Judges: Slip-ups Made Boyle More Loveable

But, observes CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, what wound up as a triumphant performance didn't start out that way.

It's one thing, Phillips says, to step onto a stage as a complete unknown. It's another to know the whole world is watching. And when Boyle stepped out this time, for at least the first few notes, the nerves seemed to show.

Her singing was slightly off.

" 'Memory," ' the well-worn number she chose from 'Cats,' may not have been the best vehicle for her style," Phillips says, "but with the encouragement of an audience already won over, and judges who know a box office hit when they see one, Boyle soon hit her stride.

"She has a set of pipes that can sell anything."

The Boyle phenomenon is now a worldwide event, Philips notes. YouTube hits on her first appearance on the show are now "impossible to count, somewhere north of 50 million. If Susan gets a haircut or buys a new outfit, millions gasp, 'Is she changing?' Is the innocence gone?'
"Susan may have the look of a deer in the head lights, but she's a deer who can still sing. And a deer who is coming to terms with celebrity."
After her performance, she cheerfully remarked, "More pressure. It was really good tonight!"

And two "Britain's Got Talent" judges who spoke with Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday certainly agreed.

"I really have to say," observed Amanda Holden, "that when she came out, knowing everyone was assuming such, you know, such high hopes for her, and when she came out and stumbled over the first few notes, I nearly died. My heart was in my mouth. And I just was like, 'Oh, my God, no. This is all gonna go completely wrong and it's gonna go the other way.' And then I saw her put her hand on her diaphragm and just center herself, and then she nailed it.

"And actually, I think it added more charm that she kind of went wrong at the beginning. I think it added jeopardy, and you kind of loved her more, because she's still the same person. She still gets nervous. She still realizes this is a massive opportunity."

Piers Morgan agreed, telling Rodriquez, "She was wonderful last night. She was so overexcited. It was wonderful to see. And she knew in those first seconds she'd nearly blown it. And the whole world went, 'Ooh, what's gonna happen?' And then by the end, she was hitting those big notes fantastically."

Her showing some crack sunder pressure, Morgan added, "made her more likable. I think it's made her more vulnerable. When you have the edited audition show (her first "Britain's Got Talent" appearance), it's always going to look more perfect than a live environment. When she came out last night, she knew for the first time, as she walked to the microphone, that the whole world quite literally was watching her. Imagine the pressure. This is a little old lady from Scotland!

" ... I think this pressure got to her for a couple of seconds. And then, literally, as Amanda said, you saw her go right, and in she came again, and that's the sign of a true champion. I think she's going all the way. I think it was part of the amazing journey."