Album: Susan Boyle, I Dreamed a Dream (Syco)

Click for complete Susan Boyle article

###

The success of Susan Boyle provides an interesting metaphor for the decline of manufacturing in the information stage of late capitalism.

Since her appearance on Britain's Got Talent in April, she has become a sort of global cultural meme, parodied by chat-show hosts, namechecked in The Simpsons and South Park, and triggering an ongoing internet tsunami of curiosity – without actually doing, well... anything, really. With just one talent-show show-tune under her belt, she seems to have run the entire showbiz career course, from overnight sensation to rehab burnout, all before actually releasing a record.