Charlene Victoria Mula, a contestant on a Maltese singing show, is under attack from the public following a performance in which she wore black leather tights while screaming singing about drugs.

More than 13,000 people have clicked on her YouTube performance–that’s a ton of hits in tiny Malta–and many of them have criticized Charlene’s raspy voice and her decision to squeeze her extra-large body into an extra-small outfit. “I don’t care when they call me fat, because it’s true,” she told the Sunday Times of Malta. “What hurts me is when they say they want me to die or to get swine flu, or when they curse my mother for bringing me into this world.”

Even so, the 17-year old is convinced she has a chance at representing Malta at Eurovision one day. “In the streets, people come up to me and tell me they like the song, or that I have a nice voice, or that I am Chiara’s successor!”

And while Chiara is her Maltese idol, Charlene looks up to singers across the Atlantic, too: “I like [Susan] Boyle because although she did not look great she shut everybody up as soon as she started singing. I like shutting people up like that.”

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