America's 10-Year-Old Susan Boyle: The Newest Child Star

Move over, Susan Boyle. You've got competition. She's 10 years old, she's beautiful and, boy, can she sing.

In Tuesday's episode of "America's Got Talent," Pennsylvania native Jackie Evancho knocked the audience off its feet with her rendition of the Puccini aria "O Mio Babbino Caro." The judges could not believe their ears: During an interview with Jackie after she was finished, one of the judges asked her to re-sing a note -- just to be sure they really were listening to a 10-year-old and not some offstage diva.

Watch for yourself:



Comparisons with Susan Boyle -- the 48-year-old Scottish church volunteer whose audition for "Britain's Got Talent" became one of the most viewed videos of all time on YouTube -- came fast and furious. Boyle, who's known affectionately as "SuBo" in the U.K., where I live, became a world-wide sensation overnight. Last year, her album "I Dreamed A Dream" became the highest-selling debut album ever. This fall, she's set to make an appearance on the hit American TV show "Glee."

The difference, of course, is that Jackie is a child. And however much in awe of her performance we may be, it's hard not to wonder what's in store for her both professionally and personally.

I wrote earlier in the week about the social consequences of the current trend toward early puberty in girls. While Jackie doesn't look like she's hit puberty yet, there's undeniably something freaky about that very grown-up voice trapped inside such a small body. Add to that the fact that she's beautiful, and it's not difficult to imagine her being treated from now on in a way that will strip her of any vestige of childhood.

Or maybe not. As I've written before elsewhere, the widespread fear that children are growing up too fast has been counter-balanced in recent years by a trend toward delayed adulthood. Indeed, a host of economic, social and cultural factors mean that young adults are meandering much more than they did a generation ago. They are delaying marriage, changing careers several times, and failing to achieve economic independence. Many are moving back in with Mom and Dad. Cap that with a recession and the dominant cultural zeitgeist at the moment seems to work against premature maturity.

Of course, Hollywood is often an exception to that rule. Lord knows that the road there is paved with the carcasses of young talent who burned out early under the pressure of doing too much too soon -- or who couldn't handle the adulation. (Lindsay Lohan being the poster child du jour.) That said, even among the now grown-up child stars of yore, there are plenty of examples -- Brooke Shields and Drew Barrymore come to mind -- who have proven exceptions to that rule. Despite rocky childhoods (Barrymore) or overbearing stage parents (Shields), these stars managed to lead relatively healthy adult lives.

There's also some evidence that today's child stars are being better managed to shield them from growing up too fast the way their predecessors did. A recent article in The Guardian pointed to the cast of the Harry Potter series to argue that today's young actors may be better prepared to handle the dual exigencies of fame and childhood. That's a taller order for girls than it is for boys, of course, given society's tendency to over-sexualize them from a young age.

All of which is to say that we can only hope that things turn out well for young Jackie as she embarks on the rest of her life. She certainly has the talent to do great things. Let's hope that she's able to realize them and still be a kid.

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