Overnight star says she's handling attention

LONDON – YouTube singing sensation Susan Boyle said Friday that she’s untroubled by people drawing contrasts between her angelic voice and dowdy image after she was thrust into the international spotlight.

The unlikely star, who sprung to fame after her appearance on a British televised talent competition became an online hit, said she loves the attention and isn’t bothered by those who poke fun at her unpolished appearance.

“It goes with the territory,” Boyle told the Associated Press on Friday. “It doesn’t bother me.”

In a telephone interview from her home in the Scottish town of Blackburn, Boyle did express some impatience with questions over her love life: The 47-year-old Scot raised eyebrows when she told a British television audience on Saturday that she’d “never been kissed.”

“It was said as a joke, not an advert. Can we move on?” Boyle said, laughing. Boyle is facing a flood of attention — with fans and even competition judge Piers Morgan offering to give her a peck. Morgan said, “I’ve decided to extend an invitation to Susan to take her out for a meal — a very romantic restaurant, I think, with some roses, some fine wine, some glamorous waiters, and to offer her the chance to break her kissing duck with these little things.”

Boyle, on the other hand, said she’s flattered, but isn’t letting herself be carried away.

“If people want to kiss me, it has to be controlled,” she said, still chuckling.

The massive media attention being lavished on Boyle — U.S. morning shows interviewed her by satellite, a spokesman for “Oprah” confirmed that she caught the attention of TV mogul Winfrey and was being lined up as a guest, even her town’s local government has offered its best wishes — virtually guarantees her a spot in the final rounds of “Britain’s Got Talent,” the U.K. version of “America’s Got Talent.”

Bookmakers are betting on it: Ladbrokes slashed their odds from 11/10 to 1/2 that the Scottish chanteuse would make it out as the eventual winner. Paddy Power cut their odds on a Boyle victory to 5/6.

Simon Cowell, who judges the show alongside Morgan and actress Amanda Holden, had to go on British morning television to remind viewers that the competition wasn’t a “one horse race.”

Boyle’s stunning singing performance has so far been viewed over 19 million times on YouTube. In the video, the down-to-earth Boyle walked on stage, saying she dreamed of emulating West End star Elaine Page.

When she began to sing, the panel of three judges led by music guru Simon Cowell appeared visibly taken aback, and the audience in Glasgow rose to its feet as her voice soared through “I Dreamed A Dream” from “Les Miserables.” (AP)