I tweeted Ellen DeGeneres (just in case she actually reads them) if she could have this guy on her show, since she’s really into bringing YouTube stars on her show, just like she did with our very own Charice Penpengco. I was supposed to post this last Friday, but we had to leave for an out-of-town trip right after the show so I’m only posting it now, minutes after getting home, still with sand in between my toes. Anyway, back to this guy, he is often described as a “boy” from Taiwan, but in fact he is 21 years old (or thereabouts). People are starting to call him the male Susan Boyle. With the advent of reality talent shows and YouTube, we can expect more of these types of novelty talents. If he can parlay this exposure into a full-blown career like Susan and Charice did, then good for him. If not, he’s just the grotesquerie du jour. But you have to admit, this guy sounds amazing. Unlike Susan Boyle, who put her own twist on “I Dreamed A Dream”, this guy did a note-for-note impersonation of Whitney Houston’s version of the Dolly Parton country classic. Not the same clarion instrument that Whitney wielded at her peak, but a grade A imitation nonetheless.
Lin Yu Chun said he retreated into his little bubble of music to drown away the taunts he regularly got for being the portly dude that he is. To while away the loneliness, he mastered the duplication of the song until he got it perfectly right. And now the video has more than 3 million hits and growing fast. His story is just beginning. I’m sure guestings with Ellen or Oprah or whoever will open a lot of doors for him, at least as a novelty “bearded lady”-type act, if not as a genuine new talent find. And notice the lack of any trace of an accent. I just hope this fairytale has a nice ending…
