Music Again: For Your Entertainment
If you watched last night’s American Music Awards, you might still be feeling some of the shock from the…performance? … Adam Lambert put on. Aside from the fact that it was WAY too over the top, his vocal left me wondering what happened to the voice that America had come to know during his run on American Idol. He was winded and nervous, which was apparent when he tumbled across the stage in a tuck and roll formation after tripping on his pointed black boots. He recovered, but only to continue delivering one of the most racy and sexually in-your-face performances ever aired on TV, screaming “can you handle what I’m ’bout to do”, then pulling his male keyboardist to his lips in a lip lock that put Britney and Madonna to shame. And while it didn’t “entertain” me, I got his message loud and clear, or should I say ‘out and proud’? But Lambert did succeed at one thing, he got attention – and lots of it – and on the eve of his debut album’s release.
The cleverly titled For Your Entertainment is a non-stop ride of glammed up, campy, rock licks and pop beats. The campy album cover was only a glimpse into what Lambert would deliver on the disc. The opening track, titled “Music Again”, reminds me of a young Freddie Mercury as he falsettos into the chorus promising to make us want to listen to “music again”. The title track and the discs first single “For Your Entertainment” could be described as a disappointment when compared to some of the other stand out tracks, but most noticeably the track sounds like one that was tossed aside during a session for Britney’s latest album, Circus. And though the lead single doesn’t provide listeners with the Lambert they came to know on Idol, he gives them what they might have been looking for on some of the album’s softer moments, including “Soaked”, “Sleepwalker”, and “Broken Open”, which are reminiscent of his most notable Idol performance – the Tears For Fears hit “Mad World”- that landed him a spot in the reality show’s finale.
The most notable tracks, though, are those that seem to take on the painted nail, eye-lined, leather wearing persona that he’s showcased on the cover of magazines filling newsstands. It’s the Lambert-DioGuardi (Idol judge Kara DioGuardi) penned track “Strut” where Lambert finds his stide, or ‘strut’. And on “If I Had You” when he sings “got my boots on, got the right amount of leather, and I’m doing me up in a black color liner” Adam shines bright.
The most haunting moment on the disc maintaining a mainstream sound is the Max Martin track “Whatya Want From Me”, which parellels Adam to the song’s cowriter, P!nk. And while comparisons have already been made, Lady Gaga also makes a cameo writing the discs best vocal, and most campy, track “Fever” that will surely secure his place in the Hall of ‘Gayme’.
While it may not be exactly what the voting public expected when they dialed his numbers, Lambert is making a statement and crossing boundaries on his debut album. And as he makes national news it’s clear that America is listening, whether we want to or not.
