in June 2023.

In a post on April 11, the 16th anniversary of her surprise performance on the British talent show, she writes, “16 years ago today, my @bgt audition first aired on UK TV, and my life changed forever! I stepped out onto that stage with absolutely nothing except my dream.” She may remember it fondly now, but the radical change of going from living an ordinary life in social housing to receiving overwhelming public admiration and urgent media attention, took its toll. The day after the final of the contest in which she came second, she suffered from exhaustion and needed psychiatric care.

That same year 2009 , Boyle released her first album, I Dreamed a Dream, which was followed by seven more. Later, after completing 10 years as an artist, she took a break. In April 2022, she suffered a stroke and thought she would never sing again. She revealed this in June 2023, after performing again on Britain’s Got Talent. She also said on Instagram: “For the past year I have worked so hard to get my speech and singing back, with the sole aim of being able to sing on stage again & tonight my hard work & perseverance paid off, singing the song that started it all, I Dreamed A Dream.”

In her typical understated way, her Instagram bio announces to her followers that they will soon have exciting news. On May 19, she returned after six years to a recording studio – “her happy place”. The music she recorded will be released in 2026. The artist has also started to pin down dates for her return to the stage in the coming year. For the time being, she has earmarked August 15 at the first festival of her career, Summer’s End Angus, in Scotland, alongside artists such as Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Bonnie Tyler.

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