In case you missed every other pop culture site on the internet blaring about it today, Adam Lambert was the closing performance on last night's American Music Awards and he totally stank up the joint with a big, glittery, hyper-sexual stink-cloud of a performance. And the people are polarized! Some folks loved its silly unabashedness, others found it just too much—because it wasn't family-friendly, because it was trying way too hard, because it was too gay. That last criticism? Oof, it's really annoying.
Given the frequency and intensity of hetero lovin' on TV these days, and the relative paucity of gay representation on the airwaves, the queerness of Adam's performance shouldn't, in 2009, rankle anyone. Sorry folks, but gay people kiss and have sex and do other things. Calling it "sodomy" and decrying its immorality just smacks of dying-breed Puritanism. So that argument really should be off the table.
What truly WAS the problem with the whole debacle was how forced and canned the whole outrageousness came across. It wasn't so much "We get it, Adam, you're gay" as much as it was "We get it, Adam, you think you're some sort of rebel even though you're only famous for coming up second on the least rebellious show on TV." I've often found myself complaining like some sort of Williamsburg purist about how musical success should be a much more brick-by-brick process than the immediate fame that Idol synthesizes. The problem about Adam's performance is that none of it was earned. You want to be shocking and counter-culture, Adam? Then don't play into the most obvious stereotypes that everyone's painted for you since the first time you Frankenstein-shoed your way onto the Idol stage.
Adam's often compared to showy pop-provocateurs like Madonna and Lady Gaga. The latter comparison is only slightly insulting—Gaga is still fairly new to the scene herself, but did at least have a genuinely organic trajectory to fame, rather than Adam's highly-corporate backdoor sneaking in. But the former comparison? Um, puhleeze. Madonna came flailing up from the dirty Bowery club-kid scene of the early '80s, a scene that was glitzy in its true grit. So when she came roaring onto the national stage with envelope-poking live performances like "Like a Virgin," it felt like a nascent artist, an actual thinker, genuinely expressing a lightly sociopolitical message—something about girls and sex, about patriarchy and industry. But in Adam's case, last night's romp into the sex-inferno just seemed so corporately manipulated and ripped-off. The same way the Jonas Brothers are made to look like chaste arevolutionary Beatles, Adam allowed himself to be carefully tarted up like some faux-dark Michael Buble of the Night. The whole thing felt creaky and unwarranted because it was so uncreative, so borrowed from other iconic acts. Maddy did bondage-throb way better in her "Human Nature" video over ten years ago. Plus, for a guy who won America's hearts with his souped-up pipes, his vocals were pretty rank.
The performance certainly won't ruin Adam's career. But it may put a dent in it. I'd say it was admirable that he tried to shoot the moon and missed—at least he tried!—if the whole thing didn't seem so pathetically spring-loaded to shock and awe. Thickly presenting a front of audacity with little thought or reason behind it seems so lazy, much like the whole ethos of going on American Idol to win an instant music career feels. The truly successful Idol standouts—your Kelly Clarksons and your Carrie Underwoods—have succeeded mostly because they used the show as platform to simply showcase big Voices, not some cobbled together pop-persona. I just get that sneaking suspicion that if Adam were really genuine in his baubled counter-culturalism, he wouldn't have tried to hawk his cheap wares on a cheesy reality show.
It's clear he felt he had something to prove last night, though why he felt that anyone expected so much of him, a Vegas act reality show star, is sort of a head-scratcher.
Being gay isn't a choice, and any unfounded fears you have to walk the streets because you're worried some guy is going to rape is absolutely ridiculous. I notice you've got rampant spelling and grammatical errors in your tirade, so I'll chalk you plain stupid and leave it at that. Although, judging by your fourth grade knowledge, I can't help but think that's about how old you are. Thus, I laugh at you and our education system. I bet you think that Obama is racist against white people. Watch some more Glenn Beck and Fox News and leave your bigotry and homophobia to your basement where you're sure to live the rest of your life.
+ lol @ PEOPLE STOP JUDGING!!!!!!!!!!!
And beanofdoom, RIGHT ON!!!
The biggest thing that annoys me about gay populations is their discusting need for attention. Yeah, you're gay Get over it. Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to talk weird or dress weird or act weird. Seriously!!!! I know so many gay people that will consider Adam's performance offensive because he's basically making them look like oversexualized individuals that like to get it hard in any hole with any one. People like Adam give gay a bad name. And for those of you who have never read the Bible, it is one of the only religous books that gives right and justice for all. Just because people use it out of contex doesn't make it wrong. It was one of the first books to actually talk about women who had rights equal to men (they could buy land, sell merchandise, own/rule servants). The Bible also crearly states that any (and I repeat ANY) sin is the same in the eyes of God. Whether you lie, steal, or like the "amoral" path of sodomy, you are all equal in God's eyes. When Jesus died on the cross he died for everyone. We don't choose who comes to God. God chooses. And the bible states crearly that all sined and fall short. And Jesus said, those without sin cast the first stone. This doesn't mean that I'm going to all of a sudden embrace the gay way of life and start rooting for their rihts. No. I don't believe in "their" rights. But when retarded people who have not done their research start to tell me that my ways are the old ways I will stand up. Because I don't see the Bible going away. So wake up and get a better argument!!!!
Why is he a faker?
This isn't about a display of sexual liberties or making a "statement" to further gay rights!
The shock and awww was scripted to be cutting edge - to be an exceptional performance ---- unfortunately its execution was cartoonish & forced.
The end result was simply a pathetic performance. I know the common industry perception; is that as long as you can create a media event -- good or bad -- the publicity will further your career.
It certainly has caused a lot of media buzz! only time will tell -- the spin doctors will have their work cut out for them!!!
Comparisons to Madonna and Lady Gaga are fair enough, all have had some degree of manufacture and fakeness about them.
Again, the controversy for me (and others as well) is that the performance outshined the music which is actually not that bad. He had a whole lot of distractions; it was outbalanced.
Now, Lady Gaga's music is entirely different. She knows how to add just enough punch to a performance without stealing away from the song. She knows how to balance it.