I just watched a clip on YouTube Shorts. It was one of those highly edited recaps of a contestant on America’s Got Talent. A young woman was singing “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman. I happened to recognise her face. Without reading any of the brightly coloured captions, I knew that this was Loren Allred: the real voice behind the song in the movie.
The tightly edited YouTube clip suggested that it was an injustice that she didn’t act in the movie, that her only her voice was featured. Now she was on AGT, rightfully claiming her spotlight. She dramatically and wonderfully got the Golden Buzzer (a big opportunity on the show). It was a redemption story. In 60 seconds or less she faced a towering mountain, attempted to climb it and for a moment it seemed that she couldn’t, but in the end, conquered her task. Does something about that feel funny to you?
I believe that we, as people, are always looking to connect. Stories are in our blood, and the hero who conquers her monster against all odds is as ubiquitous and joyous a story as any. These stories live in our conversations, our books, paintings, plays and songs. The good stories are intentionally crafted and skilfully shared, inviting us to breath in the colours and sounds. Les Misérables, one of my favourite musicals, enraptures me with each ballad.
I think a part of connecting with a beautiful or impactful story is time. I need to sit with a story, song, poem or otherwise, for a moment before I allow it to affect me. It needs to stir something within me. Even short poems or quotes, easily said in seconds, I think about, write about, talk about and reread. I give them time to settle with me, and in that I find the connection. I won’t go back to that Golden Buzzer clip. The fight was so easily won. The clip, Loren’s story, hardly started before it had already ended. I don’t believe that her story is not worth delighting in, I simply didn’t get enough time to sit with it. I was onto the next YouTube short. And the next.
I really want to find new stories I love. Ones that I can sit with, visit again and again like an old friend. I wonder if there’s enough space for that in 2023?